queen of nothing review

overall rating: 4/5

so overall, for me i thought holly black did a relatively good job of giving us a truly satisfying ending to the trilogy. i really did enjoy this book, i read it in two hours, so that does definitely say something in itself.

what i liked:

i thought the explanation of the ghosts betrayal was great. i wasn’t expecting that he was really being manipulated and i liked his character a lot so it was satisfying for sure to find out he wasn’t actually a villain

jude as high queen; literally every single scene where she was bossing people around i absolutely LIVED for, along with her realizations about power and growing to realize the bad/dangerous parts so now she’s not so overly obsessed like she was previously

cardan immediately recognizing jude and knowing she wasn’t taryn like stab me through the heart with romance why don’t you

jude topping 👀

cardans confession that he loved jude was the most cardan confession i could ever imagine and it was perfect in every way

cardan changing into a snake? I WAS FUCKING SHOOK. definitely didn’t expect that and i thought it was a really really cool twist

one of my main wants for this book was for cardan to grow into being a ruler and a real king, and i definitely felt like that was delivered, especially during the parlay scene when he decided to let the people choose (so proud of my baby son)

oak being the grumbly cute little demon that he is

jude and cardan ending still being the high king and queen, i’m SO glad holly didn’t cheat us out of the jurdan ship/them ruling

any time jude wore cardans clothes tbh

what i didn’t like:

locke’s death felt EXTREMELY throwaway and in that there was a lot of loose ends that weren’t tied up, like why he was working with the Undersea

to continue that i felt like it then gave taryn a huge off the hook and she never got repercussions for her actions. she literally betrayed jude TWICE and only killed locke because he lost interest in her. if locke didn’t, she never would have been sorry. and she wasn’t even really sorry because she only sought jude out so that she could use her to her own benefit. not a fan

first cardan and nicasia suddenly being friends again, THEN jude and nicasia weirdly making up and being all buddy buddy? none of that felt earned

no follow through oh the valerian curse? it didn’t seem to be resolved in the slightest at least from my perspective

i’m sorry but jude and cardans reunion really did not do much of anything for me. cardan was his usual loveably wicked self but it’s EXTREMELY ooc that jude literally just forgave him... at the very least she would have roughed him up a bit even if she does love him

with that, the reveal that jude was high queen just was very dull for me. there was no drama in it, and this is probably just personal preference but i wanted jude to force it out of cardan

while i thought cardan turning into a snake after being cursed was really unexpected and cool, i thought it was SO cliche that the key to breaking the curse and bringing him back was to kill him as a snake. pretty underwhelming finale to me

jude not actually fighting in the battle like SERIOUSLY she could have been a bad ass mortal queen soldier hacking people down and all she did was cut off snakes bois head and then cry

the epilogue was a little rushed but it wasn’t terrible

bare minimum of cardan in the mortal world??? unacceptable

and going off of that no cardan pov was a big ass disappointment for me

holly’s writing style and pacing has improved TREMENDOUSLY and i really appreciate that growth, and the twists were stellar as usual. that being said, i felt like a lot of characterization was lost because of this hyper focus on the plot. unlike the cruel prince, where there wasn’t enough plot for me, i felt queen of nothing had too much plot in too little pages. often the little, nuanced interactions are the most magical and that was lacking for me. and because of that i think in turn it decreased the emotional impact and connection because the actual character arcs weren’t focused on hardly at all.

i honestly think the majority of these problems could have been solved by merely extending the book/page count. we would have gotten room for more small, emotionally impactful moments and nuanced character development as well as answers to a lot of loose ends that werent fully tied up. i think honestly queen of nothing in particular would have been better as adult, a lot of scenes and things i felt were dumbed down to make it ya appropriate (not just the sex scene, but also in terms of gore and darker themes).

but as far as finales go? definitely better than a large majority of last books in a series so ultimately, though i did have a fair amount of things i thought could have been improved upon, i did thoroughly enjoy reading it. jude and cardan were fantastic characters to experience as always, the tension and drama were there, and oak was a surprising new favorite. and hopefully we’ll get a cardan novella because i can never get enough of him!!

The Wicked King Spoiler Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Overall I thought this book enjoyable but not quite as good as the first one. Most of the book was taken up by faerie politics which got a bit confusing and not much time was left for action. I know why people love this one the best in the series, but that ONE sex scene does not make this book overall good (though that was great). I had really been hoping to have a bit more progression with Jude and Carden in this book but I guess it is progressing in a more realistic way (then how I want - I just want them together already!) so that’s good. MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!! There was so much betrayal in this book. The one that Jude is warned about, that ends up being the ghost isn't all that surprising. I suspected since that scene with Narsisa that it would be one of the Court of Shadows and while I wasnt sure who it was going to be, looking back since the bomb and the roach like each other its unlikely it would have been them since were now routing for that ship as readers. Taryn’s betrayal did surprise me (and I loved how Carden just listened when he thought it was Jude) but it was still in character for Taryn. She is a character I don't know what to do with. I kind of want to hate her but I can’t bc she's not just Judes sister, but her TWIN (I love how they are starting to use that too finally) and she does care for Jude. Honestly she makes Jude seem like a good person though. I was also not surprised by the marriage - considering the title of the third book and as soon as that scene started I knew where it was going. However the exile did get me. I remember my heart beating and I couldn't believe it. I’m hoping the last book will be a bit better than this one. Tags⬇️ #judeduarte #cardangreenbriar #thecruelprince #thewickedking #thequeenofnothing #tarynduarte #youngadultbooks #youngadultfantasy #fantasybooks https://www.instagram.com/p/CbskvFtuoZx/?utm_medium=tumblr