Ranking every book in The Folk of the Air Series (including How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories and The Stolen Heir) because, yes, I’ve read them all. (Mild spoilers)
Written by:Katherine Jimenez
After six years of loving (and hating) Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince, I’ve decided to rank every novel in the series. I spent countless nights getting through this series and, trust me, it was a difficult process. I hate first person perspective, yet Black’s magical world somehow managed to keep me reading. The series follows human Jude Duarte as she struggles to find a place to belong in a world full of wicked faeries, the wickedest of all being Cardan, the youngest prince of Elfhame.
5.The Cruel Prince
- It’s not that I hated the first novel. It’s just that the sequels were simply better. The Cruel Prince introduces us to the world of Elfhame and it does the perfect job at getting you to love some of the most wonderful characters you’ll follow throughout the series. It still contains one of my favorite lines in all of literature: “He simply appeared, as if stepping between one shadow and the next.”
4.The Stolen Heir Image from: Rivershare
- The Stolen Heir takes place years after the events of The Cruel Prince’s third and final novel, The Queen of Nothing, and follows Suren/Wren, the former queen of the Court of Teeth, as she aids Oak, Jude’s younger brother, on a quest to save his father from the evil Lady Nore. I loved Suren as a character and I think she had more chemistry with Oak than Jude and Cardan did throughout the entirety of the original novel series. Its problem? The writing. How many times did I roll my eyes reading the words, “as though,” every other page of this 200+ page book?
- The Queen of Nothing
- Don’t get me wrong, I liked the finale. I did. Everything came full circle. But, like The Wicked King, the ending did not read like, well, an ending. Maybe it’s because I’m team “Justice for Madoc” or maybe it’s because I wanted more side character action. I felt like the series at least deserved a fourth novel if the finale was going to be some big, epic war battle.
2.How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories and The Stolen Heir
- Although this was more of a picture book than a novel, I loved Black’s third person perspective. Absolutely whimsical and smart, the book follows a young Cardan’s life in the castle before the events of the first novel (with some portions taking place after the third book in the original series).
1.The Wicked King
- Everything that The Cruel Prince does not have, The Wicked King does: more action, more romance, more Madoc (he is, after all, my favorite character). This was a perfect sequel to the events of the first novel which fully fleshed out Jude and Cardan’s relationship. Even better, however, was Madoc whose fatherly relationship with Jude made me not want to put the book down. Most readers would especially agree that The Wicked King is the best book in the series because it had the most exciting plot out of all three novels. My only complaint is that the end was somewhat forced and disappointing. How Jude able to beat an older and more experienced swordsman at her weakest is still beyond me.
Three paperback novels, two hardcovers, and a collector’s edition later, I don’t plan on putting this series down any time soon. Up next? The Prisoner’s Throne.
