Entry 3: The Cruel Prince

January 21, 2022

I've been in kind of a reading slump since I finished this book, and I've been wanting to write about it but, like I said, I've been in a slump.

Honestly, I'm going to blame this fucking book. Why is there so much hype surrounding it? Like I get its an enemies to lovers and like, we love that, but they hardly had any interactions with each other. 

AND the ending of the first book DID NOT make me want to pick up the second book. Like I was literally at the library and had the book in my hands, fully capable of going to check it out, and I was like do I want to subject myself to another 300 pages of torture? Will it get better? I decided to save my mental health and not get it.

Like, I feel like she had the right idea going with a faerie thing and mixing it with a human world and all, but I literally feel like there was no plot. Ask me what the plot of the book was and I could not tell you. 

Hand to heart.

I think there was some thing that went on where the king was retiring and then he was gonna give the crown to one of the sons who turned out to be evil, but then that son gets killed by the other son, who is also evil. And then one of the sisters kills herself after their other sister gets killed. 

And then this fucking Jude chick thinks that she wants to run the show, but she has like zero right to because, firstly, she's human and secondly, she should have died in the first like 10 pages of the book. In the fucking prologue.

But because she's "not like other girls" and "can fight" and wants to "do good" and all that boring shit. And yes, usually I love those kinds of books and quite literally my favorite book has a girl with those qualities, but the execution was just terrible.

I feel like there's so many things about this book that I just don't like.

I also just don't get the best vibe from this book. Like I feel like this book doesn't give off quality book vibes. I don't like comparing books because they're all different and there's something unique about every single one but this book is just a no.

I trust BookTok (usually) with their book recommendations, but they were really off the mark. I don't know how so many people can read this book and think it was amazingly written. I guess the writing was fine but the words that were put down on the page just weren't there. 

I can usually tell if I like a book if when I finish it, I immediately want to read the sequel or, if there isn't one, I literally can't stop thinking about it. Like I did with We Hunt the Flame, and If We Were Villains. 

There was just something in the writing of those books that quite literally fucked me up. After I finished If We Were Villains, I think I sat on my bed staring at the wall for literally 30 fucking minutes. 

I LOVE WHEN BOOKS DO THAT TO ME.

And I've read books like that and they remind me why I love reading. Because I can transport myself somewhere else and feel completely immersed in it and LOVE IT.

I did not love The Cruel Prince. I did not. It was a force to get through, like I had to force myself to finish it. And, granted, I've done that with a few books, but their ending more than made up for it.

Some of my favorite books were a tough start but when I finished it I was like OK that was worth it. This book was not worth it. Like I could probably guess what the other two books are about with pinpoint accuracy. 

All books that have otherworld plots or something have something that goes with it that makes the book special. This book had nothing. All the side characters were like high key shitty, and a book where I don't like the main character is not one that I want to read. 

I actually did like Carden, I think he's a pretty cool guy, but the thing is, there wasn't enough of him. Like feminism and all, but WHERE IS THE ROMANTIC TENSION. I can't have half a chapter every like 8 chapters where these two interact. Like, throw me a fucking bone, Holly. Jesus. 

Although I shit on this book and would probably burn a copy if I ever got it, I'm not going to diss other people for liking it. I will silently judge them, which I think is more than fair, just like they can silently judge me. 

(Which they won't because I have impeccable book taste)

But because I'm in a reading slump right now, I think I might just write about books that I've read that are on my list that I want to talk about. I'd love to talk about If We Were Villains, but all I remember about that books is the last few sentences, and they really fucked me up.

It's one of my favorite books.