Book Review :: Queen of Nothing, by Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
ISBN: 1471408507
Series: The Folk of the Air #3
Also in this series: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories, The Stolen Heir
Published by Allen & Unwin, Hot Key Books
on 2019-11-19
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 308
Source: Allen & Unwin NZ
Find at Allen & Unwin NZ
Goodreads

After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.

When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.

When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.

Last updated on 21 June 2023

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My thoughts on Queen of Nothing

The finale of The Folk of the Air series has finally landed (okay so it was at the end of 2019 and I’m a little behind – sorry), but did it live up to expectations?

Yes and no.

I was drawn so fully into this beautiful faerie land that Holly Black created back in the first book, The Cruel Prince, and I loved reading The Wicked King, but for me, Queen of Nothing fell a little short. Don’t get me wrong, it was still a great book and I enjoyed it on the most part, but as you can see by my 3.5 stars, it wasn’t the 5-star Cruel Prince book I was expecting.

Some good points first, perhaps. Black’s books are fast-paced and the worlds are magical, and diving into them when you pick up a new story is a wonderful experience. I still loved the world in Queen of Nothing – that didn’t change, after all – and following Jude back to Faerie after being exiled to the mortal world was good fun. The different types of faeries and creatures always fascinate me and I loved discovering more of them in this book.

“I feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness.”

The writing is easy to read, fast-paced and the dialogue between characters is spot on, much like that of the other two books.

I think where this book fell short for me was the plot. It was just a bit ‘meh’ compared to it’s predecessors. There were things that happened between The Wicked King and Queen of Nothing that we are told about when really I would have loved to read those first hand, and while it was fast-paced and all in at the beginning, the climax at the end was short and the main battle was over in a matter of pages. I was left with a sense of ‘oh, that’s it?’.

If you’ve read the first two in The Folk of the Air trilogy then definitely still read this book. It’s still worth reading and I’m glad I did. On the whole, I did enjoy it, however, it was, unfortunately, a little disappointing for a final book.

Have you read Queen of Nothing? Let me know what you thought! 

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I received this book from Allen and Unwin NZ in exchange for a review. This does not affect my review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.