The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

Read Dates: November 25, 2019 – December 4, 2019
Publication date: November 19, 2019
Source: Owned Hardback

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“Mock me all you like. Whatever I imagined then, now it is I who would beg and grovel for a kind word from your lips.” His eyes are black with desire. “By you, I am forever undone.”

And by THIS BOOK I am forever undone. Omg. Seriously. This book chewed me up and spit me out multiple times. This book tore me apart.

“Prince Cardan will be your last born child,” the Royal Astrologer said. “He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.”

Cardan and Jude are back again.
Jude is still in exile in the mortal world but that changes when her twin sister Taryn comes to the mortal world to ask for her help. Jude is to go back to Faerie and pretend to be her sister. But Cardan is not so easily fooled. It turns out they’ve both fallen to some serious misunderstandings about each other but they’re back to working together against the enemies of the crown and the political games that are being played by folk from other regions. They’ll soon find that the only people they truly trust are each other.

This book had me CRYING. Mind you, I’m pregnant so that’s not such a crazy thing these days, but seriously… some of the words… Ugh. Let’s just get through this review without me crying all over my laptop.

“Unlike Locke, I never thought love was a game,” he says. “You may accuse me of much, but not that.”

Cardan is growing as a person. He’s come SO FAR since The Cruel Prince. It’s amazing how this cold-hearted fey went from a foolish, selfish, and cruel youth to a somehow level-headed and reasonable High King. Like, what? My head is still spinning at how we even got here. But then I realize, it was Jude. And the way that you figure it out and the ways he shows that it was her that changed him is so beautiful. This book was seriously so beautifully written.

Mind you, a lot of this book is not romance in any way. Most of the book is Jude getting herself into hairy situations and making me nervous as hell. Also, the political parts of this book never bored me. I’m still just baffled at ALL the characters really. Every single character in this book has changed so much from the first book.

If you guys remember, I didn’t care for the first book. And the second book definitely had more of my attention. But THIS book was a giant game changer. I LOVED this book. I couldn’t put it down. Every time I was doing anything other than reading this book, I wanted to scream. I just wanted to pick it up and fly through the entirety of it without stopping.

“We have lived in our armor for so long, you and I. And now I am not sure if either of us knows how to remove it.”

I’m not typically one to read an enemies to lovers type story and I honestly wasn’t even sure that’s what this was when I first started this series. That was just what I heard about it. I saw people saying Cardan and Jude was “their favorite book couple”. So I held out. I waited to see what would happen. But let me tell you something… I think the reason this book hit so hard is because of the enemies to lovers aspect. The fact that he was TERRIBLE to her in book one and then hot and cold to her in book two made all the nice things he said in book three, no matter how small, mean that much more. They hit you harder in the feels than they would if he had been nice to her or even neutral with her since the beginning. It’s so hard to explain this relationship and why and how much I love it but it’s soooo so so good.

I might have grown into something else, a High King as monstrous as Dain. And if I did – if I fulfilled that prophecy – I ought to be stopped. And I believe that you would stop me.

So this book finally gave us Cardan’s background and details about his childhood and why he was treated the way he was. It gave us this prophecy about him being the “destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.” I wasn’t sure what all this would mean. I rattled my brain trying to decide what would happen and I still didn’t really see it coming.
This book not only had the wonderful characters I keep on about but it also had a fantastic plot. The story never left you wanting. I was on edge, I was hopeful, I was emotional, I was torn, and I was so ridiculously happy.

I have such a new respect for Holly Black and her writing. She murdered me with this book. I mean, c’mon, I’m getting to the point where I’ve got WAY too many fictional boyfriends. It’s getting ridiculous. But she wrote Cardan SO FREAKING WELL and she wrote this story and fulfilled this prophecy SO FREAKING WELL and I think I’m in love with Holly Black now.

Which reminds me, she dedicated this book to Leigh Bardugo, who has recently become one of my all time favorite authors. So in the beginning I was thinking to myself, “If Leigh likes her, then so do I.” But then I read this book and began to like her for my own reasons.

“My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.”

I just loved this book so much. I love the continuation of the banter between Cardan and Jude but in a new light now. And I love the supporting characters and how this last book brought everyone together and left NO ONE out when bringing everyone’s story to a close. The only issue I’m having now is I WANT MORE CARDAN AND JUDE. I think they’re my new favorite book couple. So there’s that. I just highly recommend this series. I was unsure during the first book but, now, I would reread this entire series in a heartbeat if I didn’t have so many books on my “to-read” list. So good. So so so good.

I start to speak but he stops me with a gesture. “And you.” He looks at me, his lips curving in something that’s not quite a smile; it’s more and less than that. “I knew little else, but I always knew you.”

My heart literally hurts over this book guys. But in a good way. Pick it up. Meet Cardan and Jude. Do yourself a favor.