Do you love to read about Immortal Princes who are cruel but are terrifically handsome? How about those Mortal Humans transported to the Immortal realm of the Faerieland against their will? And are forced to live there for the rest of their lives? The Folk of The Air series will quench all of your thirst for such fantasies!
INTRODUCTION TO THE FOLK OF THE AIR SERIES:
The Folk of The Air series is a Young Adult Fantasy novel written by the famous writer Holly Black. Little Brown Books for Young Readers published it.
It is mainly a trilogy with two spin-offs.
The main trilogy contains the following books:
PREVIEW | Name | VIEW |
  | The Cruel Prince | |
  | The Wicked King | |
  | The Queen of Nothing |
The two spin-offs are as follows:
PREVIEW | Name | VIEW |
  | The Lost Sisters | |
  | How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories |
The series follows the story of a mortal girl named Jude Duarte and a faerie prince named Cardan Greenbriar. Their journey follows the unique path of hate, betrayal, contempt, and the hunger for power.
The Cruel Prince:
The Spoiler-Free Plot:
The Cruel Prince is the first Book in The Folk of The Air Series. The story starts when a tall, mysterious man named Madoc arrives and murders the parents of 7-year-old Jude Duarte, Taryn and Vivi. Vivi is different from her sisters as she has long, pointy ears and is peculiarly tall. Madoc then takes all three of the girls into the Elfhame.
Growing up, Jude always hated Madoc. But since he was an influential military strategist and a Knight, Jude learnt a lot of things from him. He taught Jude warfare and military strategy. Madoc is Vivi’s father and now a guardian of Jude and Taryn.
The King’s youngest son, Cardan Greenbriar, constantly tormented Jude and her twin sister Taryn. He was devilishly handsome and arrogant. Jude loathed him and wanted nothing else except to haunt him.
The King of Elfhame announced that he was stepping down as the king and would decide who would be the next king among his six children.
Jude, who wants to gain power and mark her name in this Faerieland, intends to participate in a competition to offer her candidacy for knighthood. Madoc thinks she is not ready, so Jude engages in the competition to have an added advantage.
“I stand in front of my window and imagine myself a fearless knight, imagine myself a witch who hid her heart in her finger and then chopped her finger off.”
The Kings chosen heir, Dain, is impressed by Jude and offers her to be his spy. Jude accepts happily and starts working as his spy. She unravels a secret ploy to murder the king during one of her missions.
On Coronation day, Balekin, one of the king’s sons, kills all of his brothers, sister and his father to become a king himself. But he leaves Cardan alive because only someone from the Royal Bloodline can coronate the new king.
Cardan disappears when Balekin needs him the most. Everybody is shocked about the disappearance of Cardan. But actually, Jude has taken Cardan so that Balekin does not become a king.
And Jude has sworn from Cardan that he will serve her for one year and a day.
You will know what happens next when you read the book yourself. Want to read this Book? Order now by clicking here.
My take on The Cruel Prince:
The Cruel Prince is a Book you will not regret reading. If I have to recommend a single book to others to read for the rest of my life, The Cruel Prince will be that book, no questions asked.
The political schemes, the clever and cunning ways of Faeries to trick and torment others, and their stunning charisma, are all qualities that make this book seem breathing.
The main morally grey characters make you root for them so deeper that there is no going back.
The story follows the POV of Jude Duarte. She is the most unique, stubborn, intelligent female character. She always found new ways to strengthen herself in this World of Faerieland.
“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
Cardan Greenbriar, the youngest prince, is as reckless, cruel and enthusiastic about violence as it seems. But deep down, he is isolated and lonely. His bond with Jude is very toxic at first. They have a love-hate relationship.
This book is a masterpiece. And its ending will leave you on a cliffhanger with your mouth open, and you will be shocked and like, “What did I just read?”
My rating: 5/5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 and Highly Recommended!
The Wicked King:
The Spoiler-Free Plot:
The Wicked King is the second book in the Folk of The Air series. It follows the story of Jude Duarte and Cardan Greenbriar.
Cardan Greenbriar is under the services of Jude Duarte. He is the king of Elfhame, but Jude is the one who’s pulling all of the Kingdom’s strings. It has been five months since Cardan became a king and his hatred for Jude is more than ever.
But Jude also hates him, and Madoc and Jude are also on bad terms.
The entire book follows all kinds of political ploys and twisted games. There are several turns, one after another. And each turn is as unexpected as the others. But all of the twists and turns yield a single beautiful yet heartbreaking cliffhanger ending.
Want to read this book? Click here to order your copy and indulge in the beautiful world of Cardan and Jude!
My take on The Wicked King:
As I mentioned before, this series is a portrayal of perfection. Every book in this series, every scene, dialogue, writing style, the environment of the book, descriptive nature, imagination, and plot, everything is an epitome of beauty and quintessence.
This book is no exception. This book is so delightful and extraordinary. Its story is about power, hate, love, and hopefulness, yet, it also has a magical and whimsical theme.
And the cliffhanger! This cliffhanger deserves unlimited applause! If you thought that cliffhanger at the end of The Cruel Prince was cruel, you would probably know that the cliffhanger of The Wicked King is as wicked as you may imagine.
“It’s easy to put your own life on the line. To make peace with danger. But a strategist must sometimes risk others, even those we love.”
The characters are as morally grey as possible. They are loving, remarkable, elegant, cruel and have such a sweet individualism.
The twists and plots in this book are to die for! The political aspects of this book, the cunning nature of faeries, and their ploys to gain power are all the traits that make this book successful.
My rating: 5/5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 and Highly Recommended!
The Queen of Nothing:
The Spoiler-Free Plot:
This Book starts with an event from the past. When Cardan was born, the Royal Astrologer of Elfhame told the High King of Elfhame that Cardan was his last child and “He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.”
The prophecy led to displeasure and disinterest for Cardan in the eyes of the High King. The High King wanted nothing from Cardan and wished to take Cardan away from the Kingdom and the crown.
The prophecy also said that “Only out of his spilled blood can a great ruler arise.” Thus the Kingdom hated Cardan.
Jude is now in the Mortal World and lives with Vivi and Oak. She is bored to death here and is trying to find ways to make her life adventurous here. Jude comes to know that someone from Faerieland has come to meet her. She becomes excited but sees that it is Taryn. Taryn has killed her husband Locke, and King Cardan has ordered Taryn to go and tell what happened under a spell.
Taryn is afraid she will spill the beans under the spell and has come to Jude for help. Jude decides that she will go to Faerieland in place of Taryn and will lie that she has not killed Locke.
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My take on the Queen of Nothing:
This Book is the last in the Folk of The Air series. It beautifully concludes this series. All of the main plots and subplots come out together perfectly.
The growing arc of the main characters is something to applaud. Each character has grown and progressed in this book so much, and their growth curve has increased to a great capacity.
The Queen of Nothing solves all of the mysteries of this book and then leaves no questions unanswered.
And If you would like something more, the Special Edition of this Book has letters of Cardan for Jude, and they will quench all of your thirst for their romance and relationship.
The curve for their relationship was initially very toxic, and they both were intoxicating. But with time, the relationship between Jude and Cardan improved, and their boundaries evolved so much that they became emotionally mature.
Start reading this series if you haven’t already. This series is exceptionally well and delivers all of its elements and components.
My rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 and recommended!
