The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

4/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD

You all already know what I'm going to say - I adore this entire series. While this might be my least favorite of the three books in the series, that doesn't mean that it's not a good book, just that the other two set the bar almost unrealistically high. The combination of beautiful and horrifying that Holly Black brings to life in this world will never fail to make me feel some type of way.

Much like the second, this one is more focused on the politics than on the romance, but is just as heavy on the fantasy. I mean the ending alone with Cardan being cursed and turned into a giant serpent is just so fantastical that it wouldn't work in any other book or written by many other authors.

I think that Cardan's evolution through the series is the most rewarding, well-paced, and realistic of any "villain" transformation story. He had every right to become a villain with the way he was treated as a child, but his unravelling happens so slowly and genuinely over three books that it felt so well-deserved. The fact that he didn't believe Jude at first when she told him that she loved him? Poor damaged baby. A lot of times, when the main male character falls in love with the female main character, they lose a lot of their personality. They become these mushy, annoying whipped little wimps that start giving me the ick, but that doesn't happen to Cardan and I think that's part of the reason I love him. His relationship with Jude stays schemey and manipulative, though they both realize that they love each other and agree to take off their armor little by little to let each other in. It's real and understated and doesn't happen often enough in fantasy stories. All of that said, I do feel like there wasn't enough of him in this book. Jude spent a lot of time running around pretending to be Taryn and we got very little Cardan in the first half of the book.

Speaking of Taryn... I will have beef with her forever. She's a shit sister, did nothing this whole book except finally kill Locke, and then had no reprecussions for anything she did in the first books to Jude. Boring. I absolutely LOVED that Taryn actually did kill Locke, but was so much potential for her to grow some teeth and be a little more ruthless and maybe make some kind of amends for being a literal piece of shit for 2/3 of the whole series.

I will always stand by the fact that Jude is without a doubt one of the most badass female characters ever written in a romantasy series. This girl has experienced so much in her time living among the fairies and had every reason to want to become a powerful, tyrannical ruler, and she had the opportunity right at her fingertips to do so, but her love for Cardan overruled that desire to prove she was powerful. Slicing off Cardan's serpent head knowing that he would die just to save him from a life of slavery? Wife material. However, Grima Mog did come in pretty hot there. We love a female war general, even a cannibalistic one.

Heather telling Vivi that she has to go on a "quest" to get her to fall in love with her all over again in order to earn back her memories was very cute. Their relationship is so sweet, even if I didn't totally care that much about it.

There were a few loose ends that didn't get tied up for me… I'm curious what ended up happening with Orlagh, because unless I missed it, I don't remember hearing whether she woke up or not. I also DESPERATELY want to know what was in Cardan's letters to Jude when she was in the mortal land, especially since he said it was mostly begging and groveling for her to come back. I simply need to see that pining from him, I just know it would destroy me. Also, Jude is a human so... how is that going to work with Cardan having an insanely long life? And there's just no repercussions for Nicasia? Come on. I was craving some bloodshed and the brutality that we got in the first two books.

I do think that the ending was a bit predictable and maybe wrapped up too sweetly and cleanly for a series that was so perfectly horrifying. Jude and Cardan's relationship deserved more than just a run-of-the-mill wrap up that's cheesy and kind of blah. So I'm just ignoring the epilogue honestly.

Overall, one of my very favorite series that will always give me the same cozy, warm, somewhat spooky feeling that other series like Harry Potter give me. Just magical.