book review for "the queen of nothing" by holly black

Disclaimer: Do NOT read this review if you have not read “The Cruel Prince” or “The Wicked King.”
Book: Queen of Nothing
Author: Holly Black
Page Number: 305 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/ 5 stars

The Cruel Prince: 5/5 (I rarely give out 5 stars by the way)
The Wicked King: 5/5
Queen of Nothing: 4 /5

“I hate being a fool. I hate the idea of my emotions getting the better of me, making me weak. But my fear of being a fool turned me into one.”

This is a review that pains me to write. I really wanted to love this book and had such high expectations…. QON (Queen of Nothing) just didn’t seem to have the magic that the other two books in the series had. I still devoured this book in one day but something was missing. Yet I can’t stand rating the last book of my 5th favorite series anything less than four stars, so it gets a few extra points simply out of pity. 

Synopsis: Power is much easier to acquire than to hold on to. Jude has learned this the hard way after the recent betrayal she received from Cardan. Cursing herself over her stupidity, Jude now resides in the Mortal World, as a queen of nothing. Until Jude’s sister, Taryn, comes to her in search of help. One that requires Jude to venture into the Faerie World in which she is exiled from. But Elfame is not how she had left it. War is coming, and it is coming soon. 

Right away, when I first got this book I was surprised at how short it was. There is no way everything can be resolved in just 305 pages! And I was right. There is still a lot of unresolved, barely touched on issues. I am predicting that this is because Holly Black has decided to keep things a bit open ended because she is thinking of a spinoff series, with Oak as the main character. 
The shortness of the book also contributed to the ending being rushed, but more on that later. 

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

What I liked: 

Jude: I’ve always loved Jude and considered her one of the most clever main protagonists ever. Usually I like Cardan and Jude equally, however Cardan was a huge disappointment in this book, so Jude stood out even more. Note: But I did think it was weird how Jude had become less revenge motivated in this book. 
The First 75 Pages: I don’t even know why I enjoyed these pages as much as I did, but they were awesome! Spoilers: This book did not disappoint in the first 75 pages which is up until after Cardan discovers that it was Jude at the inquisition and not Taryn. I loved these initial pages because I got to read about how Jude was adjusting to the Mortal World and I got to read about the scene where Jude and Cardan meet again! *squeals* 
Grima Mog: I love her!!!! And that fight scene at the beginning of the book was awesome.
Madoc’s Ending: Spoilers: I’m actually happy with the ending that Madoc gets. They all get to live together as a family again and Madoc can try to become the good father that he never was. Although there are many problems with this ending (Madoc could fill Oak’s head with propaganda and ideas for when he gets older and becomes king), I still love Madoc’s ending.

“‘It’s you I love,’ he says. ‘I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.’ He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. ‘You probably guessed as much,’ he says. ‘But just in case you didn’t.’”

Why this book was a massive disappointment: 

1. Cardan: Ok I know that in an enemies to lover trope, they can’t always stay enemies and that the boy can’t always be a jerk…. But I didn’t expect Cardan to be a master of trickery in “The Wicked King” and then suddenly turn into a mushy, super nice guy in “Queen of Nothing”. Where’s the transition? As a reader, it would have really helped to actually read about the pain that Cardan felt when Jude was gone and see how that pain turned into love instead of just Cardan saying “I missed you while you were gone” or something like that. Cardan felt out of character this whole book.
2. Lady Asha: What was the point? There’s all this built up tension about Lady Asha and her circle of rebels. You would think that she would play a role in this book, but SHE. DOESN’T. She has absolutely no role in this book, which makes me mad, because the ending could have used more plot twists/action. Which leads me to my next point:
3. The Battle (Spoilers): Was there even one? This was supposed to be a high stakes battle and the final one in this series. It should have ended the series with a bang! Instead the “battle” (if you can even call it one) lasted about 3 pages and had no action whatsoever. Why did Jude even bother gearing up for a battle? Nothing happened. To make things even more dull, Holly Black decided to make Madoc surrender (which seemed very out of character for Madoc). 
4. The Lame Ending (Spoilers): Cardan turning into a snake was unexpected and I was happy that finally there is some kind of plot twist in this book! However the ending just erased the impact of that scene. Even though I love Cardan, the ending would have had a more lasting impact if he had died. (I didn’t get the need to resurrect Cardan? Jude chopped off the snake’s head so he should have been dead.) My favorite endings are always the most memorable, in which a character that was very dear to me dies. As much as I hate characters dying, without it, the book seems too perfect. In “Queen of Nothing”, nobody died and it made the ending seem unrealistic, especially since they all just came out of a huge “battle”. 
5. Cardan’s reason for Exilement (Spoilers): Seriously? After that amazing plot twist at the end of “The Wicked King”, you’re telling me that it was all just a big misunderstanding on Jude’s part?! It would have been so much better if Cardan actually had intention to take revenge on Jude and that’s why he exiled her.
6. Jurdan: I loved this couple so much but I didn’t feel the magic between them like I did in the first two books.

“By you, I am forever undone”


While I didn’t like this book as much as I wanted to, I still am sad to see these characters go. Jude and Cardan will always have a special place in my heart. The Cruel Prince is a book that I will never stop recommending and even if the last installment in the series wasn’t the best, I will continue to recommend this trilogy!