I've had The Stolen Heir by Holly Black on my TBR list ever since it released at the very beginning of last year. I really enjoyed the political intrigues, strong world building and complex characters in The Folk of the Air, so when I heard that this duology was a sequel to one of my absolute favorite series, I was all in. I definitely didn't expect myself to have enough self-control to wait until the duology was completed to start reading the first book, but here we are more than a year later.
The main protagonist of this book is Suren - the exiled queen of the now disbanded Court of Teeth - and a character we were first introduced to in the last book of the original series. When we last met her she was still a child, but years have passed by since the events of The Queen of Nothing, and Suren (or Wren as she prefers to be called) is now in her late teens. Life has definitely not been kind to her these past few years, and she spends her days in the human world lurking around her only connections to her former life without their knowledge, living off their scraps. Her years spent in the Court of Teeth, as well as her lonely existence, has made her an angry, feral thing.
When she is approached by Oak, the faerie prince and heir to the throne of Elfhame she knew as a child (and also main protagonist Jude from The Folk of the Air's younger brother), and invited to go on a quest to rid Elfhame of a great evil Wren knows all to well, she sees no reason to refuse. Also accompanying them on their quest is a surly, distrustful knight and a cursed prisoner. As their journey brings them closer and closer to the place Wren hoped she never had to revisit, she feels strangely drawn to the sunny prince - a bright light in her otherwise dreary existance. But Oak keeps a lot of secrets, and the closer Wren feels to him, the more she wonders what the true mission of their quest really is - or if she can even trust him at all.
Ooof, this was such a good book! Why did I wait so long to read it? I felt absolutely elated to be back in the wonderfully interesting, but extremely cruel world of Faerieland. Even though parts of the book took place in the human world, it was the faerie settings I found the most interesting. I love how Holly Black has crafted this rich world full of all these different fae creatures, and how the different characteristics of the various species of fae are so well-described. I feel like there's an infinite amount of different fae species, one more whimsical or frightening than the next. The casual cruelty of some of these creatures are mind-blowing, and every time there's some kind of fight or confrontation I'm at the edge of my seat, because the stakes just seem that high. That is some excellent writing right there.
Choosing Suren to be the main protagonist of the book was a very good move. She was a minor character that really made an impact on me while reading The Folk of the Air, and I was always really curious about her backstory. I am happy to say that a lot of my questions have been answered. Wren is such an pitiful character, because despite all the gaslighting, torture and pain she went through at the hands of her biological parents, she is still just a little girl wanting desperately to be loved. I can't wait to see her coming more into her power and hopefully gain some confidence in the next book. Learning more about Oak was also such a treat. He was so young in the original series that I never really got a read on his character, but I liked that we got glimpses of the more vulnerable side hidden behind his cheerful persona throughout this book. I'm excited to learn even more about this hidden side of him going forward.
The story is exactly as fun and fast-paced you would expect from a Holly Black book. There's less actual political intrigue in this one, as most of the time is spent away from the courts, but that doesn't mean there's not plenty of secrets, lies and backstabbing going on between our core group of characters. Theirs is a fraught alliance, and the questionable motives of several characters makes for an intriguing read. Plotwise, the ending of the book sets up a good starting point for the next book in the series with an elegant twist I really enjoyed. I asked myself earlier in this review why I waited so long to read this book, but now I'm very glad I did. It just means I can start the next book in the series tomorrow!
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