Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others.

Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Jude-broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness-has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Skin tones range from pale to dark brown, but racial categories seem to not exist.īlack is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy. There are a few interesting elements: One-handed Kellan learns to control a prosthetic hand made out of magical quicksilver young King Conrad (8 years old, though written more like an early adolescent) purposefully drugs himself with memory-erasing frostlace to avoid detection by a charismatic, telepathic leader and a deadly fever-connected to political machinations-spreads through the populace at a horrifying rate. Overly ambitious worldbuilding, including different magical systems and religious groups, bog down the forward motion of the plot.

This drawn-out tale lumbers through breathless revelations and twisty-turny character reveals, with formerly dead Aurelia and the noble Dominic Castillion as reincarnations of ancient, magical Queen Vieve and her beloved consort, Adamus. The Circle Midnight, a cultlike group, is implicated in the prophesied catastrophe that familiar characters, royalty and commoners alike, are fighting to prevent. Initial nods at “Snow White” and “Sleeping Beauty” soon fracture into “Now,” with chapter headings counting down the days till Midwinter, and “Then,” the events happening one year, 13 years, or over a century ago. Prophecies and romance close out a trilogy.īack in the world of Renalt and Achleva, multiple complex storylines weave together old and new themes.

Ebonwilde by crystal smith