Warning: This book review contains spoilers for “The Queen Of Nothing” by Holly Black. Don’t read this review if you want to avoid spoilers!
Happy October, everyone! I hope that all of you had a wonderful September and that this October is just as good as, or better, than the previous month!
Cover of the book “Queen Of Nothing” by Holly Black.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “The Queen Of Nothing” by Holly Black! I read the first two books before, so I’m finally finishing this trilogy by reading the third book. Here is a summary so we know what it’s about:
“He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…”
Plot Development: 1 out of 5 stars
Barely anything happened in this story, in terms of major events. There were a few plot points that had potential for great development, such as Taryn murdering her husband and Jude taking her place to keep her safe, but those plotlines were quickly axed in favour of new, emerging ones later on in the book. The entire main plot was ultimately rushed because of this, and none of it developed into anything that sustained themselves throughout the whole or most of the book. None of the action in this book excited me at all, because they being ended almost too-conveniently, just as they were starting to get interesting for me to read. I also thought the last sixth of the book was rushed in resolving all the loose ends in the series’ plotlines, as well.
Character Development: 1 out of 5 stars
Literally no one had any development other than maybe some changes in political power, but that doesn’t count for their internal development. Jude didn’t even get much of a chance to show off any of the cleverness she had from the first two books in navigating the faerie courts, and so I felt that the book wasted .
None of the other characters, like Cardan, Taryn, Oak, and Heather, had much development, either. They more-or-less stayed the same as they did for the previous two books, which is unfortunate. Some of the faerie nobility also felt out-of-character compared to the previous books, as they too-readily accepted Jude as their queen by the end of the book. I hoped to see more struggle for Jude to prove herself as the Queen of Faerie, as well as more convincing acceptance from the rest of the court in return, but they welcomed her with open arms too fast for me to find it convincing.
Romance Development: 1 out of 5 stars
Why push Cardan and Jude together romantically now? Sure, I understand we’ve seen potential glimpses of them having chemistry in the past two books. However, I felt that the previous two books also made it clear that they weren’t really romantic, due to the two acting more as enemies and/or political rivals to each other. The book pushing these two romantically together, with very little build-up, was not a good choice when taking their previous, antagonizing interactions with each other into account.
Worldbuiding Development: 1 out of 5 stars
I honestly thought there would be further development of the Undersea, as well as the rest of the faerie court that might help impact the plot and/or character development. Unfortunately, any new developments given in this book are underdeveloped and made little sense to me as a reader, and none of the worldbuilding that was already established in the previous books was built upon, either.
Overall, I’m rating this book 1 out of 5 stars!
Unfortunately, this book is a dissatisfying ending to the whole trilogy. I’m disappointed that I have to rate this book, and the second book in this trilogy, at such low ratings. I do think there could be more potential for this trilogy to be a great read, had there been more fleshed-out development into at least the characters and worldbuilding beyond what we got in the first book and what little we also got in the latter two books.
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A 1 out of 5 stars. I’m kind of glad I didn’t pick up this series. It just didn’t catch my attention.
The first book was okay, but I was disappointed in the execution of the latter two books (including this one). I hope you find a book series that you enjoy!
The last series I finished was Throne of Glass and that was last year. I’m still feeling it! Lol