Book's in Review

Another fantastic read… buckle up! The book picks up about a month after Jude was exiled. She has been living with Vivi and Oak in the mortal world. To make money, she started working for a Faerie living in the moral world and essentially being what would be considered a hit man. The pay isn’t that good but considering she is an 18-year-old girl with no formal education; you take what you can get. He decides to send her after a Faerie, Grima Mog, who was sent into exile from the Court of Teeth. Grima Mog was apparently killing the Folk (other Faeries living in the mortal world) and eating them. Jude was sent there to kill her, but she knew that wasn’t possible. Instead, she thought she could talk her out of killing and eating people. Jude always said her talents were pissing the Folk off, people who already did not like her because of her mortality.

Jude brings with her a basket of meat, in hopes that she can bribe her into stop eating other people. When that proves to not work, she has to pivot. She notices a hatbox sitting on top of a small refrigerator. Jude knows she is a red cap, such as Madoc is, and knows how much the prize their caps. A red cap is someone who dips their hats in blood after each kill and they never wash their caps. Thus, a plan is formed. She threatens to burn the red cap if Grima Mog won’t give her her word that she will stop killing and eating Folk. Being a Faeirie, she could not lie nor could she break a promise. However, Grima Mog has a better idea: a duel. Not quite for death but nothing as simple as first blood, which was Jude’s suggestion. No, Grima Mog want’s Jude to beg for her life. Jude is instantly nervous. While a skilled fighter, she is no match for Grima Mog. She knows this. Not to mention, the only weapon she has on her person is a slim knife. She realizes she has to think quick.

She quickly outsmarts Grima Mog and wins the duel, much to disbelief. When she returns home to the apartment she shares with Vivi, she finds Heather sitting on the porch. Heather tells her she misses Vivi but isn’t ready to make things right. Heather help’s Jude inside, despite the risk of running into Vivi but Jude was injured. Inside, Jude was surprised to run into her sister Taryn, who betrayed her before Jude was exiled. Taryn needs Jude’s help, but Jude is reluctant. Taryn informed Vivi and Jude that she murdered Locke and she is under suspicion with Cardan. She asked Jude to go in her stead. Jude is relucted to do so due to her exile and complicated feelings toward Cardan. She doesn’t know if she could face him. Taryn admits that she is pregnant with Locke’s baby. Jude agrees to go to protect her sister but also to see Cardan again. Jude would be protected from being glammoured and could lie, while Taryn would not be.

Despite being identical twins, Cardan claims he knew it was Jude right away and asked her if she received any of his letters because she never responded. She was confused as to what letters he was referring to. While they were confronting one another, there was an explosion and when Jude went to investigate, she was taken by Madoc who thought he was rescuing Taryn. Jude wakes up at Madoc’s camp and has to formulate a plan for her to escape. While investigating the camp site, she hears a noise come from a cave. She sneaks in and sees the Ghost in chains. The Ghost explains the reason why he betrayed Jude. He explained that after he killed Locke’s mother, he was in guilt. He went to Locke to offer his protection. He said he gave the faerie his true name so he could command him to do anything he wanted. In return, he also offered Madoc the Ghost’s true name as part of the dowry when he married Taryn. It was Madoc who commanded the Ghost to betray Jude. It was Madoc who commanded the Ghost to destroy the tunnels where the Court of Shadows housed their operations.

Jude vowed she would find the keys to unlock the chains and bring the Ghost with her the following day. When she returned to the tent, Oriana was up waiting for her. She figured out it wasn’t Taryn she was staring at, but Jude. Jude explained she had plans to leave the following day and asked her to write Vivi a letter in the mortal world. Oriana agreed, as long as Jude was not to kill Madoc. Jude just wanted to leave so she agreed. The next day, Oriana kept Jude busy all day until it was time for her to deliver tea to Madoc. Jude decided to use this opportunity to get a peak of Madoc’s plans, while he surprises her with the announcement of her own tent. Sometime, during the early morning, she is surprised by the Roach and Cardan, who are with Vivi and Taryn, to save Jude. To say Jude is surprised to see the High King is an understatement. Jude tells them about the Ghost and how she promised to break him out. They go to Grimsen’s tent, because he is the one who designed the chains that are on the Ghost so there the keys must be. The tent is booby-trapped and the Roach got shot with an arrow of poison.

Fortunately, the poison wasn’t enough to kill him. Cardan picked him up and was going to take the Roach and Jude to the safety of the castle, but Jude hesitated because her sisters were still there. She told Cardan she was going to go to them, but of course, she lied. Instead, she went to the cave where the Ghost was. However, Madoc was there waiting. He finally figured out that she wasn’t Taryn when she lingered too long in is war room. Jude, terrified, did the one thing she swore she wouldn’t do — she ran. Madoc, being immortal, caught up rather quick and a duel enfolded. He cut Jude up pretty badly and that is when Vivi and Taryn showed up — with Grima Mog in tow. Vivi and Grima Mog threatens Madoc, which forces him to run while Jude bleeds out. Jude decides to see if the earth will heal her, since she is married to the High King. She asks Taryn to pack the wound with snow, which confuses her twin until Vivi informs her that she married Cardan. Though she is surprised, she does as she is asked and blooms are sprouting about where her blood lays.

Jude informs her sisters she needs to get to the castle fast because she fears Madoc sent the Ghost to kill Cardan. Once inside the castle, she passes a note to a musician to give to someone on the Living Council, while Jude climbs to the rafters and wait while everyone is at a banquet. However, the Bomb thinks Jude is the threat and positions herself on the other side, ready to take her friend out. Jude falls, crashing onto the table. When the other members of the Living Council recognize Jude, they demand Cardan executes her for breaking her exile. It is then Cardan reveals that Jude is actually his wife and therefore the High Queen. While everyone is shocked by this turn of events, the pain caused from Jude’s injury knocks her unconscious.

When she comes to, she finds herself in Cardan’s bed, but he is nowhere to be seen. She hastily dresses in one of Cardan’s shirts and heads to where her old rooms were at, where she finds Oak playing a game and she finds some of her own clothes to change into. Not long after, Taryn comes in with Vivi and Heather. They reveal how the High King came to look for Jude in the mortal world when they received the message from Oriana. As though appearing because he was summoned, Cardan appears and asks if Jude was up for a walk. Vivi started to protest but Cardan said the Living Council wants to speak with her. Before they go to speak with them though, Cardan and Jude have to talk. A lot happened between them, and a lot was unsaid between them. Cardan admits that the wording he used when he exiled her was a trick, one he was hoping she would understand. The way he worded it was that she could return if the Crown allowed her to and considering she was the High Queen, she could have ended her own exile. He only exiled her to protect her because the Undersea wanted justice and that was the best he could do.

The Living Council was upset that Cardan got married without their approval — or without even telling him. Though, Cardan doesn’t care and sends them away. The Bomb shows up to change Jude’s stitches and a servant comes to say she has been summoned to Lady Asha. The Bomb encourages Jude to remember she is a queen isn’t supposed to be on beck and call. Jude takes what the Bomb says in consideration but still goes to see Lady Asha. It is clear that Lady Asha does not care for Jude. Lady Asha informs Jude that Cardan is not an easy person to love and he will eventually grow to despise her and the reason behind the warning is because, according to Lady Asha, Jude is already doomed. Lady Asha knew Jude already loved Cardan and has loved him since she first questioned her about her own mother. Jude, taking a big risk, confront Lady Asha about intercepting the letters Cardan wrote to her, thinking she was trying to maybe protect Jude. Jude had no proof that she was behind the missing letters, so it was a gamble. However, since Lady Asha could not lie, she says nothing. Jude takes this as an admission.

As she is heading back to the royal rooms, she is intercepted and brought to the Great Hall where there is a crisis going on. When she arrives, she sees Nicasia visibly upset and at the sight of Jude, she jumps on the offensive. Nicasia’s mother, Queen Orlagh was attacked. Turns out, Jude thought the wrong royal was to be attacked. Madoc ordered the Ghost on the queen of the Undersea. Jude realizes the plan wasn’t to kill the queen. That would bring the Folk of the Undersea more on Cardan’s side. Madoc intended to severely wound the queen in such a way where he could hold death over her. After Nicasia storms out, the Living Council retires to a war room to discuss strategy. Jude proclaims that Madoc will want a duel with Cardan. Cardan, who is not a skilled swordsman, does not want to duel but understands it will make him look weak if he refuses. The council meeting is interrupted when Jude receives a message that Taryn needs to see her as soon as possible. To the dismay of the rest of the council, Jude and Cardan leave at once and arrive at Balekin’s old residence. There, they come across Taryn in the prisons and she is not alone. She trapped the Ghost below in an oubliette.

Taryn reveals that the Ghost came looking for Jude while she was in her rooms and that he asked to be retrained before Madoc could give him anymore commands. When Jude looked down at the Ghost, she noticed he looked unwell. He was pale and with haunted eyes looking up at her. Jude asked the Ghost about what he did to Queen Orlagh and he confirmed that Madoc gave him a bolt that was heavy in his hand and squirmed like it was living. He also said Lord Jarel put a magic on him that allowed him to breath underwater but made his skin burn as though covered in ice. He also confirmed that Madoc commanded him to shoot the queen anywhere besides the head or the heart and the bolt will do the rest. The Ghost revealed he was able to get away by hiding out in the corpse of a shark until the coast was clear. Cardan asked if Madoc gave him any other orders and he confirmed he did before he started trying to crawl up the oubliette. Before Jude can start to panic, Taryn reveals she knows the Ghost’s true name and commands him to forget all commands besides her own.

Cardan decided to give him over to the Bomb and let her decide what to do with in. In the carriage, Cardan and Taryn have a civil conversation where she tells him about things only found in the mortal world, including gummy candy. When the return to the castle, Cardan takes the Ghost to the Bomb while Taryn walks an exhausted Jude back to the royal rooms. Taryn makes a comment that Cardan was trying to impress her for Jude’s sake. Even though so much has happened between Taryn and Jude, that is still her twin sister, and Cardan knows how important she is to her. Though Jude doubts he was making polite conversation for her sake and it was just confirmation, to herself, when she woke up the next morning alone and it looks like she was alone the entire night.

The next morning, Randalin barges in giving Jude barely enough time to dress in one of Cardan’s shirts. He essentially demands that Jude step down as there has never been a mortal queen. Randalin claims the lower courts have arrived to bear witness to Madoc challenging the crown, but they also smell weakness. He believes the fact that they have a mortal queen is a weakness. At that moment, Cardan and Grima Mog show up. Cardan asks to speak to Randalin out in the hall while Grima Mog feeds Jude soup, that makes her feel better. Afterwards, Cardan came back and announced that there is to be a ball tonight, in which, Jude is expected to speak to other rulers. Out of Cardan and Jude, she is the only one that can lie. She has to make sure neither she nor Cardan looks weak. She has to make sure their allies think they can win, even if Cardan nor Jude feels the same.

During the ball, Heather admits to Jude that she made a bargain with Vivi. When they were to return home to the mortal world, they would break up and Vivi would make Heather forget her and Faeirieland. Heather and Vivi were supposed to return home before Madoc arrived. However, to prolong the inevitable, Heather (and Jude) lies and tells Vivi that Jude asked them to stay for a few more days. After the ball, Cardan and Jude finally spend the night together. Then they spend the next two days preparing for Madoc’s arrival. They come up with schemes and plans. When the day arrives, both Cardan and Jude wait for Madoc in the Great Hall. Beforehand, Cardan finally admits that he loves Jude. Before she had a chance to respond, he walks out, as though afraid of what she will say. Madoc is noticeably surprised to see Jude beside Cardan, as High Queen. As predicted, Madoc shows up to the Court with Lady Nore, Lord Jarel and their daughter, Queen Suren (in the bridle that controls her), from the Court of Teeth as well as Grimsen and he proposes a duel. A duel, in which Cardan backed down from. He is, after all, not a swordsman. Cardan asks Madoc to put down his weapon as the High King does not have one. Madoc’s weapon, however, is a special one designed by Grimsen. He slammed it down on the ground and the earth split in two, drawing a line through Cardan’s throne.

Cardan removes the crown from his head and breaks it apart after a very passionate speech. This proved to be a very wrong thing to do. Grimsen designed the crown and admitted to Jude that he cursed all of his objects. Breaking the crown in two activated the curse and turned Cardan into a giant serpent. The serpent immediately notices Grimsen and goes to kill him then he escapes. Jude is now forced to make all the decisions on her own, especially since Grimsen confirmed there was no way to break the curse. Madoc, Lord Jarel and Lady Nore corner her and suggest an alliance. They are willing to give her a bridle to put on the serpent so she can always control him. Jude tentatively agrees. They also offer their daughter, Queen Suren, to marry Oak so one day, she may become High Queen. The offer, however, was declined. On the day that she is supposed to bridle the serpent, Jude struggles with having to do so. She realizes she loves Cardan and may never be able to tell him. She doesn’t want to bridle him because she loves him and knows she has to trust him. Instead of putting the bridle on the serpent, she cuts the head off.

She doesn’t know what would happen if she did this. She doesn’t know if Cardan will live or die. She did it anyway, and this caused a battle among the sides. She kills Lord Jarel and before anything else can happen, Cardan steps out of the serpent’s body. Covered in blood and completely naked, but alive. Jude runs to him, regardless of his filthy body. The war is over and they won! Cardan is back and Jude professes her love for him. He originally thinks she is saying it out of pity, but she isn’t. A few weeks later, it’s time to handle out sentences. The men in Madoc’s army that decided to repent go to come back to Elfhame with no punishment. The men who decided too not repent, got a curse on them. They will be turned into falcons and may not hunt for one year and one day. Failure to do so will leave them as birds. In order to survive, someone must willingly feed them. When it is Lady Nore and Queen Suren’s chance, Oak asks for leniency for the child. Jude ordered Lady Nore to swear fealty to Queen Suren, making her do whatever the child commands. Finally, Jude banished Madoc to the human world and made it so he would never pick up a weapon again.

So let me just say, going into this book, I didn’t quite not what to expect. I’ve heard people absolutely hating the book. I’ve also seen mixed reviews. However, I enjoyed the book. The slow burn was a little bit too slow for my taste, but I liked that we could definitely tell they had feelings for one another. I read the kindle version but thanks to Reddit, I was able to read Cardan’s notes. I wished they were included in all versions though. I thought they added to Cardan’s overall growth. Usually, when I finish a series, I am too emotionally invested in the characters, and it is hard to say goodbye. I mentioned earlier that I really didn’t care for the characters. I still agree with that statement. However, I did read The Stolen Heir and The Prisoner’s Throne (I’m way behind in reviews, I realize. Work is kicking my ass this week), despite not caring for any of the characters. I won’t delve into my review of those two on this post, but Cardan and Jude appear so little in those stories that I still am having a hard time connecting with them. Anyway, I did enjoy this series, but I don’t think I’ll add it to the read again pile (I will still review books I read again).