The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3)

I wondered at reading previous books of Holly's and not getting into them. But this series has been absolutely brilliant. I have loved the characters, the language, the interaction of them all. The darkness, the story and the ending. It's nice to have a good ending, with all the points sorted out, no questions left unanswered. To those of you who've read the first two books, read on and fall into a new book and make new friends. Highly recommended.

The Queen of Nothing has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year ever since its publication date was moved from January 2020 to November 2019, and I’m pleased to say it didn’t disappoint! Now exiled from the land of Faerie, despite being its High Queen, Jude is attempting to live her life in the mortal world with her older sister, Vivi, and their little brother Oak, taking on some odd jobs for other fae who dwell in the mortal world. When her sister Taryn turns up on their doorstep with some surprising news requesting Jude’s help, she can’t help but be pulled back towards Faerie and the place she considers home. Naturally, because it’s Jude, chaos ensues. It was so satisfying to see Taryn finally come into her own in this book, and for Jude, Taryn and Vivi to be a supportive little coven of sisters. I did spend a lot of the novel, much like Jude, nervous that Taryn might betray her again, but Taryn has finally found her own voice in this third and final book and no longer needs Locke and Madoc to make her decisions for her by using her. Seeing the three sisters finally working together was one of my favourite things about this book. But I can’t deny that I also loved all the scenes that Jude and Cardan shared. I don’t know what it is about this series that works for me because Cardan should be the kind of YA love interest I hate, but he and Jude are like two sides of the same coin and they just work. Cardan is a lot softer in this book than he’s been in the previous books, but given the glimpse into his past we’re given right at the beginning of this novel I think that makes sense and, to be honest, Cardan is the softer character out of him and Jude. That’s probably hard to believe in The Cruel Prince, when he and his friends are so darn mean, but Jude straight-up murders people throughout this series (and it’s awesome) whereas a lot of Cardan’s behaviour is a kind of armour he’s had to build up because of the world and family he’s been born into. I find him really interesting – he reminds me a little of Baz from Carry On, who’s also a secret soft mess under his layers of venom – and I enjoyed all of his scenes a lot. That doesn’t mean this book isn’t without its problems and I have a feeling it’s going to be a fairly polarising finale not because of its ending or anything, but because of the way we get to that ending. Like the other books in this trilogy, The Queen of Nothing moves along at quite a fast pace and there are plenty of moments that could have been drawn out or questions that could have been answered. For example, I thought we might learn a bit more about Jude’s parents, particularly her mother, and I’m surprised Cardan’s mother didn’t play a bigger part in the book. Then again, their stories have never really been the point of this trilogy. We can dive into the kinds of mothers they were all we like, but what really matters is how their parenting has left Jude and Cardan the way they are. Not only that but, in Jude’s case, the parent who’s had the most impact on her is Madoc; it’s Madoc who, for better or worse, has turned Jude into the scheming Slytherin queen she is. In a way I quite liked that Cardan’s mother teased Jude with the stories she could tell Jude about her own mother’s behaviour, but Jude never rises to that bait. Maybe one day she’ll learn more about her mother in her own time but, ultimately, Jude has got to where she is through her own blood, sweat and tears, and she doesn’t need stories about anyone who’s come before her to validate her. I kind of love that. I could see where the plot was going from fairly early on and I could guess the solution to the novel’s major problem straight away, but, honestly, I didn’t care. This series is just so much fun to read; these books are like popcorn, sweet and salty and moreish, and I’ve read this whole trilogy this year purely and simply to be swept away somewhere else and entertained. This final book continued to do that for me, and I really enjoyed it! I can’t even say I’m sad this series has now come to an end because a story arc has come to a close and it felt like a fitting ending, even if we did get to that ending a lot more easily than I expected, but I would love to see Holly Black write more books set in the world of Faerie because her world-building in this trilogy is one of my favourite things about it.

Loved this book, best book of the trilogy and gave me the ending I yearned for. The schemes were scheming! Great fantasy plot.

The Queen of Nothing and there's 'nothing' much to criticise!!! “To new beginnings and scheming great schemes”. I too, can toast to this outcome!!! And this my friends concludes a superb trilogy of ‘The Folk of the Air’ series. A 5 star trilogy that has brought just about everything to this dark fairy tale; conspiracies, power struggles, broken relationships, love, greed, treachery, violence, brinkmanship, and at times ‘snarkism’ and a heavy dose of the fantastical, all of which just heightens the appeal. The will they?, won’t they? continues in this series but with a huge twist from the outset when the High King Cardan exiles Jude, the pronounced Queen of Faerie. Unmoored and now in the land of mortals with ‘Nothing’ but damaged pride, a poor sense of worth and a bruised heart that Jude tries to hide. Jude tries to start a new life without all the drama and intrigue she was clearly built for. This is when Jude must test her judgement, heart and sense of loyalty between her step father and her High King, that she conned into coming to the throne and then married for convenience. The characterisation is superb. I loved all these characters. Cardan the High King, who was the cruel prince in the first book has a unique gravitational force that pulls everyone towards him. His wit and snarky comments just make for amusing reading. Jude, rough, tough, and fearless is a woman who treats court politics as some kind of extreme sport. However, it is her determination and loyalty that won me over. A terrific character, who claims to be "like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness.” Even the conniving Madoc, is a deliciously evil character. It was intriguing watching him close down the routes people could take, ‘pruning the variables’ and reducing everyone’s ability to surprise him so that it was his plan, not theirs that was most likely to succeed. A reader with ‘Nothing’ to complain about, except the use of the bridle in one of the plots and one of two of the minor sub plots did not tie up completely in the end. However, if you love Fantasy then treat yourself to this superbly well written and immersive book which completes this trilogy. Magical, absorbing, tormenting, and compulsive – what more could you ask for!!! Nothing !!!!

This book was such a great conclusion for this series. I just love Jude and Cardan together, which I never would have guessed from how they were in the first book. The pacing really fit for me, I get too distracted if books have a slower pace, my mind just pings somewhere else. The character development for both Jude and Cardan was just perfect. I could see exactly how they’d gotten to the places they’d ended up in. I’m not gonna lie, Taryn redeemed herself in this book. At least a little. She was there for Jude, and just a generally less crappy person. In my view anyway. I get why some people still don’t like her by the end of this book, but she grew on me a little. I can really see why they call Holly Black the queen of faerie. These books were incredible.

Amazing book, absolutely loved it. A little pricy but I guess that’s the way of the world these days… :’(

Snabbt och smidigt

The Queen of Nothing is the last and best of the three books. The full series is very gripping but this last one is amazing, I couldn't put it down! I've put 4 stars to the precedent books just to say that I've loved the writing, loved the story and the characters but they are sometimes hard to imagine because it's so out of our world. Also, even though I'm bilingual, reading it in English while I don't know the specific Fairy vocabulary and which is what is a bit difficult, but that's on me. I wanted to read the book in original version and I think I would have lost a little something by reading it in French. I think the books miss a bit of description, I'm not asking for Tolkien style because I way prefer action to anything else, but I like to be helped in my imagination especially on this kind of story. Overall I really enjoyed the series and will get more of Holly Black's books! Thank you very much for sharing this world with us :)

Das spannendste Buch aus der Reihe. Hat keine fake Stickers.

Buen estado, muy atractivo y con una historia bastante interesante