Book Review: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black | Blogmas Day 10

Goodreads Synopsis:

An irresistible return to the captivating world of Elfhame.

Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue.

Before he was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone . #1 New York Times bestselling author, Holly Black reveals a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame’s enigmatic high king, Cardan. This tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan’s perspective.

My thoughts:

After loving The Queen of Nothing and warming up to Cardan, who I initially didn’t like, I was super excited for this book.

It’s nice easy read and I really enjoyed reading it!
It’s less than 200 pages of short stories about Cardan set both before and after the main series. A lot of the pages were taken up by amazing illustrations, which I really enjoyed. I just wanted more! I loved what I got but the title is almost longer than the book.

I don’t have *tons* of thoughts on this book. I enjoyed the stories about Jude and Cardan together, I liked seeing their relationship and dynamic from his perspective this time. I wasn’t super into the stories with Nicasia, I’m not a fan of her character, but it wasn’t bad.

The writing – beautiful!
I expect nothing less. Holly Black is a great writer and her short stories are as good as her novels. (And I’m not usually a short story fan!)

Art – Seriously beautiful!
I loved the art style used in the book. It was so fitting with the writing style, it reminded me of fairytale books. So pretty! Worth buying the book just for the art!

If you’re a fan of The Folk of the Air books you must read this!

Rating: 4 Stars