Ratings:
Star Rating: ★★★★★
If This Book Was a Movie Rating: PG-13
Review:
“Some might think of him as a strong draught, burning the back of one’s throat, but invigorating all the same. You might beg to differ.
So long as you’re begging, he doesn’t mind a bit.”
CARDAN.
THIS MAN. OMIGOSH.
I LOVED THIS MAN WHEN HE WAS A BLACKHEARTED VILLAIN.
AND NOW THAT I KNOW HOW HIS ABANDONMENT BY HIS PARENTS AND ABUSE BY HIS BROTHER SHAPED HIM A INTO VILLAIN I LOVE HIM EVEN MORE AND WANT TO GIVE THIS BOY A HUG..
“You didn’t hear the story I told,” he goes on. “A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like.”
OH YAH DID I MENTION THIS BOOK IS FROM CARDANS POV YOU GUYS?
*shrieks happily whilst swimming in a sea of Cardan fanart*
speaking of art, have y’all seen the BEAUTY that is the art in this book??
and it’s OFFICIAL art.
which means i can now properly swoon over this man because i have Holly Black level confirmation of what he looks like.
*swoons immediately onto favorite pillow*
well. let me try to collect myself into some semblance of coherency and write a proper review.
note: this review is spoiler-free for the Folk of the Air trilogy and for the actual book I’m reviewing.
the story begins a few months after the finale of the trilogy, when Jude and Cardan are flying back to the human world to visit Jude’s family.
“You can't eat some of a dumpling and put it back,' Oak insists. 'That's revolting.'
Cardan considers that villainy takes many forms, and he is good at all of them.”
honestly same.
but i digress.
while Cardan and Jude are curled up together at Jude’s family’s house, Cardan reflects on his own path, the story that led him to where he is today.
As a boy, he was the unwanted, unneeded youngest child of Eldred. Cardan spent his days hiding in lofts. He pretended that someone was looking for him. but could never find him because his hiding spots were too good.
One day, when Cardan was nine, he met Aslog, an ancient troll from the West.
And she told him a story about a wicked boy and a monster girl.
Cardan hated how it ended, so he tried to forget about the whole thing.
It wasn’t hard. Soon after this, Cardan’s older brother Balekin informally adopts Cardan. Balekin is never kind. He treats his younger brother brutally, remaking the timid, abandoned child into a cold, careless villain.
“It turned out that Cardan didn't have a heart of stone after all. As he removed his shirt and sank to his knees, as he fisted his hands and tried not to cry out when the strap fell, he burned with hatred. Hatred for Dain; for his father; for all his siblings who didn't take him on and the one who did; for his mother, who spat at his feet as she was led away; for stupid, disgusting mortals; for all of Elfhame and everyone in it. Hate that was so bright and hot that it was the first thing that truly warmed him. Hate that felt so good that he welcomed being consumed by it. Not a heart of stone, but a heart of fire.”
Cardan decided that if he couldn’t gain power and recognition by being the best at anything, he could gain it by being the worst of everything.
So he did. He hated and tortured and mocked. He drank and hosted wild revelries. He became the villain prince.
He hated many, many people.
Especially a most frustrating mortal who hated him even more that he hated her.
A mortal named Jude Duarte.
OMIGOSH I LOVED THIS STORY SM.
my usual review style’s kinda thrown out the window because this is an origin story and a novella and those are hard to write reviews on when they’re combined like that. So basically I’m just gonna give you my thoughts and a lot of love because lol why not.
first off, seeing Cardan so in love in Jude after all the hate and trauma they’ve shared together over the Folk of the Air trilogy just made me so happy y’all I can’t even stand it.
“He cuts his gaze toward his unpredictable, mortal High Queen, whose wild brown hair is blowing around her face, whose amber eyes are alight when she looks at him.
They are two people who ought to have, by all rights, remained enemies forever.
He can't believe his good fortune, can't trace the path that got him here.”
“It’s absurd, sometimes, the thought that she loves him. He’s grateful, of course, but it feels as though it’s just another of the ridiculous, absurd, dangerous things she does. She wants to fight monsters, and she wants him for a lover, the same boy she fantasized about murdering. She likes nothing easy or safe or sure. Nothing good for her.”
WELL AFTER THE PAIN YOU TWO HAVE PUT ME THROUGH THESE LAST THREE BOOKS MY HEART JUST MIGHT OVERFLOW AND BURST NOW GOODBYE.
seeing Jude and Cardan again was just amazing.
it’s like a big messy group hug from your two best friends after months apart.
my comfort characters <3
Sometimes people ask me why I love Cardan so much. He’s not a good person. At the beginning of the story, he’s the farthest thing from a hero you could find. But I once saw someone online say it the best: we love villains because while the hero would sacrifice her to save the world, a villain would let the world burn, just to keep her safe.
*nods vehemently while staring at her list of book boyfriends*
In terms of the storyline, I loved how Aslog met Cardan three times in his life (the first time when he was nine), and each time the same story about the wicked boy and monster girl was told, but with a different twist. I love how those changes show that as we grow, the meaning of stories change. We see things differently and understand things more.
ugh i love this book
soooo i’m reading over my review, and it’s really just an incoherent mess of random thoughts and Cardan fangirling.
ah well.
anything for my very first book boyfriend <33
“By you, I am forever undone.”
Friend me on Goodreads (yes, you, I wanna be your friend): https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/136268749-isabelle
Buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/King-Elfhame-Learned-Hate-Stories-ebook/dp/B088G1RZ5H/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1636259668&sr=8-1
Recommendations If You Liked This Book:
The Cruel Prince trilogy by Holly Black (obviously)
Holly Black’s other books★★★★★
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