Holly Black

Holly Black is an American fantasy author whose Folk of the Air trilogy — beginning with The Cruel Prince — became hugely popular for its morally grey characters and propulsive fae court intrigue.

Holly Black has been writing fantasy since the early 2000s, and The Cruel Prince, published in 2018, brought her to the largest readership of her career. The novel follows Jude, a mortal girl raised among faeries after a tragedy that took her parents’ lives, as she navigates the treacherous politics of the High Court and clashes with the brilliant, cruel faerie prince Cardan. The book’s combination of sharp court intrigue, a genuinely antagonistic central relationship, and a protagonist who wins through cunning rather than power proved enormously appealing to readers of young adult and adult fantasy alike.

The Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing continue and complete the trilogy, each volume escalating the stakes and the complexity of the Jude-Cardan dynamic. Black handles political scheming with real skill — the machinations of the fae court are intricate without becoming confusing, and the consequences of each choice feel genuine. Jude is an unusually satisfying protagonist for the genre: ruthlessly practical, self-aware about her own limitations, and not defined by her relationships even when those relationships are central to the plot.

Black’s writing is brisk and confident, and she has a good instinct for where to place chapter breaks. Some readers find the romantic development between Jude and Cardan slightly rushed in the final volume, and the resolution of the trilogy’s central political conflict is more conclusive than the setup strictly required. These are modest complaints about a series that delivers on its premises with consistency and style.