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“The Queen of Nothing” by Holly Black
Book Review: "The Queen of Nothing" by Holly Black
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“The Queen of Nothing” by Holly Black

“The Queen of Nothing” was my favorite volume of the series. It had romance so developed and detailed, very intense scenes and a lot of tension. Do you know Jude’s sword? I’ve felt during the whole reading as her sword was scratching my back. The pressure was so high! The hate-love relationship is so plot twisted and controversial. I loved everything about this book!

Title: “The Queen of Nothing” (#3)

Series: “Folk of the Air”

Author: Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy

Trope: enemies to lovers

Number of pages: 336

Recommended age: +15

Star Rating: 5/5 ⭐

The summary of “The Queen of Nothing”

Jude has been vanished to live in the human world. She should have felt at peace. But she was not. Elfhame became her home. Cardan became her place to stay. How could she leave forever everything she once loved so much?

The girl has now to adapt to her new life. A knight far from his battles needs to find others. Jude finds her peace in watching low quality television. She finds little jobs on the black market and earn her living. Even so, it was not enough. She needed the adrenaline of the battle and the happiness of victory.

Oak is growing up right under her eyes. She knows that she is not able anymore to assure the throne for him. Jude gets lost in all the monotony the human life can provide her. Just ‘till Taryn asks for help. Jude will have to come on the forbidden land and meet her secret husband. If he recognizes her, he will kill her. If not, the revenge will be by her side.

See what character of “Folk of the Air” series you would be – here

The twin flame

Jude and Cardan have always been twin flames. They light the fire and keep burning together. Mortal, but determined. I couldn’t figure out if they are toxic or just incredibly stubborn. Jude came to Elfhame again, indeed, under Taryn’s identity. She faced the king and he recognized her from the very first moment. That sequence was really, really emotional and hot! He technically meant that he would always see her true self. No matter what clothes she would wear or the impression she would want to give.

Jude would always find her way back to him. I’m aware that it sounds very sappy, but it is not. The circumstances are the ones that complete this scene. The fright of each other’s reaction is absolutely unimaginable. They both were staying on pins and needles. Jude thought he might kill her and he thought she would hold on grudge. He was not that far from the truth…:)

The only thing you should understand from this scene is their unnatural attraction. For each other, danger and being together. They started from really deep rooted hate for each other. Jude said how she had hated Cardan so much that she would lose her breathing. All that hate started their crazy passion for each other. It has always been incredibly deep love disguised in hate. In spite of their tremulous journey together, with betrayals and vanishes, they still found a way. Cardan and Jude still didn’t forget about those feelings. My guess is the distance was in fact the thing which brought them closer than ever.

“𝐽𝑢𝑑𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡h𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡h𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡h𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑔h.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈”, 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 h𝑜𝑤 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 h𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡h𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠,” h𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠. “𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈”, 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

The betrayer

Long story short, Jude was in Madoc’s army camp. Guess whom she found in there? The Ghost, yeah:) In the end the betrayer was betrayed himself, right? I think this is quite ironic. Not necessarily unexpected, even so unforeseen.

As the Ghost hadn’t been mentioned on many occasions, we would have been tented to forget about him. Not a single chance! Holly succeeds bringing back from the dead every significant character in the protagonists’ journey. It was like each of the other characters’ story was integrated in the great story. 

The black snake

Cardan literally transformed into a snake. He was part of the Kingdom. His well-being was the island’s too. All the betrayals, the sick games for the crown. He was a huge black snake. Unbeatable and completely frightening. He seemed on the edge of killing everyone. Cardan somehow found his way home, but the whole Kingdom was confused. Their king to transform in a snake. Did he still have conscious? Was he aware of the identity of his dear ones?

Jude was wondering if he would recognize her. She was in the place of making hard decisions for the kingdom. Jude needed to make herself respected. The human queen of all the faeries. Her lover became a threaten to her people’s lives. She, deep in her soul and feelings, knew he was still there. Cardan was not lost for good. She had only one chance: try to kill the snake, but not in lack of a huge risk. He either was going to come back to his human form or die for good. She needed to make her choice. Jude jumped when the edge seemed so tight. When she feared the most, that was when she jumped.

I have read somewhere that the true power is in the queen’s hands. Jude has always been the true ruler. She was the Queen of Elfhame, the only one who was able to control Cardan. The only human who would be able to rule a Kingdom of faeries. When there seemed to be a dead end, Jude reminded us she was a knight.

The letters

I found quite entertaining reading the letters Cardan sent to Jude. He wanted her home. Cardan told her that she can not return to Elfhame without the agreement of a crowned head. The thing is… she was a crowned head. In all this time, Jude was not truly vanished. She was free to return home whenever she would please.

In his letters to her, Cardan begged her to come back home, to him. She became his vitality, his whole life, rule and universe. He hated to love her, but they were twin flames. They burn together if together and when not, they extinguish.

“𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 h𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠h𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑒. 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 h𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑖𝑔h𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡h 𝑚𝑒. 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒 h𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑚𝑦 h𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡, 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈”, 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

Some quotes that I liked

“𝑇h𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤h𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠,” 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡h 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔h 𝑡h𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 h𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑘𝑒. “𝑊𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑒. 𝑇h𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑠h𝑜𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑔h𝑡.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈”, 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

“𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑙𝑒,’ 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑦. ‘𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢,’ h𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡h𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. ‘𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘.”

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈”, 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌

The order of “Folk of the Air” series

First of all, “The Folks of the Air”, or “The Cruel Prince” series, is actually a trilogy. “The Cruel Prince” (#1), “The Wicked King” (#2) and “The Queen of Nothing” (#3) are part of it. Next, you have a list of the volumes, their order and their reviews. It will surely help you understand better the structure of the series.

“The Cruel Prince” (#1) – Read here the review

“The Wicked King” (#2) –  Read here the review

“The Queen of Nothing” (#3)

“The Cruel Prince”Age: 14-17
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Number of pages: 416
The time in which I read the book: approximately 4 days
“The Wicked King”Age: 14-17
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Number of pages: 336
The time in which I read the book: approximately 3 days
“The Queen of Nothing”Age: 14-17
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Number of pages: 336
The time in which I read the book: approximately 2 days

More about “The Queen of Nothing”

The title “The Queen of Nothing” is related to Jude. She is the first human queen of Elfhame, but also the only one exiled. Jude will have to come back on the faerie land to protect her twin. With the risk of her life. She is aware of her inevitable meeting with Cardan, her secret husband. Will they kill each other or will they make peace? She comes back between all the intrigues and evil games played for the crown. Everyone underestimated her. She is now the queen, but is she ready for the whole responsibility of ruling a Kingdom?

The last volume of the series

“The Queen of Nothing” is the last book of the “Folks of the Air” series. It’s a book with plenty romance, of enemies to lovers kind. I think it is truly the most romantic volume of the series. It has an incredible happy ending! I’m glad our protagonists find their own way back to each other in this volume💕

I consider this book really, really worthy to be read! The action is absolutely incredible! If you don’t believe me, go above and read my review of the book🙈 I would say that the age rating of this book is +15 years old.

The “characters’ tree”

The Queen of Nothing

“The Stolen Heir”

I have a great surprise for the fans of “Folk of the Air” series. We’ll get the chance to read Oak’s story in “The Stolen Heir”! I hope it will be as great as this one. We’re waiting for news❣️

The fourth book of “Folk of the Air” series

There doesn’t exist a fourth book in the “Folk of the Air” series. Not really. Even so, there is “How The King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories”. It is the prequel of “The Cruel Prince “. It shows important details from Cardan’s childhood and why he is the person he is today.

Holly Black

Holly Black is most known for her YA fiction books. The most famous one is “The Folk of the Air” trilogy. She, from my point of view, is a great writer whom I really appreciate! If you don’t believe me, you should read her books;) She really got me into reading fantasy.

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