The Queen of Nothing (Volume 3) (The Folk of the Air, 3)

"Plunge a heated sword into oil and any small flaw will turn into a crack. But quenched in blood as you were, none of you broke. You were only hardened." Jude has always claimed throughout the series—through words and actions—that she belongs in Faerie despite being mortal. I think nobody understood just how true that is until The Queen of Nothing. The story opens with Jude still reeling from the pain and betrayal in The Wicked King. She's downtrodden, doesn't know what to do with herself, and wiles away her time taking side jobs from the local fae. It broke my heart with just how unhappy she was. Then Taryn comes to ask for a favor—opening the opportunity to temporarily switch places with her sister. Once Jude gets to Faerie, her inner match lights into a bonfire. "You’ve got to stop acting as though Court politics is some kind of extreme sport and stop chasing the adrenaline high." I can’t believe it’s over. This series, this world, these characters...I do not have the words to express how much happiness they've given me. "Even though I am the queen in exile, I am still the queen. And that means Madoc isn’t just trying to take Cardan’s throne. He’s trying to take mine." Black explores the depth and complexity of relationships and I think that's what truly hooked me throughout the series, but especially in this one. The relationship with Jude and Madoc has always been a complex one: How do you love a father who became your father by killing your own? A father that loves you so very much, but loves power more? Their dynamic, and the war between them, was really what carried the novel—it broke me—and it was something I didn't even know I wanted. "I know I will never do this again. I will never have him behave like this with me again. But for one final night, he’s the father I remember best, the one in whose shadow I have—for better or worse—become what I am." AND "Good-bye, then, daughter," Madoc says. "You would have made a good redcap." Tell me your heart is not breaking! Tell me that is not so tragically beautiful that you don't know whether to cuddle them because they so obviously love each other or beat them over the head because they're obviously breaking each other's hearts! THE FEELS! "To you, I offer honey wine and the hospitality of my table. But to traitors and oath breakers, I offer my queen’s hospitality instead. The hospitality of knives." Jude may be the queen of my heart. She never backs down and never gives up. I want to be her when I grow up. "By you, I am forever undone." Cardan's growth has been my world. From petulant child, to uncertain spy, to gloriously dark and confident king...we now we get to see him be the king of his people’s dreams, but also the king of his own. I don't think there will ever be another character I love so much as him. Black has made me feel altogether way too much from delighting in some of his more cruel moments to swooning in his heartfelt ones. "We have lived in our armor for so long, you and I. And now I am not sure if either of us knows how to remove it." "Is this another riddle?" I ask. "And if I answer it, will you go back to kissing me?" "If that’s what you want." AND "Mortals are fragile," I say. "Not you," he says in a way that sounds a little like a lament. "You never break." Which is ridiculous, as hurt as I am. I feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness. Still, I like hearing it. I like everything he’s saying all too well. Tell me you are not swooning! Tell me you would not want your dark king to tell you such sweet nothings! But don't worry, he's not all sugar. He still has his spice: "Oh, I don’t know," I say. "Maybe he’d like to hear me scream." "I would," Cardan says, standing. "And perhaps one day I will." Vivi: holy wow that standoff with her father was a long time coming. And when she told him to bring his whole damn army? Oh snap, girl. Oooooooh, snap! I squealed. Loudly. Grima Mog: introduced when Jude fights her in the beginning of the novel, she becomes a favorite of mine halfway through. I love how Jude accidentally picks up such powerful and amazing strays! And when she's promoted to war general? Ahhhh, yisss. "Tell me what I must slay, what I must steal, tell me the riddle I must solve or the hag I must trick. Only tell me the way, and I will do it, no matter the danger, no matter the hardship, no matter the cost." Nicasia: okay, wow. Really didn't see this redemption arc coming but was it a good one. Oak: So help me Black, you better give me a good spin off with him. SO HELP ME. This has been the series of my heart. The true magic with books is the way the written word can make you feel and Black is a master at her craft. Words cannot express just how much. I am not ready to say goodbye, but it was the perfect ending. "To family and Faerieland and pizza and stories and new beginnings and scheming great schemes. I can toast to that." Everyone needs to drop everything on their TBR and read this trilogy.

My favorite book of the trilogy. By this point I had become genuinely attached to the characters and much more invested in Jude and Cardan’s relationship. I loved the overall story and the major choices Jude makes near the end. However, my biggest criticism of the entire series was especially noticeable here: some plotlines are built up for pages and pages, only to be resolved incredibly quickly. The final confrontation in particular felt rushed and even physically confusing in places, and Madoc’s reaction didn’t completely make sense to me based on everything we had seen from his character. Despite those issues, I really enjoyed this book and felt much more emotionally connected to the characters by the end.

Ah, this book is everything! The perfect conclusion to this spellbinding adventure (though thankfully, there are several novellas I can also dive into afterward). And can we take a moment to appreciate that cover—swoooon! All the covers in this series are gorgeous but this one is my personal favorite; each element ties into the most important aspects of the plot and the color scheme is icily delicious. I’m so, so glad I picked up this series and whole-heartedly recommend it to lovers of dark fairytales and fantasy. We pick up with Jude, the Faerie Queen in exile, living in the mortal world with Vivi and Oak. Jude is miserable, doing odd jobs for other faeries in the neighborhood, until Taryn shows up asking Jude to take her place in the Elfhame court’s questioning of Locke’s murder. Why does she need Jude to pretend to be her? Oh, because Jude can honestly answer that she didn’t murder Locke, while Taryn cannot. Y’all! I have never liked Taryn more! In fact, I haven’t liked Taryn until this exact moment. Finally, she acknowledges Locke’s horrific treatment of her and his altogether unsuitability as anyone’s husband. Is murder an extreme reaction? Sure, but we know by now this is a dark fantasy and I fully support it. Sorry, not sorry. And so our exiled heroine returns to Faerieland and the final adventure takes off. The plot of the third installment is riveting and unpredictable with all of the fast-paced twists and turns we’ve come to expect. While the entire series is a true-to-form fairytale, this book more-so than its predecessors incorporates the most quintessential fairytale elements: prophetic riddles, ancient artifacts, curses (so. many. curses), people turned into animals (though no true love’s kiss will turn them back), and of course, balls. You name it, this story has it. And none of it feels out of place—it all adds to the story and develops the most luscious, magical atmosphere. The character development is once again the beating heart of the novel. After The Cruel Prince, I didn’t think it was possible for me to root as hard as I am for Jude and Cardan, yet all I want for them is a happy ending. Especially poor Cardan, who’s never really experienced love before. Any other Batman / Titans fans in the house? Cardan is really serving me Jason Todd vibes and I just want him to be okay. Of course, Cardan isn’t the only important man in Jude’s life. Madoc continues to wreak havoc—I mean, this guy just won’t quit. And to a degree, I get it. He’s a centuries-old war General and his teenage daughter is showing him up at every turn. His pride is certainly on the line. But also, he’s a selfish, raging jerk. What was the point of him spending years raising Jude and Taryn in Faerie, educating them, acting like their dad, if he was going to drop all parental feelings the moment they used what he taught them? I can’t say much more without getting into spoilers, but I’m very satisfied with the way things are left with Madoc at the end. Getting to see more of Heather and Vivi’s relationship is also fantastic. While they felt like side characters in the last book, their relationship is more front and center in this one and I finally understand why they want to be together. I also just love the bond between Jude and Heather as two mortals making their way through the perils of Faerie. On a similar note, it’s gratifying to see the three sisters finally come together and support one another. It demonstrates just how much each character has grown throughout the series. Ugh, there’s just too much I love about this book to name it all, but as far as introducing new characters in the twelfth hour goes, Grima Mog is a badass boss! Goes to show Madoc’s not the only baddie in town. Honestly, all the women stand out in this novel—even Oriana and Nicasia have their moments. This couldn’t be a more rewarding conclusion. I’m looking forward to reading How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories next because as much as I love Jude, I’m dying for a little more Cardan backstory.

I didn’t even have to stay up all night to finish this one—I devoured it in a single day because I simply could not put it down! This series was absolutely amazing. Jude has officially become one of my favorite protagonists. 👑🫶🏻 She is fierce, intelligent, and willing to make the impossible decisions when no one else can. I admired her strength from beginning to end. And Cardan… 🥹🖤 What a journey. Watching these characters grow individually and together was one of my favorite parts of the entire series. Holly Black has such a beautiful way with words. She knows exactly how to reveal just enough information to keep you desperate for the next chapter. I was constantly begging for more answers, more twists, and more moments with these characters. The clever schemes, the tension, and the slow-burn relationships all came together so perfectly. Every book kept me completely hooked, and before I knew it, I had reached the end. I’ll definitely be reading more of Holly Black’s books because this series completely won me over. If you’ve been putting off The Folk of the Air series like I did… don’t. It’s absolutely worth the hype. 🖤📚✨

I’m not even sure how to put into words the way this series has made me feel 🥺 first let me say I love it immensely and it’ll now reside in my top favorite fantasy series ever, rubbing elbow with Throne of Glass (which should really say enough if you know me at all) This series, mainly this last book, made me feel a way I haven’t felt since I read Throne of Glass for the first time 2 years ago. And even more impressive is that Holly Black was able to evoke those same feelings from me in far less than half the amount of words. In 3 books and a super short novella, Holly had be as invested and in love with these characters and this story as SJM did in 8 huge books. The way Holly can tell a story so rich and beautiful in such a succinct amount of time is incredible and thrilling. I feel like I just read a high fantasy story of epic proportions and it only took 3 books that stayed around 300 pages in length. This last book was really something else too. I enjoyed the entire series of course but this book had me on the edge of my seat biting my nails for the majority of it. A fantasy series hasn’t made my heart race like that in ages. The final battle scene had me feeling like Kingdom of Ash all over again. The chaos and surprise after surprise had my mind spinning and had me crying over and over again. I know it may seem unfair to keep comparing this series to another, but Throne of Glass means everything to me so I just want to convey how phenomenal this series was to me and how it’s cemented itself in my heart. The characters are arguably my favorite part of the whole thing. The growth we see in just three books from Cardan and Nicasia, even Vivi and Taryn, is so touching and surreal. Like looking back at book 1 Cardan and his friends I’d never have thought we’d end up here. Especially Nicasia, whose appearance made me sob hard in that final battle. The found family between Jude and the spies and Cardan, and then with Jude’s siblings just was really beautiful. Even the allies from other courts that don’t play a huge part in the grand scheme of things have a special place in my heart. I’m so glad I finally picked up this series and I believe I’ll think of little else for some time.

PART I: REVIEW 3.75 Stars "Greetings, Your Majesty, you betraying toad." - Jude I don't know how to even ATTEMPT to write a spoiler-free review for this book but I tried. I don't want to say too much but I also want to tell you every little thing I'm thinking right now after finishing TQoN. Did I like it? Hell yeah, I did. Overall it was great. But 3.75 stars mean that there are still some things I'm not completely satisfied with. Just going to throw a few things out there. ➤ Anticlimactic. And therefore a little disappointing. My expectations were probably too high. In comparison to TCP and TWK, you won't feel such a wide range of emotions anymore. Issues from the previous two books aren't real issues anymore. There were things that got solved too easily and quickly in my opinion and others that took too long. Many answers were also RIGHT THERE for us to grab and when they got resolved all I could think was "Wait, that's it? That easy?" ➤ Enjoyable. The pacing was a thousand times better than in book two. I was immediately sucked into the story and I liked Jude quite a lot in this last installment. Cardan didn't have as many scenes as I would have liked but oddly enough I didn't mind. THAT MUCH. The few that he had were awesome, and I gobbled up everything I could whenever he made an appearance. Cardan puts up a hand. "No, no, enough. It's all too tedious to explain. I declare this meeting at an end." His fingers make a flicking gesture towards the door. "Leave us. I tire of the lot of you." I have a long way to go before I can manage that level of shameless arrogance. ➤ You know how I felt after reading this book? Completely SPENT. So much has happened; you THINK you KNOW in which direction the events are taking you and then you realize you had absolutely no idea. My disappointment with certain things? It was nowhere to be found anymore after finishing. This long, long journey Holly Black took us on just made me feel entirely drained. I can't decide if everything that happened was genius or just plain messy. I know my review sounds very negative but keep in mind that I DID enjoy it. I think I'm even experiencing a book hangover. After finishing, I felt lost somehow. All I've done the first half an hour or so was to mindlessly scroll through social media while contemplating life at the same time haha. It was weird, lol but I was certain, I LIKED THE BOOK. PART II: BOOK TALK, BEST TO BE READ AFTER FINISHING THE BOOK (SPOILER!) * * * — Locke's death. ANTICLIMACTIC. I remember writing a friend, with whom I did a buddy read, that this could be a trick. That Locke's just playing one of his games again and wants to push Jude's story for his own entertainment. Sounds plausible, right? Well, turns out TARYN got the privilege of killing that annoying pest AND WE READERS WEREN'T EVEN THERE TO WITNESS IT AND BATHE IN ITS GLORY. Totally unsatisfying and LAME. It feels a little like we were robbed. — Taryn, another pesky thing/issue that got resolved too quickly. She stirred up so much trouble in TCP and TWK and now what? Everything's fine again? She did nothing to repentant for the things she did in the past. She's pregnant, gets Locke's estate and lives happily ever after? Possibly even with the Ghost? W T H? She was punished for absolutely NOTHING. How can that be? There are soo many bloodthirsty readers out there who wanted retribution. Some suffering, torture. Death? Guess we don't get anything. To be fair, I'm exaggerating right now. I'm not feeling as strongly about this anymore as I did in the beginning, because over the course of this book all my negative feelings towards Jude's enemies just vanished. Locke's and Taryn's bad deeds just faded into the background. All in all, this specific problem left me with very mixed feelings. Though I definitely didn't like it while reading, it feels like in the end, all these things didn't matter anymore. — Madoc. What the heck was that? I was so not impressed with his capitulation and his punishment. — The solutions were all written right there! 1. The cliffhanger from TWK. I felt a little dumb after getting the explanation because it was so easy 🤦‍♀‍ but then knowing THAT (how easy the answers could be) made the solution to Cardan's problem very obvious. Spill blood=kill Cardan, but that didn't mean that my heart didn't stop there for a few seconds when Jude really did take his head off lol. — Why did it take so long for Jude and Cardan to be reunited? I'm so sad. They spend so much time apart and when they finally DID meet again, it wasn't enough. I wanted moore! If Holly Black gave them a little bit more time together, where the focus was only on them, I would have been satisfied with my next point. — I'm not very happy with the turn of events near the end. It was unexpected, you know? I anticipated war or a fight between Madoc and Cardan/Jude. And what did I get? Cardan became a serpent and the whole plot suddenly centered around saving Cardan, and Jude's love for him. The word "desperate" is not a 100% fit but Jude was all about "I can't live without Cardan" and "the only way to have him by my side is to bind him to me, the rest (i.e. Madoc and his army) doesn't matter". After not getting any couple-time for what feels like ages, this sudden turn was... weird. It felt like Holly Black tried to squeeze everything (i.e. romance+enemy issue) into the last few chapters to then, conveniently, tie everything up in a nice little package.

Jaw-dropping finale? I mean…it was a finale. Jude knows what it means to be hated by the Fae. To be a human in Faerie is wrought with dangers, and one slip of the tongue or an off-handed promise could be the end of your freedom and life. But Jude also knows what it means to have power. After successfully gaining control over Prince Cardan, putting him on the throne as High King and naming herself Seneschal, Jude was finally feared. And when things between Cardan and herself began to shift from deep hatred and cruelty, to something like affection, Jude relinquishes her control over Cardan in exchange for something more: marriage and a title as Queen of Faerie. But it all came crashing down when Cardan banished her to the mortal lands for murdering his brother, and Jude is forced away from the home she loved and the power she so desperately craved. So when her twin sister Taryn shows up on her doorstep seeking help, Jude snatches the opportunity to return to Faerie and to reclaim what was once hers. But upon her return, Jude learns that Madoc plans to move against Cardan and to claim the position as High King for himself. Now Jude must decide what is most important to her: revenge or honor. I have been waiting a YEAR for this finale with anxiety ripping apart my chest and a sadness so fierce, not even chocolate chip cookies and pie could remedy it! The Cruel Prince made me look at the Fae in a way that gave me chills. It made me squirm and think twice about being lured into the woods. But The Wicked King made me want to rip my heart from my own chest and offer it to a demon that would incinerate even the essence of my emotional being. It lit me on fire, turned my soul molten in liquid flame, and dripped through my rib cage out through my skin – evaporating my body into a puddle of soupy despair. And so when I finally got my hands on The Queen of Nothing, I devoured it with the eyes of fiend in a drugstore and the screams of a thirteen-year-old boy who just saw a PS5. So how was it? HOW. WAS IT?!?! It was okay. What I love most about The Folk of the Air is that Holly Black has given readers a side of the Fae that we don’t normally get to see in YA Fantasy. So many of us have fallen in love with the Sarah J. Maas depictions of these magical and powerful creatures who are both fierce and upstanding. They hold a sense of loyalty and honor, and want love and happiness. … And then there’s Holly Black’s Fae. They are manipulative, twisted and demented creatures who find joy in twisting their words and making sneaky deals. Some kidnap, glamour and force humans to be servants in their homes, while others simply bite off a finger or two. They are immortal beings who flaunt their mystical beauty and use it to lure in unsuspecting victims like little mice lining up for slaughter. Humans are drugged through food and drink that makes them think that they are happy, but only glamors the truth of what is happening around them. In short, it’s completely cruel. And I love it. On its own, QON is a really enjoyable book. There is turmoil and a war that must be won, tricks and scheming to be had, revenge and romance to obsess over, and a few surprises that caught even me off guard. But if I put QON next to the epic gut-wrenching tomes that are installments 1 and 2… this book just falls flat and doesn’t impress me much. I was expecting to be shocked, disgusted and infuriated by what happens to these characters. I was prepared to have Cardan crush Jude’s dreams AND mine, and I was more than ready to throw this book at a wall just to rush over to it apologizing and reading it over immediately. But that just didn’t happen for me. In truth, this book feels more like fluff than the third and final installment of The Folk of the Air series. *There were countless plot-lines that weren’t tied up or were just randomly phased-out and unexplained. *Opportunities for Jude to really let her sadistic side shine were completely lacking (i.e. LOCKE). *It barely showcases Cardan, there is much less bloodshed and backstabbing, the story-line is fairly predictable, and everyone just seemed so…nice. I am just overwhelmed with not feeling overwhelmed. I think the biggest thing that has me annoyed is the relationship between Jude and Cardan. I needed ALL the information. ALL the explanations. ALL that happened while she was in the mortal lands. But did I get that?! No, not really. It’s a good thing I reread Cruel Prince and Wicked King before starting QON, because it gave me time to dissect every. single. thing. Cardan. said/did. So without giving spoilers, I’ll leave you with all the things I wanted but just didn’t get. Revenge. Double Revenge. Triple Revenge. Quadruple Revenge. Wrap-up on Lady Asha, Nicasia, and Grimsen. An actual profession of admiration, a gutting of a fox, why Jude has flowers in her side, the knowing to behead something and lastly… …THE LETTERS!

All I know is when I started reading The Cruel Prince, I wasn’t even sure if I’d like it as YA is hit or miss for me. However, Black took her time to show not only Jude’s growth but Cardans. It reminded me of Pride & Prejudice. Two extremely stubborn complicated people can’t let go of the stories they tell themselves about each other. Loved this series. The ending was perfect.

Amazing ending to an amazing trilogy. The Folk of the Air shall always have a special place in my heart.

THIS WAS A PURE MASTERPIECE! I love this series to the bottom of my heart and will definitely reread soon! Cardan is, and will forever be my number 1 book-boyfriend. This was the first series I ever read (started reading about a year ago), and I have still not read one that tops this, and I'm not sure I ever will. This whole series have my entire heart!

The Queen of Nothing is the last and best of the three books. The full series is very gripping but this last one is amazing, I couldn't put it down! I've put 4 stars to the precedent books just to say that I've loved the writing, loved the story and the characters but they are sometimes hard to imagine because it's so out of our world. Also, even though I'm bilingual, reading it in English while I don't know the specific Fairy vocabulary and which is what is a bit difficult, but that's on me. I wanted to read the book in original version and I think I would have lost a little something by reading it in French. I think the books miss a bit of description, I'm not asking for Tolkien style because I way prefer action to anything else, but I like to be helped in my imagination especially on this kind of story. Overall I really enjoyed the series and will get more of Holly Black's books! Thank you very much for sharing this world with us :)

Buen estado, muy atractivo y con una historia bastante interesante

Came in great quality! A good ending to the Queen of Nothing Triology. Incase you didn't know, there's also an extra book with stories from Cardans perspective (How the King of Elfhame...blablabla) and also the Stolen Heir Duology, which is what happens in the Future from Oaks perspective!