Book Review: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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… 
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.

Title: The Queen of Nothing
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Publication Date: November 19th, 2019
Goodreads//Amazon

Rating: 1.8//2 Owls

I think I’ve mentioned (a few times actually) about my disdain of this entire series. It’s just not that good… I know I’m in the minority with this opinion, but this series is really not that well written. Its a cliche story line and has a lot of flaws.

But I still read them all, so what does that say about the series? It’s addictive, it ends on crazy cliffhangers, and has just enough to keep you wanting more.

This book however, fell flat for me in ways I didn’t even imagine possible.

First of all, it’s only about 300 pages. For a final book in a series that seems way too short, and I expected a lot more to happen.
This book is just too…happy.

From reading this I don’t think this particular book was the original idea for the end of the trilogy. The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King tie together very well, but The Queen of Nothing is more of its own story. This story feels rushed, and more of a fan service storyline than what it should have been.

I’m going to try and keep my review relatively non-spoiler-y, but there will be a few minor spoilers.

We start with Jude still in exile to the mortal world, but her return to Faerie is not at all what I was expecting.

The story starts out with a lot of references to things that happened off site, just the characters filling each other in on recent events, and a lot of focus on relationships.

Mock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips.” His eyes are black with desire. “By you, I am forever undone.

But at this point, none of that was what I wanted. I don’t want to read about deaths that happened when I wasn’t there to read them, or the relationship between Jude and Taryn, or Vivi and Heather. All of these are things I feel like should’ve been mostly resolved or dropped by now, and the unnecessary details about them slows the story down a lot.

The first 100 pages of this story, nothing really happened. And for a book that’s the last in the series and only 300 pages, that was really disappointing. I wanted more action, more Fae, not Jude moping around eating really gross combinations of food.

When we do get back to Faerie, its a joke. The reason behind her exile and her come back was laughable, and kind of ruins the mood of a lot of The Wicked King.

Without spoilers the rest of the story pretty much goes like this: kissy kissy, deceit, curses, revelations, giant snake…

Yep. Giant Snake. The entire snake aspect was not what I was expecting at all, and although it was an interesting and unexpected twist, it seemed really out of place for everything that’s happened so far.

AND THEN…

MAJOR SPOILER COMING UP….

SPOILERS IN…

3….

2…

1…

THAT ENDING!!!

The ending is so happy bubbly that I can’t believe this was the ending intended. Jude and Cardan are happy in love and ruling together, her dad is exiled to the mortal world, Vivi and Heather are happy, the entire gang ends the story eating gross pizza in the mortal world.

NO.

There was no big climatic scenes, not a single significant death, just happy cuddling. This isn’t what I expected at all for a final book in a series, I just wanted so much more. More tragedy, less holding hands and dreaming of the future because everything worked out oh so perfectly.

Am I glad I read this book? Yes, simply because now I don’t have to wonder about what happens next.

Will I read it again or recommended it to anyone? No, probably not. I’m putting Black’s faerie world behind me and never looking back.

What did you think of The Queen of Nothing? Did it live up to your expectations? Let me know in the comments!