How the king of Elfhame learned to hate stories

Holly Black

Book - 2020

Cardan Greenbriar, High King of Elfhame, visits the mortal world to face the troll woman, Aslog of the West.

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Subjects
Genres
Fantasy fiction
Science fiction
Young adult fiction
Novels
Published
New York : Little, Brown and Company 2020.
Language
English
Main Author
Holly Black (author)
Other Authors
Rovina Cai, 1988- (illustrator)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
Sequel to: The Queen of Nothing.
Physical Description
173 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
Audience
Ages 14 and up.
ISBN
9780316540889
Contents unavailable.
Review by Horn Book Review

Black returns to the world of her acclaimed Folk of the Air trilogy (beginning with The Cruel Prince, rev. 1/18) in this illustrated companion volume that hinges on three chance encounters between the inscrutable elf Cardan and the troll woman Aslog. Each time they meet, they exchange a story about a boy with a heart of stone, a story that grows and changes in the retelling, even as Cardan and Aslog themselves change from meeting to meeting. Ultimately, the themes coalesce around forgiveness, redemption, and transformation. ("You didn't get what you deserved, but you don't have to live inside that one story forever. No one's heart has to remain stone.") The book works best as a character study, revealed in brief, impressionistic vignettes, helped enormously by a handsome design and lavish imagery. Cardan was a complicated love interest in the trilogy, and fans will welcome this opportunity to see what makes him tick. Jonathan Hunt January/February 2021 p.98(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Once upon a time.... In Faerie, a cruel prince met his match in Jude, a human raised in his world. An entire trilogy tells their tale from her perspective; now the prince gets center stage. This lavishly illustrated tome, more a series of vignettes than a complete novel, shows critical moments in Cardan's life, including moments previously seen through Jude's perspective. The entirety is framed within a moment that takes place after the end of The Queen of Nothing (2019), providing a glimpse into the maturing relationships between Jude and Cardan and between Cardan and his responsibilities as High King of Elfhame, a land whose multihued, multiformed denizens cannot lie. Woven throughout are three iterations of a story, initially told to a young Cardan, each version different in specifics and moral but all centered on a boy with a heart of stone and a monstrous, cursed bride. Readers familiar with Cardan and Jude's tumultuous and sometimes troubling love will recognize notes within this repeated tale, but each telling also stands alone as a complete tale, one that feels both inevitable and fresh. Black continues to build an ever expanding mythos with her Faerie stories, and while this volume requires prior knowledge of The Folk of the Air trilogy, it offers new delights along with familiar moments retold. Fan-service? Yes--and fans will rejoice in every dark, luscious moment. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.