The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) – Holly Black

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Pages: 308
Release Date: November 19, 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown

 

Haven’t read the previous novels? Check out my reviews of The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King!

 

He will be 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…

 

The Queen of Nothing is the third and final book in The Folk of The Air trilogy. After being exiled to the mortal world, Jude must fight her way back and gain favor.

With each book in the trilogy, I’ve found myself liking them less and less. I think I might have fallen on the hype train and am only now realizing I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I thought I did.

The Queen of Nothing is an incredibly fast paced novel. I picked it up and suddenly I was ¾ finished before realizing. From the beginning to the end, Black holds readers attentions as Jude battles her way to the top consequences be damned. This makes for a compelling narrative that is hard to look away from. However, the big conclusion to this story left me unimpressed despite the pace. The events are wrapped up too quickly and neatly.

One of the biggest criticisms I have of The Queen of Nothing is that it doesn’t feel like a big and epic conclusion that a trilogy this hyped-up deserves. Instead, it reads as a seamless extension of the previous novel with very obvious foreshadowing.

Also, not enough Cardan.

I’m certainly in the minority when it comes to my thoughts regarding this novel #SorryNotSorry. But I did devour The Queen of Nothing quickly by reading most of the novel in one day. It’s a trilogy full of faerie tropes that will be sure to satisfy readers’ needs. Would I recommend this trilogy? Depends on the reader, but most likely no.

 

Have your read The Queen of Nothing? What did you think?