He will be the 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…
Series:
Folk of the Air
Book 3
Book Type:
High Fantasy
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The Queen of Nothing
“All power is cursed… The most terrible among us will do anything to get it, and those who’d wield power best don’t want it thrust upon them.”
With QUEEN OF NOTHING, Holly Black delivers a riotous, heady finale with treachery and twists aplenty.
After Cardan’s betrayal, Jude finds herself in the human world—the exiled High Queen of Elfhame. She misses Faerie… the magic, the danger and the High King himself, despite the fury she feels at his treachery.
“It’s magic I long for, magic I miss. Maybe I even miss being afraid. I feel as though I am dreaming away my days, restless, never fully awake.”
An unexpected opportunity arises, however, when Taryn pleads for a life-saving favor. Jude agrees to secretly return to Court, to save her twin sister and face Cardan once and for all.
But the Elfhame Jude returns to teeters at the brink of war. Enemies of the crown scheme as an ill-fated prophecy condemns Cardan’s rule. Jude must quickly decide where, and with whom, she stands.
And as political machinations come to realization and a horrible curse unleashes, the entirety of Elfhame upends. Only Jude can save a land—and a people—who have shown her mostly cruelty.
“Tell me what I must slay, what I must steal, tell me the riddle I must solve or the hag I must trick. Only tell me the way, and I will do it, no matter the danger, no matter the hardship, no matter the cost.”
Every moment in this novel is incredibly tense and exciting. I was at the edge of my seat from beginning to end. Black has so masterfully and thoughtfully woven a narrative you can’t help but immerse yourself in, as scene after scene comes to life in vivid color. I will say I could have read another hundred pages or so, to give some characters extended runway for more/richer interactions (and for a couple, well-deserved comeuppances), but perhaps my desire for more comes from my deep investment in these series.
Across the span of all three books, Black has impressively kept tensions high with a plot that’s been deliciously wicked and impossible to predict. I’ve loved Jude—a fierce and complicated antihero who struggles to balance her humanity and ambition. I’ve loved the complexity of the relationships—father and daughter, sisters, lovers. I’ve loved every moment of romance, danger, wickedness and lore. It’s bittersweet to see it all end.
An electrifying conclusion to a perfect series.
“By you, I am forever undone.”
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