Book Review: The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

Faith

April 1

I think after the finale of The Cruel Prince trilogy, it was inevitable that I review The Stolen Heir. I was obsessed with The Cruel Prince Trilogy and while I did have some criticisms of the original trilogy, I still enjoyed it. So, when I heard that Holly Black was writing a sequel to Jude and Cardan's story, I knew I had to pick it up. Holly Black is truly amazing when it comes to world-building and that's one of my favourite parts of reading her novels.

So, while it has been a while since this book has been published, here are my thoughts on it:

Some people are ridiculous, especially when it comes to love.

Suren, The Stolen Heir

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

This novel takes place eight years after the events in The Cruel Prince Trilogy and it features Oak (Jude's younger brother who is to be Heir of Elfhame) and Suren (a.k.a Wren, his bothered).

In the icy north, Lady Nore has reclaimed the Ice Needly Citadel and is using an ancient relic that she hopes will help her take her revenge and rule over Elfhame.

Lady Nore's daughter, the ice queen, Suren is the only person who can stop her mother. But she lives feral in the woods, lonely and traumatised by her childhood at the Citadel. So, when Prince Oak, recruits her to go on a quest to defeat Lady Nore once and for all, she unwillingly goes along with his plans.

Oak, on the other hand, is known for his ability to charm and manipulate people to do his bidding. While Oak needs Suren's help, they both know that they cannot fully trust each other. They both have secrets and Suren's past is going to prove to be difficult to overcome.

So, I mentioned that the world-building is what attracts me to Holly Black's novels; everything else in the novel could be terrible but as long as I get the amazing world-building attributes I will be completely happy. This was not the case. While we do get some decent world-building, especially in the beginning, it felt like the spark wasn't there.

The same goes for the plot; while the plot for The Stolen Heir was simple and relatively predictable, something about it felt bland and uninteresting. I can forgive the simplicity of the plot if there was more to it. The ending was really the only part that interested me (the cliffhanger was GREAT!) On its one, as a novel beginning a new duology, I think The Stolen Heir is a good book! The problem arises when I start comparing it to The Cruel Prince trilogy. This series is a sequel to The Cruel Prince so I expected more consistency with the world-building and plot.

The characters are interesting though! Suren is the main character so it's refreshing being introduced to a new character. We also have a few other new side characters. Oak is grown up here, so while we were introduced to him when he was a child in The Cruel Prince, we get to learn more about his character throughout this novel as well. We also get mentions of Jude and Cardan throughout the novel. My only issue is that both Suren nor Oak don't feel like strong enough characters. I love Suren's backstory and motivations but again, something about the writing and execution puts me off.

Overall, something's lacking. I can't figure out if it's the world-building, plot, or the characters or all of it, but something doesn't make this novel as interesting as the other books in this universe. It's not bad! It's still a good novel, I love Holly Black's narration and I will absolutely read more from Holly Black! This is still a good novel just in comparison to The Cruel Prince it's not as good. Ultimately, I think I'm neutral about this novel.

So, that is all for my review! I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think about this novel! I've seen a lot of mixed reviews so I would love to hear your opinions on it! Until next time, thanks for reading and I hope you all have a lovely day.

*Note I recently read the second novel in this duology and I have similar opinions. Therefore, I will not be writing up a separate review for it.