Book Review: The Cruel Prince; Holly Black.

Have you ever read a book that you're finding only 'meh' and it's disappointing you a bit because the hype train really built it up for you but then just as you're thinking of giving up on it *BAM* it hits you with the good feels SO HARD? Yeah.

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Cruel Prince
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: The Folk Of The Air (#1)
PUBLISHER: Hot Key Books
PAGES: 384
GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

What I Liked:

• The last third of this book knocked my socks off. Honestly, it had the perfect mix of court intrigue, well thought-out plot twists, amazing character development and sizzling chemistry (*swoon*) that I'd hoped to see in this book the whole way through. It just felt like a huge reward after I'd struggled with the beginning and I read it all smiling!
• I struggled with Jude to begin with, but in the end her characterisation led itself down a dark path...and I liked it! She was so badass! Normally cold-hearted schemers aren't my thing but she felt so real. She still had depth, even if she was dangerous. In fact all the characters did, and I liked her relationships with everyone she interacted with.
• The land of Faerie was really cool to read about, and built really well. At times there was a little too much over-explanation but as Black's 'Modern Faerie Tales' series is very much urban fantasy, it was nice to see her create a whole new world of the fae! Speaking of her other series, I loved Roiben and Kaye's little cameo! So glad to see these books connected in some way!

What I Disliked:

• I mentioned loving the ending, but boy, getting there was rough! It wasn't bad per se but it felt like nothing happened. It was just Jude and her sister attending lessons, explaining Faerie lore and getting very severely bullied (trigger warning by the way, it's pretty intense). I almost gave up with this because I felt that Black really didn't know what kind of book she wanted to write to begin with. Either that or she thought up the cracking ending first and didn't really know how to get there.

Overall Conclusion:

It's weird, because I wasn't going to rate this book highly to begin with. For most of it, while the writing was good and world intriguing, there seemed to be a lot of info-dumping and filler plot-lines that didn't really lead to much. But the last third totally blew me away and made my opinion of this book sky-rocket. I'm so excited about the sequel that will come, because I know it's going to be phenomenal without having to worry about all the build-up.

Book Review: Red Glove; Holly Black.

It's been such a long time since I read a book by Holly Black that I knew I had to get round to another one. Despite not always getting along with her writing style, I'm pretty addicted to them! I enjoyed this one a lot, even more so than the first book in the series: 'White Cat'. I'm entering this one into the 'Monthly Motif' Challenge too.

SOURCE: Borrowed
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Red Glove
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: Curse Workers (#2)
PUBLISHER: Orion
PAGES: 272
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
After rescuing his brothers from Zacharov’s retribution, Cassel is trying to re-establish some kind of normalcy in his life. 

That was never going to be easy for someone from a worker family that’s tied to one of the big crime families—and whose mother’s cons get more reckless by the day. But Cassel is coming to terms with what it means to be a worker, and he’s figuring out how to have friends.

Except normal doesn’t last very long. Soon Cassel is being courted by both sides of the law and is forced to confront his past—a past he remembers only in scattered fragments, and one that could destroy his family and his future. Cassel will have to decide whose side he wants to be on, because neutrality is not an option. And then he will have to pull off his biggest con ever to survive…

What I Liked:

• Holly Black, I have always said, has a wonderful imagination. Her work and it's ideas always feels very original. She's good at taking a well-known trope or paranormal element and turning it completely on it's head. The 'Curse Workers' series is no exception! People with powers is something we see a lot in YA Fantasy, but Black gives us consequences in the form of blowback, and it's this that makes things so much more interesting. Sure, being able to kill people with one touch makes things sound easy, but if it rots off a part of your body? No thanks!
• There were a lot of twists and turns in this book that kept the ball rolling for me. It's another element of Black's writing that I enjoy: the ability to keep the plot progressing. Reading her work always feels fast-paced and especially so in this series (probably due to the crime/thriller aspect of the story). That coupled with a ton of mini cliffhangers at the end of each chapter and I'm hooked!
• One of the main reasons I enjoyed this book even more than 'White Cat' was that I felt more connected to the characters. I've always liked Cassel and that didn't really change here. Daneca and Sam felt like more than just convenient sidekicks and actually had their very own sub-plot going, which I liked. Lila was the big one for me. In the last book I really didn't get her at all. She suffered from Manic Pixie Dream Girl fever I'm afraid to say. But in this book, I felt more of a connection to her. 

What I Disliked:

• I've mentioned before Black's notorious 'blink and you miss it' moments, and I'm afraid to say they were here in this book. For example: did you know that everyone wears gloves in Cassel's world? Neither did I until the Worker's Rights march he goes on and though I've no doubt that Black probably mentioned it before, it's definitely a fact worth more than casual comment. Holly Black's ideas are fantastic but in some cases, I find them lacking real detail and finesse.
• The end of this book didn't really impress me a whole lot and I'll explain why. Black had a large number of plots and sub-plots going on but didn't develop all of them completely. The whole Feds/Zacharov/Barron situation should have been something that Cassel spent the whole book planning to get out of. Instead he doesn't put a whole lot of thought into them until the very end when, as more of an after thought, he explains 'oh by the way, I had this great plan the whole time'. He was supposedly in terrible danger but I never really felt like he was due to his pretty laid-back attitude on the whole thing. It made for a very anti-climactic ending.

Overall Conclusion:

I did really enjoy this read and think it did a better job than 'White Cat' in terms of characterisation and development. There is still a real lack of detail that I think could be easily fixed if Black just wrote longer books and dedicated that page space to adding finesse and really building the worlds she's creating. Multiple plot-lines simply don't work out well in short books. Either stick to a couple or make more room for them. I'm truly looking forward to reading the final book in the series however: 'Black Heart'.

Book Review: Valiant; Holly Black.

This book has taken me an epic amount of time to get round to, but I am sure glad I did because it was gorgeous in every way! I can't wait to review it, I'm so excited!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Valiant
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: Modern Faerie Tales (#2)
PUBLISHER: Simon Pulse
PAGES: 313
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance, Retelling

RATING: 5/5 Stars

Blurb:
When seventeen-year-old Valerie runs away to New York City, she's trying to escape a life that has utterly betrayed her. Sporting a new identity, she takes up with a gang of squatters who live in the city's labyrinthine subway system. 

But there's something eerily beguiling about Val's new friends. 

And when one talks Val into tracking down the lair of a mysterious creature with whom they are all involved, Val finds herself torn between her new-found affection for an honourable monster and her fear of what her new friends are becoming.

What I Liked:

• I'm going to talk about the plot pacing and writing style first because this is the thing I am most excited about! I have read an abundance of Holly Black's books, and have always found these two elements to be wrong somehow despite adoring everything else about her books. I am overjoyed to announce that finally it was perfect! The action moved along quickly enough for me to be completely and utterly hooked, but not too fast for my poor brain to handle. This is by far the best piece of writing I have seen come from Holly Black, long may it continue!
• Once again I can only commend Holly Black for her gorgeous imagination! The world of Faeries in these books is really very creative. It mixes terrifyingly dark with undeniably captivating beautifully. It sounds like a world I would love to explore, despite knowing it would be extremely dangerous. In this second instalment, not as much of the courts (Seelie & Unseelie) are seen, but I did get a whole new idea to think about: Nevermore. For Faeries, it keeps the Iron Sickness at bay. For humans it's a hallucinogen that gives the user an almost Godlike power. Amazing concept!
• The characters! Black has a knack for writing strong characters who look and think differently to the norm. These ones totally sucked me in! Val was a really very good heroine, and I adored watching her romance with Ravus (who is my new favourite Troll) blossom and the electricity between the two intensify. Her friends Ruth, Lolli, Luis & Dave were really interesting too. There was a tiny bit of stereo-typing, but I actually really loved these characters so much because the relationships they formed with each other were not only emotionally charged, but complex too.

What I Disliked:

• The only thing that got to me ever so slightly was Val's reckless nature. It all contributed to furthering the plot-line, but the fact that she would happily go along with anything and never mind the consequences was a little frustrating to read. Drugs? Sure! Sex with someone who is pretending you're somebody else? Okay! Stealing? Breaking and entering? Why not?! It was of course the point to highlight the danger that someone with such an addictive personality was in, but did she have to say yes to everything?

Overall Conclusion:

This book was amazing from start to finish! The pacing was nice, the detail, imagery and world-building absolutely gorgeous and I am a very happy reader right now because I have finally found a book by Holly Black that I couldn't fault (apart from the never saying no thing). If you are intrigued by Fairy Tales, like 'Beauty & The Beast', can handle a book with a lot of sexual situations, bad language and drugs and have a thing about Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance then don't even hesitate. Read this book!

Book Review: The Iron Trial; Holly Black & Cassandra Clare.

Hooray, my second book read for the Fantasy Favourites Readathon! I was a bit worried about this one because I had heard a few negative reviews and a lot of people compared it to Harry Potter (not in a good way). However in the end my experience wasn't that bad.

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Iron Trial
AUTHOR: Holly Black & Cassandra Clare
SERIES: Magisterium (#1)
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
PAGES: 304
GENRE: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Adventure

RATING: 2.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him.

So he tries his best to do his worst - and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.


The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come...

What I Liked:

• The writing style of this book I really liked. I've read a lot of Holly Black's stuff, and enjoyed it but always felt her pacing was a little too fast for  me to get my head around. With this book (perhaps partly because she wrote this book with Cassandra Clare, an author I have never read), the pacing felt perfect. The words flowed nicely and I didn't find myself constantly re-reading parts to understand what was going on.
• There were some elements of the plot that I really liked. The magic system was quite cool and I really liked the prologue to the story. It intrigued me and made me want to keep reading more of the story. I also felt that while the plot didn't feel completely original, it had parts that stood out as not being a 'Harry Potter rip-off'. E.g. The trio of Magicians that the story follows were nothing like Harry, Ron and Hermione in their personalities, the magical creatures were completely different, the Magisterium was absolutely nothing like Hogwarts, etc.

What I Disliked:

• I guess the main reason that I gave it three stars was that although I felt it was a good enough story, it never really blew me away. Sure the start was very intriguing, but then I felt rather distant from the rest of the story. I never got a sense that it was building to anything, and though there was a surprise twist at the end, I didn't really like it.
• The characters were for the most part good. I liked their personalities and they were memorable. But at times they felt a little one-dimensional. This was especially prevalent in the side characters and a lot of the Professors, and I really wanted to see more of them. I felt this same lack of detail in the world-building too unfortunately.

Overall Conclusion:

I did enjoy 'The Iron Trial' to an extent. I thought there was a really good plot concept, the introduction was intriguing, the pacing was good and there was an ounce of originality in there. Enough for it not to be obviously copying anyone else. The problem was, I feel like I've read more well-rounded stories. I wanted more detail in everything and it just fell a bit flat. Also, the ending was a bit disappointing.

Book Review: White Cat; Holly Black.

I am giving myself one heck of a pat on the back right now because I managed, for the first time in a long time, to finish a book in a day! It's given me such a good feeling and I couldn't wait to get onto the review for this book, especially as it's written by an Author that I haven't visited in a while. The fact that I managed this amazing feat shows I enjoyed it, so without further ado I present my review for my first March read!

SOURCE: Borrowed
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: White Cat
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: Curse Workers (#1)
PUBLISHER: Gollancz
PAGES: 320
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Mystery, Romance

RATING: 3/5 Stars

Blurb:
Cassel comes from a shady, magical family of con artists and grifters. He doesn't fit in at home or at school, so he's used to feeling like an outsider. He's also used to feeling guilty; he killed his best friend, Lila, years ago.


But when Cassel begins to have strange dreams about a white cat, and people around him are losing their memories, he starts to wonder what really happened to Lila. In his search for answers, he discovers a wicked plot for power that seems certain to succeed. But Cassel has other ideas and a plan to con the conmen.

What I Liked:

• So despite the fact that I was thrown in at the deep end (I'll get to that), I loved the plot for this book! The world-building was really well thought out and I loved the concept for 'Curse Work' and the way it works (human skin contact, blowback, etc.). It felt really original and fun to read. There were plenty of twists to keep me guessing and I only managed to work out a couple, so Black definitely had a good element of mystery going on. The main reason that I finished this book in a day was that I was totally hooked, there's no denying it.
• The characters in this book were really likeable. Cassel was a great hero to start with. He was witty, smart and streetwise, and a fun character to see the story from. I liked the characters that surrounded him too (both good and bad), especially Sam and in the end, Daneca too! One of the most interesting character groups to read was Cassel's family. The fact that there powers were different, combined with their personalities made for some great dynamics within the group!

What I Disliked:

• I did not enjoy the first few chapters quite as much as the rest of the book for one reason. I was completely dropped into the action without having a clue what was going on. One minute Cassel is having strange dreams, then he is on a roof, then he's being kicked out of school! I didn't know whether I was coming or going. What's more, I see all these characters talking about being 'touched' and 'curse work', but no one was explaining what on earth that all meant. It left me feeling a bit lost, though once Black explained it properly, the book was much easier to get into.
• The problem with Black's books that I always seem to find I have, is that I feel like I am having to read them much faster than my brain can comprehend. I get a lot of 'blink and you miss it' moments, meaning that I have to reread passages to ensure I've read something correctly and not missed anything important. While I didn't feel this happened as much in 'White Cat', it still did happen and it was a little irritating. Especially as I was so into the story and wanted to keep going, not go back.

Overall Conclusion:

The best thing about this book was the plot, by far. It gripped me so much that I genuinely couldn't put the book down all day and finished it within 24 hours as a result. It's quite a feat for a book to have me that absorbed. The characters were really good too, and I developed a real soft spot for some of them. The writing is fast-paced and hard to keep up with, and I felt a bit lost at the beginning, hence the slightly harsh star rating. But thanks to that cliffhanger, I know I will be back for more from this story. I can't wait!

Book Review: Doll Bones; Holly Black.

My apologies for a fairly late reviewing of this book, I'm currently very ill and it's completely knocked the energy and enthusiasm to do anything out of me. I'm feeling slightly perkier right now so am making the most of this short reprieve and reviewing my latest read, 'Doll Bones' by Holly Black. It was short, less than 300 pages, so it's going in the Quick Fix Challenge entries. I am also going to enter it as a Paranormal book for the Jumble Your Genres challenge.

SOURCE: Netgalley
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: Doll Bones
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Random House Children's Publishers
PAGES: 256
GENRE: Paranormal, Adventure, Middle Grade

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb:
Twelve-year-old Zach is too old to play with toys. Or at least, that's what his father thinks.

But even though he stops hanging out with Poppy and Alice, stops playing with his action figures, it's no good. There's one toy that still wants to play with him. A doll that's made from the bones of a dead girl.


The only way to end the game is to lay the doll to rest forever. It's time for a journey to Spring Grove cemetery. It's time to grow up.

What I Liked:

• I got more than I bargained for in terms of character development with this one. Before reading, I honestly thought the main focus here would be the Doll itself, and the adventure/mystery surrounding it. Instead I gained a huge insight into the lives of the three children this book centres on (particularly Zach) and this book served more as a coming-of-age tale. I really liked how much it surprised me on that level. I loved the large focus on friendship and family, it made it surprisingly deep.
• The quest they go on felt realistic, and I loved it's simplicity. It made for an enjoyable plot-line that I could follow easily and read smiling the whole way through. Black wrote really well too, it was easy to understand what was going on and the plot flowed nicely.

What I Disliked:

• The fact that there wasn't much of a ghost story (which I was expecting) did have it's downfalls. I never really found myself scared, or even a little creeped out. We do get some back-story, but we don't ever get a large amount of spooky moments, nor did I ever feel like the ghost was very dangerous. It was hinted at throughout the book that the doll was supposed to be evil in some way, but she came off as nothing more than an impatient nuisance to me. 

Overall Conclusion:

There is a lot more to this book than you would expect. Or rather, I found it was a different kind of story to what I thought I would read. Instead of a chilling ghost story involving evil dolls performing terrible deeds and frightening children, I found a slightly haunted doll being pretty bothersome and rather ungrateful at times in my opinion. Nonetheless, the story of the children themselves took it to a whole new level and I really enjoyed this read!

Book Review: The Poison Eaters And Other Stories; Holly Black

It didn't take me long to get through this collection of short stories, which I'm glad about because I've been really keen to share my thoughts on these as I've read more and more. I decided I needed to read them after hearing that one would be set in the same book universe as 'Tithe' which I was eager to hear more from. Thank goodness I did! I am using this book for a couple of challenges too so that fits in with this month's plans quite nicely. This month's 'Monthly Motif' is Short & Sweet, and so a collection of Short Stories is the ideal entry! Also, the number of pages in this collection falls below 300 so that's one more entry for the 'Quick Fix challenge'.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: E-Read

TITLE: The Poison Eaters And Other Stories
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Small Beer Press
PAGES: 212
GENRE: Young Adult, Short Stories, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

RATING: 4/5 Stars

Blurb
Poisonous girls whose kisses will kill. A fateful eating contest with the devil. Faeries who return to Ironside, searching for love. A junior prom turned Bacchanalia. In twelve short stories, eerie and brimming with suspense and unexpected humour, Holly Black twists the fantastical creatures you thought you knew in ways you'll never expect.





What I Liked:

• So before I go into specific stories, I'll look at the book as a whole. Black has included some really creative and original ideas for a variety of different Supernatural creatures. You'll find Faeries, Vampires, Werewolves, Elves, Unicorns, the Devil and even some well known book characters brought to life! I found Black's take on these creatures to be really interesting too, very different and original from other, more traditional interpretations of the very same creatures. This was something that I really enjoyed, that Black could create such original and vivid ideas based on myths and legends that already exist surrounding what she writes about. I also found really admirable the inclusion of other issues within the stories, sexuality being a big one. Some authors shy away from such subjects but Black fully embraced them and I really liked their inclusion, it gave another focus to the stories and made them more interesting to read than just Fantasy stories.
• The characters that Black wrote, as to be expected of her, were complex and fun to read. Firstly, the story 'The Land Of Heart's Desire' based in the Universe of 'Tithe' reminded me just how much I loved that world and the characters found within it. It also did some major exploring of relationships that I would have loved to have seen in the novel itself, mostly between Corny and Roiben. I had expected another Kaye and Roiben story so I was very pleased to see Black take the story in a different direction (though of course the romance would have been great too). As for some of the new characters that I hadn't met before, I would love to see some of these short stories turned into full-length novels! I particularly enjoyed 'Virgin' for this reason, Jen and Zachary were a great pair and I wanted to read more of them! I also found a similar feeling with 'The Night Market' the characterisation and vivid descriptions of the setting made it a particularly good read.
• My favourite story of the lot has to be 'The Coat Of Stars'. It follows a much more traditional Fairy-tale format in some areas, but gives it an entirely new twist in others! Rafe and Lyle were so interesting as a pairing and I was so glad to see that they actually got a good, solid ending to their story. The descriptions were wonderful, particularly of Rafe's costumes, the idea behind it (despite being so obviously based on a Fairy-Tale format) felt wholly original and I was totally hooked. If I had to recommend reading only one of these twelve well-written stories, it would be this one. It strikes a feeling of both familiarity and newness into the heart.

What I Disliked:

• I think this can be expected in most Short Story collections, but some of the stories didn't impress me as much as others. I didn't find them boring, I just felt they weren't as strong as others I had read in the collection. 'In Vodka Veritas' and 'The Dog King' had some really nice moments and interesting ideas behind them, but overall I came away not overly impressed. I also wanted to see a bit more from 'Going Ironside', which felt cut a little too short as it was such an intriguing idea! My least favourite story was probably the titular one, 'The Poison Eaters'. I didn't really like the characters involved, felt a little confused about the plot-line and found it to be the most disappointing read of them all.
• Looking at all the stories as a whole, I think I felt a little of how I felt when I read 'Tithe'. Holly Black's writing style is very fast-paced and there are a lot of moments easily missed if not read carefully. I think this probably is the reason why I didn't enjoy a couple of the stories, they felt rushed from time to time. As well as this, the endings to a few felt abrupt and gave those stories an unfinished feel. It worked well for some as it left me wanting more. For others, it just irritated me.

Overall Conclusion:

A really nice collection and certainly on the more enjoyable end of Short Story collections I have read. Yes, there were some stories that I didn't enjoy so much, but the ones that I did more than made up for this. Black has a really unique spin on the Supernatural world (something I discovered when reading 'Tithe') and it was nice to see her cover a wide range of creatures and topics. The characters were very strong and a good number of these stories, if expanded upon, would make really nice stand-alone novels. I think that in itself is impressive and Holly Black did a really nice job here! 

Book Review: Tithe; Holly Black

Well here is my first read of April, 'Tithe' by Holly Black. I've been looking forward to sharing thoughts on this one, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I've been waiting to read it for such a long time and I'm glad I finally bit the bullet and bought it! I have no challenges to enter this one in, other than the Bookish Bingo, so it will be included in the Wrap-Up/Update post for that.

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Tithe
AUTHOR: Holly Black
SERIES: Modern Faerie Tales (#1)
PUBLISHER: Margaret K. McElderry Books
PAGES: 331
GENRE: Urban Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

RATING: 4/5 Stars



Blurb:
Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms-a struggle that could very well mean her death.


What I Liked:

• The vivid scene-setting. Holly Black certainly has a knack for detailing the Worlds she writes about. She set the scene beautifully in the 'real world', and I enjoyed reading about the nearby forests or Rave parties that Kaye attended. But as well as that, Holly Black's descriptions of the Faerie world, whether she described the dark and deceitful Unseelie Court, or the colourful yet alien Meadow where the Seelie court reside, I was fascinated!
• I loved the huge amount of thought that Holly Black had put into the Faerie world, and her take on Faeries as a creature. Many a book that includes Faeries lumps them together as one species, and we are instantly drawn to the idea of little winged creatures, a little mischievous, but often harmless enough. Here, we are introduced to the darker side of Faeries as a race and the danger that their charm could be. Each Faerie is different, in looks and in personality. As for the world itself, Black puts a lot of thought into the politics of each Court, their rituals, their treaties, their fears, everything. It was so wonderful to read such an in depth and different take on an often overlooked creature.
• The characters. Kaye is a likeable heroine, I didn't find myself getting frustrated or annoyed with her in any way. The characters that she encountered throughout the book were easy to relate to in their own way. And I loved Corny! He was such a great character and I would so happily read more of him!
• The romance. The ongoing attraction between Kaye and Roiben is sizzling and I really liked watching it build. Some of the plot twists that Black put in really developed their relationship in interesting ways, and I always looked forward to moments between the two of them and seeing where they were going. Roiben was everything you want in a romantic lead, mysterious with a hint of danger, but also kind and protective as the romance progressed. Kaye had the ability to think for herself too, without turning into too much of a doting damsel, so that was nice.

What I Disliked:

• There were a fair few moments that were a bit too fast. As in 'blink and you miss it' kind of fast. The problem with that is that the events were pretty significant a lot of the time. It didn't really ruin anything in terms of the flow of the story and wasn't a huge problem but it did make things a little confusing at times.
• I wanted a bit more! The book is a very fast-mover, and most of the time I liked this. But it meant that some events were a little skimmed over, and I felt that a longer book would have helped with this. I would have loved to see more Roiben and Kaye time for example, or a bit more development between Kaye and Corny's rather sudden friendship.

Overall Conclusion:

I really loved so many things about this book. The world-building was fantastic, the characters very likeable and the romance well-written. Black's take on the Faerie world was nothing short of amazing and I could happily read stories on it all day, the detail involved is so intricate. It could have benefited from being a little longer I think, to build up to some of the bigger events a little more and develop some of the character relationships better. It was a great read though and I can't wait to get onto the second in the series, 'Valiant'.