The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (Rant)

From Goodreads:
Jude was seven 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.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.

Sigh. 

All-aboard the unpopular opinion train!

I love fae stories. I love the idea of the Faerie Otherworld. I took a year-long English course on Monsters and Faeries in Middle English literature that was amazing. I don't know what I was expecting with this book, but it wasn't what I ended up with. I got this book to read in the car on my way home from a weekend trip to Ottawa over the May long-weekend. The premise, combined with the high star rating on Goodreads and all the hype surrounding it, intrigued me, and I was hopeful for a great, groundbreaking read about a human raised in a Fae environment. 

I point you back to my Sigh. 

It could be that I read so many five-star reviews before picking this book up. I was cautiously optimistic going in. On the bright side, the writing style made it for an easy read. But everything else was ... lacking

The main characters are insufferable. We never get any logical development for them, or explanation for their motivations, specifically with the main character/narrator Jude. Her actions (as well as the Faerie world she now lives in) were thrown at you with no explanation or reasoning. I did, however, really like the characterization of the stepmother, Oriana. I found she had the most compelling storyline, and wish she got more focus than she did. I hated the interactions between Jude and Cardan. The reasoning for his treatment of her was cliche and problematic. I won't get into semantics, but I'm really over the "guy doesn't know how to address his feelings for a woman so he's mean and bullying to her" trope in YA literature. It sends the wrong message and it's insulting as all hell. 

Natasha is also unimpressed with this trope and would like for it to stop

I felt like the pacing was uneven. Although it was written in such a way that it was easy to get through, the pacing sucked. Entire chapters would go by where nothing of consequence would happen, and then the last quarter was non-stop action and it made me even more frustrated. While it did set up for a sequel that's coming in 2019, it's not one that I'm going to read.

Guys, I tried. I really did. I really wanted to enjoy this book. But nothing happened. There was very little character development or world-building. While Holly Black has a good writing style, the pacing sucked and there was minimal explanation for character motivations. Most egregious, however, would have to be the reason for Cardan's poor treatment of Jude. I'm all for enemies to lovers in a way that is logical and doesn't involve one-sided bullying or bantering. This was not the case. I was cautiously optimistic due to the rave reviews, but I couldn't do it. I'm giving The Cruel Prince a 1.5/5 solely for the ease of reading this book and the development of Oriana, the stepmother.