The stolen heir A novel of Elfhame

Gr 9 Up--This spinoff of "The Folk of the Air" series has a ready-made fanbase eager to return to Elfhame. Readers met Suren, the abused child queen of the Court of Teeth, in The Queen of Nothing, and now she gets a novel of her own. Capricious and duplicitous, Oak has grown into a true Prince of Elfhame in the eight years since Jude and Cardan took the throne, but now he needs Suren's help. Suren fled the Court of Teeth years ago and has been on the run ever since. Helping Oak's quest is not in her best interest; she knows she can't trust Oak despite his promises, but there are things Suren wants too--having a prince of Elfhame on her side might be the only way to get them. Black crafts two broken characters readers will long to unite even if they remember fae romances are never that simple. Even Black's most experienced readers are in for a surprise. VERDICT Flawlessly executed. This book belongs in all YA collections.

The first in a new duology building directly on Black's The Folk of the Air series. The Folk are often cruel, as Wren knows; raised human until her faerie parents returned for her and enspelled her adoptive human parents to fear her, she endured torment in the Court of Teeth before running away to live wild. When Prince Oak, who's the heir to Elfhame and was once her friend, finds and recruits her to return to the Court of Teeth on a mission seeking resolution and maybe even revenge, Wren reluctantly goes along. A brief journey up the magical Eastern Seaboard, full of small personal moments and brilliantly imagined settings, is underpinned by the exploration of recovery from trauma and the question of what it means to have and be family. Wren finds trusting impossible, while Oak has his own emotional battles; Faerie is full of broken people (however nonhuman) whose pain engenders complex relationships, even as political and personal betrayals abound. This tale is too dependent on the events of The Queen of Nothing (2019) to be accessible to new readers, but returning fans will dive right in. Although this volume mostly focuses on positioning players for the next moves in the endless power struggle, a late-game twist promises higher personal and political stakes to come. The almost entirely nonmortal characters are wildly diverse in appearance. A satisfying journey with a tantalizing finish. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.