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338 pages, Hardcover
First published January 8, 2019
“Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.”
“I want to tell you so many lies.”
“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”
“I’ve wanted this and feared it, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know how I will ever want anything else.”
“I wish he hadn’t used me to test my sister’s love for him. I wish she hadn’t let him.”
“You are my dearest punishment.”
“It’s easy to put your own life on the line, isn’t it? To make peace with danger. But a strategist must sometimes risk others, even those we love.”
“He looks at me as though we share secrets, although we don’t. We don’t share anything.”
I have read my way through 315 books to bring you my Top 10 Books of the Year (video) .![]()
Just a quick note - I got my copy from Owl Crate - this company had a wonderful monthly book subscription box along with a few special editions that I just cannot pass up!
Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.
"So," I said. "You enjoy being my pawn?"She manipulated Cardan, a faerie prince, into making an oath of fealty to her, and then tricked him onto the thrown - in Oak's place.
He grinned lazily..."For now."
“I’ve wanted this and feared it, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know how I will ever want anything else.”But, her once simple plan seems to be fraying.
It seems hopeless to fight something so vast. It seems ridiculous to believe we can win.The longer she holds High King under her thumb, the less she knows and the more attached she grows.
What has changed? Is he different because I have forced him to be?...Or is he no different at all and I am only seeing what I want to see?Meanwhile, King Cardan has his own plans and schemes - and he sets several in motion, and no amount of commands from Jude could possible stop them all.
"It seems I have a singular taste for women who threaten me."The wicked High King seems to be changing into something...something wholly different.
Kiss me until I am sick of it.No matter what happens, Jude must remain focused. For one step, one toe out of line and she could be snuffed out in an instance.
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Mortal girls do not become queens of Faerieland.
"I want to tell you so many lies."
"Your ridiculous family might be surprised to find that not everything is solved by murder," Locke calls after me.
"We would be surprised to find that," I call back.
"You've won yourself a year and a day," he told me. "But a lot can happen in a year and a day. Give me all the commands you want, but you'll never think of everything."
"I wondered if it wasn't you shooting bolts at me."
I make a face at him. "And what made you decide it wasn't?"
He grins up at me. "They missed."
"Surely you have noticed that since his reign began, the isles are different. Storms come in faster. Colors are a bit more vivid, smells are sharper."
Power is so much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.
"For a moment," he says, "I wondered if it wasn't you shooting bolts at me."
I make a face at him. "And what made you decide it wasn't?"
He grins up at me. "They missed."
“I hate you,” I say, the words coming out like a caress. I say it again, over and over. A litany. An enchantment. A ward against what I really feel.
“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”
“Things are always super dramatic around here,” Vivi tells Heather. “Epic. Everyone acts as though they just stepped out of a murder ballad.”
“Once upon a time, there was a human girl stolen away by faeries, and because of that, she swore to destroy them.”
“You’re unwinding yourself like a spool. What happens when there’s no more thread?”
“Then I spin more.”
“Have you never heard that virtue is its own reward?” Cardan says pleasantly. “That’s because there’s no other reward in it.”
“The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock.” Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long-fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger. “Someone tries to betray the High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look, murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder.”
“If you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure.”
“I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Your heart beats fast. Your senses are heightened. You grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy.”
“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.”
“For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”
I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”
He grins up at me. “They missed.”
“Like the ant in the fable who labors in the dirt while the grasshopper sings the summer away.”
“And has nothing left for winter,” I say.
“I need for nothing,” he says, shaking his head, mock-mournful. “I am the Corn King, after all, to be sacrificed so little Oak can take my place in the spring.”
“I’m still your father.”
“You’re my father’s murderer,” I blurt out.
“I can be both,” Madoc says, smiling, showing those teeth.
“Your ridiculous family might be surprised to find that not everything is solved by murder,” Locke calls after me.
“We would be surprised to find that,” I call back.
“Revenge is sweet, but ice cream is sweeter.”
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“Because, for a moment, when I was at my worst, I felt powerful, and most of the time, I felt powerless.”
“A king is a living symbol, a beating heart, a star upon which Elfhame’s future is written.”
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“The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.”
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“He is ridiculously beautiful as ever, mouth soft, lips slightly parted. Lashes so long that when his eyes are closed they rest against his cheek.”
“I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else.”
Now that I have found in myself a taste for power, will I be loath to give it up?
・“kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “kiss me until i am sick of it.”
・“if you’re the sickness, i suppose you can’t also be the cure.”
#1 The Cruel Prince ★★★★★
#2 The Wicked King ★★★★★
#3 The Queen of Nothing ★★★★★
After the shocking turn of events that finished off The Cruel Prince, Jude is fighting with everything she’s got to keep the kingdom of Elfhame from falling to pieces under its new rulers. Unfortunately for Jude, not only is a war brewing in the Undersea, but the court is full of traitors—and a few of them might be in her own home.
I’ve wanted this and feared it, and now that it’s happening, I don’t know how I will ever want anything else.
My body has acclimated, and now it craves what it should revile.
“The last room Cardan occupied caught fire. Let me rephrase. It caught fire because he lit it on fire.”
Angry was better than being scared. Better than remembering she was a mortal among monsters.
That I like him better than I’ve ever liked anyone and that of all the things he’s ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst.