Review: The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black

WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers for Holly Black's The Folk of the Air, as well as for The Stolen Heir - the first book in this duology. If you have yet to read these books, I would advise against reading any further.

After finishing The Stolen Heir yesterday, I was eager to dive right into the final book in this duology. Luckily for me, it was a Sunday, and so I had all the time in the world to read. And read I did. I actually read this book in a single sitting.

We last met prince Oak, heir to the faerie kingdom of Elfhame, shortly after he had been thrown in jail for betraying his childhood friend and quest partner from the previous book, Suren (Wren). The once disbanded Court of Teeth has risen from its ashes, and a reluctant Wren is forced to take up the mantle as the new queen of the Court she spend most of her life running from. Oak still cares deeply for Wren. He sees what toll her destructive magic takes on her, and he is desperate to save her before it is too late. Even though he knows he has single-handedly shattered the trust she once she had in him, he is desperate to get it - and also her - back.

But the High Court of Elfhame will not let the imprisonment of their heir go unpunished, and Oak's sister Jude - the High Queen - will do anything to get her younger brother back. When Oak learns of a plan to break him out of prison - a plan that may just end in a war that will destroy everyone and everything that he loves - he comes up with a plan of his own. All he has to do is convince Wren to play along. To his great surprise, she agrees. Before long Oak, Wren and their retinues are on a boat heading towards Insmire, the capital of Elfhame. Oak is hopeful this will give him a chance to make things right with her, as Wren is the only person who has ever seen him for who he really is. But Wren has her own demons and agenda. Before long, Oak finds himself torn between his family and the girl he has always loved - and war is on the horizon.

This was a solid ending to a beautiful duology, although I didn't love the book as much as I thought I would. I loved the insight we got into Suren's mind in the first book, and how the first-person narration allowed us to really understand the depths of her character. In The Prisoner's Throne the point of view shifts from Wren to Oak, and at the same time also shifts from a first-person to third-person narrative. Oak is a fascinating character, and we do get to know him a lot better, but I didn't really feel as connected to him as I did to Wren in The Stolen Heir. I find the budding relationship between the two to be the most interesting part of the storyline, but sadly they don't have as many meaningful interactions in the latter half of the book as I wanted. Fans of the original series will however be thrilled to have old characters like Jude, Cardan and Madoc back, and get a glimpse into what they have been up to for the past eight years.

The supporting characters are delightfully morally grey, and there were plenty of times I suspected innocent characters of some kind of nefarious plots. The political intrigues and maneuvering in this book are more reminiscent of what we saw in The Folk of the Air, and it is something Holly Black does rather masterfully. I did like how the author kept us guessing as to where the story was going. There is a lot of tension and mistrust between the High Court and Wren's faction, and as the end of the book got closer, I was seriously worried as to how the story would wrap up. In the end I was satisfied with the ending, but I do wish we had gotten a little more time with our main characters after the final conflict.

There is definitely a new story being set up by the very end of the book, and Holly Black has also confirmed she's not done with this world just yet. All I can say on that is: I'm here for it!