SPOILS ALERT!

General Opinion

I love this book, it is everything I look for in a fantasy book. Strong female characters, political fantasy with Faerie, and a romance subplot that is enemies to lovers, what could I ask for more? ​

 

Characters

I LOVE JUDE!!! She has officially made it to my list with one of the best female characters, Katniss, and Aelin Galathynius. She is clever, vicious, ambitious, and calculating in every way possible. I think she's the cruel one, not Cardan, even though he's the one supposed to be cruel. The scene where Jude poisons both cups of wine and tricks Madoc to drink them, knowing that she will also be drinking the poison, IS CHEF KISS!!! My girl had learned to be accustomed to poison and had planned 10 steps. Jude is a perfect strong female character, instead of being perfect from the start. We instead get to see how Jude struggled and fought her way to power, and it was such a queen move!!! Jude would never accept disrespect in her way and would show everyone who looked down on her how wrong they were. 

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Cardan is well, interesting. I don't hate him, but I can't say that I like him. I know that he is the love interest, but for now, Cardan hasn't done anything yet besides bullying Jude and being horrified. However, I do feel bad when Balekin beat him, and how he was neglected by his family. I know he will become better, but it's not visible in this book yet. 

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While that, I HATE TARYN and LOCKE. They are the absolute worst, Taryn is even worse than Locke. She betrays Jude, her twin sister for Locke, a player. And the fact that Taryn hadn't even said sorry to Jude, and made it look like it was Jude's fault that she was playing. I understand that Taryn tried to fit in, but Jude also wants to fit in, and we don't Jude betraying Taryn, even though she is the smarter one. Locke is... I don't know what's wrong with him. He's your typical cheater, a playboy in real life who loves to toy with people's feelings and leave them heartbroken. I thought he was a good person at first, but I WAS WRONG! How dare he play with Jude, humiliate her, and say that it was a test for Taryn? Jude is going to make him regret all of that. 

 

​Plot

I love the plot, Jude's journey of working her way to earn her power is just amazing. Jude started by entering the Sun's Tournament to prove her swordsmanship, hoping to become a knight. But was instead recruited by Prince Dain as a spy, with her human ability to lie. While she works as a spy for Prince Dain, Jude finds out that Balekin, Prince Dain's brother, is plotting to steal the crown from Prince Dain, who is believed to be the next High King. On the day of the coronation, things took a huge turn. Ends with Jude capturing Cardan, since he proves to be valuable, and an unlikely alliance is formed between them, Jude then bound Cardan to her for 1 year and 1 day, having absolute power over him. Practically becoming the most powerful person in Faerie. 

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Jude achieves all this in the span of a few months, despite her advantages of being discriminated against because of her human race. Nevertheless, Jude fights against all odds and earns her nickname as The Queen, totally deserved. There isn't a lot of romance in this book, it's merely a subplot that makes the story more interesting, so those of you who bought this book for the romance, remember that it's a political fantasy, not a romance fantasy. 

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​​​​​​​Conclusion

I love this book and am moving on to the second book. I didn't expect this book to be so good, and it's exciting how the story will unfold. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy, with little romance. If you are a romance reader and are here purely for Jude and Cardan, I recommend you try out other books. 

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