[Asis’ Review] The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing
by Holly Black
Narrator: Caitlin Kelly
Series: The Folk of the Air #3
Pages: 300
Length: 9 hours 40 minutes
Release Date: November 19th 2019
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, YA
Source: Publisher
Format Read: ARC, Audiobook
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The finale to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy, that started with The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, from award-winning author Holly Black.

After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.

When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.

When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Queen of Nothing is the third and final book in the Folk of the Air series, you can read my review of the first book right HERE: REVIEW OF THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black. And of the second book right HERE: REVIEW OF THE WICKED KING by Holly Black. There might be spoilers of those books ahead on this review.

Holly Black’s writing is absolutely beautiful and it completely transported me. Her descriptions, the action, the character’s minds… I love it.

After the masterpiece that was The Wicked King, I do have to say this conclusion didn’t feel AS epic. The story was slightly more predictable and not as mind-blowing. TWK is still superior in my book. However, I definitely enjoyed it, it kept me excited and freaking out and it was not disappointing.

I love the action (as little as we got) that Holly writes. It completely enthralls me. I also really liked that we got to spend time in settings we hadn’t seen before on these books. I still think the world-building Holly Black created is absolutely phenomenal and the same goes for the fairies, I LOVE the way she writes them.

The narrator was absolutely amazing. She somehow managed to make the writing even more magical for me and this audiobook has seriously opened the door for me to how amazing they can be.

I want to talk about Cardan first of all, because seriously y’all, I didn’t think I could love him more than I already did yet that’s exactly what happened. I am obsessed and SO in love with him. This book just reaffirmed my belief of what a magnificent and powerful king he could be. He is such a complex, interesting person (or fae?) with so much depth and many layers and I am officially his biggest fan.

Now about Jude… don’t get me wrong, I still freaking ADORE her, she was as badass and smart and amazing and she’s still (and always will be) one of my favorite heroines of all time. However, I did feel like a certain spark from her was missing a little after the last book, in regards to her plans, ideas, and attitude.

As for their relationship, I don’t even know anymore how to explain the level of obsession I’ve reached with these two. Every single scene of them together had me at the highest fangirl level and the wait for this was absolutely worth it. I feel like I’m just repeating myself after 3 reviews of the series but seriously, the development of this relationship is one of my favorite things I’ve ever read. For sure my favorite team and power couple right there.

I do wish we’d gotten more love scenes though because honestly, that wasn’t enough to satisfy my craving heart.

As for the secondary characters… I loved the way the sisters’ relationship worked on this book, I retract now my hate towards Taryn a little bit. I also really liked how much more we got to see from Oak, this time he felt more interesting and relatable and I hadn’t seen that in the previous books.

And the Court of Shadows, the dynamics of ALL its members (no spoilers, but yes ALL its members lol) … one of my favorite things from Queen of Nothing. LOVED IT. BIG TIME. All of them have my entire heart.

As for the final confrontation… I guess I was expecting something even bigger and it was a little underwhelming. The book even felt shorter than the other two and I don’t know if it was because of that or if it was indeed shorter. The resolution and its aftermath, the fate of the villains… it felt too easy in a way and even a little open, which you know how much I hate.

In general, I really enjoyed the book. Even if in less amount than I wanted to, and in less amount compared to what book 2 did for me… it definitely did have the feel of the previous ones, along with the things about them I had loved so much. The trilogy as a whole will remain in my favorites shelf forever and I genuinely recommend it to anyone and everyone.