The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
Holly Black’s FOLK OF THE AIR series just gets better and better. This final novel, The Queen of Nothing (2019) is a thrilling conclusion. You need to read the first two books, The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, first. There will be spoilers here for those books. You may also want to read The Lost Sisters, a novella that follows The Cruel Prince and provides another perspective on the events of that book.
When we left Jude at the end of The Wicked King, she had been exiled to the mortal world. There she sits stewing, in her older sister’s house, unable to get back to faerie. (If I were her, I wouldn’t be so eager to return to that awful place.)
Then her twin sister Taryn shows up and needs help back in faerie. So Jude returns, under cover, to try to get Taryn out of trouble. When she arrives, she discovers that Cardan is also in trouble, but he doesn’t know it yet. Though she’s disgusted with herself, Jude still has feelings for Cardan and she can’t stop herself from getting involved in the political machinations that threaten him. This involves a war and a really nasty curse.
Anyone who enjoyed the first two books in this trilogy will be eager to read The Queen of Nothing. It does not disappoint. It moves fast, is exciting, provides several important revelations, and gives us a satisfying conclusion to each character’s story. Holly Black even convinced me to like a particular character that I had previously disliked.
I feel like that’s all I need to say about The Queen of Nothing. Fans of this trilogy don’t need any more, I’m sure. They just want to know that Black doesn’t let us down. She doesn’t.
I love Hachette Audio’s editions of the FOLK OF THE AIR trilogy. They’re performed by Caitlin Kelly. The Queen of Nothing is almost 10 hours long.
Published in July 2019. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy. He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne. Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power. Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril. Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics. And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…
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KAT HOOPER, who started this site in June 2007, earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience and psychology at Indiana University (Bloomington) and now teaches and conducts brain research at the University of North Florida. When she reads fiction, she wants to encounter new ideas and lots of imagination. She wants to view the world in a different way. She wants to have her mind blown. She loves beautiful language and has no patience for dull prose, vapid romance, or cheesy dialogue. She prefers complex characterization, intriguing plots, and plenty of action. Favorite authors are Jack Vance, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Richard Matheson, and C.S. Lewis.
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She converted you on a character you didn’t like — that’s a good writer!
I agree. This rarely happens.