the enemies to lovers i thought i'd never read

I'm gonna do my best to write this is as a spoiler free review, so it might end up being on the shorter side, but oh well. When I first started to seriously peruse the fantasy genre, I remember reading this book's description and thinking, "Enemies to lovers? Sounds too dark." How funny it is to see the evolution of my taste over just a few years. Because I loved this book, and it strikes me as a true enemies to lovers, especially if compared to the fantastic Fourth Wing series' romance which I really think just isn't enemies to lovers. A series can still be fantastic without this trope, though, and my favorite parts of Fourth Wing don't all revolve around Xaden and Violet's relationship. Just as my favorite parts of this series' first book aren't all wrapped up in the complicated relationship between mortal Jude and immortal Cardan. I was informed by several friends and BookTok content creators that the plot leans more heavily into fantasy politics than fantasy romance. I expected to be less enthralled with a more political plot, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Maybe it's the subtle building-up of tension between Cardan and Jude that blossoms into an unlikely alliance, the ethereal and fascinating worldbuilding Jude describes for readers, or the complexity of Jude herself as not only the narrator, but a human girl living in the Faerie world and the reality that her parents were brutally murdered by the man she must now call father. So many aspects of Jude's trauma, life in a Faerie gentry household, and tenuous relationship with her twin sister, Taryn, combine to make her one of the most admirably complicated female heroines I've encountered in a while. Precisely because she has bloodthirsty moments and can admit  her hunger for power should be checked, I admire her even more. Her hyperfixation on ascending to a level of power that would rival even the most brutal of Fae and assure she can protect herself from hurt she's experienced in her past is just so well developed throughout the plot, informing her actions and motivations every step of the way. 
As I said, for the sake of leaving this spoiler free, I'll merely gloss over how many times the last 100 or so pages of this book had me sitting up to correct my posture and pick my jaw up off the floor. The twists and turns! Black's genius use of Jude being an unreliable narrator who doesn't reveal all of her secrets and schemes to the reader! Scaffolding of everything Jude learns in becoming a spy and growing up with a general father to execute her crafty plans! It's all so good and, I thought, came together so beautifully! I didn't see the cherry on top twist coming until it was actually happening, and that was such a delight. I posted on my socials as soon as I read the last page about rushing to the nearest bookstore for the rest of the series, but I wasn't really joking---I had them in my hands within the next hour. I've already started The Wicked King and am actually gonna go back to reading it right now. :)


Some of my favorite quotes from The Cruel Prince:

"Because you're like a story that hasn't happened yet. Because I want to see what you will do. I want to be part of the unfolding of the tale."

"He leans in and closes his eyes. 'Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.'"

"I step out of my second life the same way I stepped out of my first, holding too few things and with great uncertainty about what will happen next."

"'Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?'...'No,' I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. 'Tell me.'
'I cannot,' he says, then frowns."

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