How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air)

Loved the stories and the artwork is beautiful. Great companion book for the series.

I didn’t know how much I needed this until I read it, and now I wish I could hand it directly to Jude and make her read it. This novella adds so much quiet depth to Cardan. Seeing his childhood through his own eyes, understanding how stories shaped him and how cruelty was woven into his earliest memories, completely reframed his character for me. The boy behind the crown, the fear behind the cruelty, the longing beneath the mockery, it all clicks into place in the most heartbreaking way. Holly Black’s writing here is soft but devastating. Every short scene feels intentional, peeling back layers we didn’t even realize were missing while reading the main trilogy. It made Cardan’s actions, silences, and choices in The Folk of the Air series ache with new meaning. More than anything, this novella made me want Jude to know. To understand what he never said, what he never knew how to say. Because so much of their pain came from what was left unspoken and this story fills in those gaps beautifully. Tender, melancholy, and deeply necessary, this novella is the perfect companion to the series. A small book with an enormous emotional impact.

This book is much better than the Taryn-centered novella, but it comes after Queen of Nothing, and that's an impossible act to follow. And my main beef: there's not enough Jude in this book. This is a cute follow-up to the Folk of the Air trilogy, and it offers a good insight into Cardan's childhood and youth to explain exactly why he became so awful. It's Holly Black's strength that she can write about awful and traumatic experiences in such a beautiful way that the reader both feels them and can stand to read about them despite their awfulness (a difficult thing to master for a writer). The story is well-crafted, but the fairy tale that the book centers on makes the morale of the story a bit too obvious, and that's my main beef - there's not enough subtext, everything is fully explained to the reader. Might be because Holly Black writes YA, but I didn't see this problem in the Folk of the Air books. The ending is a bit weak, and my inner fangirl wanted way more Jude-Cardan interactions. Still miles better than what most fantasy writers can come up with.

I hate that this was a novella and not a whole novel because diving into Cardan’s mind was such an interesting little adventure. I loved the stories told inside and the glances into his and Jude’s future. It also showcased a lot of his past, both the bad and the good (mostly bad though) and through this, we could see his path towards wickedness - how everything started from the moment he took his first breath. One of my favourite parts was the illustrations that came with the book which made me fall in love with the characters all over again (and grin like a fool when it showed Cardan obsessing over Jude being a mortal). <spoilers> The one part that had me miffed was when Cardan learnt about Nicasia and Locke, I wish he had done more because he didn’t deserve that at all (this cemented my hate for Locke and I did very much enjoy Cardan punching him). </spoilers> Overall, this was an amazing addition to the series and I just wish it was longer because I didn’t want to finish it!

I hate having to do this but I must be honest. You do get a glance at Cardens up brining a little. I enjoyed how they show us a little into Carden and Nicasia relationship how it came about and ended. It touches on his life after The Queen of Nothing and a little on him and Jude during the first book. Like very little. Which is why I have to drop the rating down. They do have lovely artwork, I haven’t counted but it seems the book is half art half story. Also, the words on many of the pages are bigger font to make up more space. The writing also doesn’t cover the whole page. I feel a little robbed if I’m honest I paid a little over $15. I was expecting this story to go more into his childhood and more into his feelings towards Jude. At least his take on certain parts of the other books. Overall I’m still glad read it because I love this book series and I was able to learn about life before The Cruel Prince and why disliked Jude. I recommend this book to the die hard fans.

I really really enjoyed getting to see Carden and his side of life. The different stories were all so interested and interconnected and things that were shown from Jude's side in the Trilogy were much different than they were in Carden point od view. This was such a fun and beautiful might i add book to ads to the collection. The Art was stunning, I want to find some of these prints and print them off they are actually so beautiful and creative and I think it added so much to this fantasy world.

I understand all good books must come to an end at some point and the folk of the air trilogy was not meant to last. As sad as that fact makes me, because those books mean the world to me. But for that trilogy to end and then we receive this from the queen herself. What? I am shaken. This was EVERYTHING that I did not even know that I needed, but now I will never be able to forget about. This reads like a fairy tale story, and I guess in a lot of ways it is, and I loved that about it. It had stunning chapter art, and all the stories were connected to lead up to the final story, Jude, and Cardan’s last adventure. It was heartwarming, it was reflective, it was a feel-good little story about two of my favorite comfort characters, but mainly Cardan. This explained Cardan so much more. I already loved him, but this cemented that feeling. This book will forever hold a very special place in my heart now and forever. Read this if you love the Folk of the Air trilogy and Cardan and Jude are two of your favorite characters. This is a mini back story and a mini continuation of their story in fairy tale form and with stunning artwork throughout! Happy reading besties 💕

This book was good and gave me good insights on how Jude and Cardan lived after the queen of nothing, but was kind of confusing.

Se você já ama a trilogia do Povo do Ar (Folk of the Air), vai amar esse livro também! É uma história extra, fofa e interessante, que completa a trilogia. Não tem nada de super surpreendente, é verdade, mas eu gostei bastante de ver o Cardan quando era criança, de ver o lado dele em algumas cenas dos outros livros. Talvez o único problema seja que eu tive que parar e reler as cenas para me lembrar exatamente do que estava acontecendo e de como terminaram. As ilustrações são simplesmente excelentes! Combinaram muito bem com a história, com o estilo da trilogia e com o próprio Cardan! Acho que foi uma das melhores compras que já fiz e agora estou louca para reler a série toda e finalizar com ele outra vez!

‘Villains were wonderful;. They got to be cruel and selfish, to preen in front of mirrors and poison apples, and trap girls on mountains of glass. They indulged all their worst impulses, revenged themselves for the least offence, and took every last thing they wanted.’ Initially I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was going to get myself a copy of this book in print. As a major fan of the series I knew that I wanted to read it but at less than 200 pages, with illustrations, I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not this was going to be worth paying out hardback prices for. As soon as I saw a copy in person I realized how foolish these doubts were though and I can honestly say that this book is well worth treating yourself to a physical copy of. It’s definitely worth paying a little extra to own a hardback edition of the book as it’s absolutely stunning. The illustrations by Rovina Cai are exquisite and woven throughout the series of short stories wonderfully. The end pages – which are golden, no less – are truly divine. And – much to my delight – I discovered that it even has a hidden cover beneath the dust jacket. Even the paper that this book is made from is extra thick and the overall aesthetics of it are absolutely breathtaking. I’ve truly gone from wondering whether such a short book was worth the price of a hardback to wondering how on earth it didn’t cost more. It’s exquisite. As for the writing I adored it. An entire collection of short stories about Cardan; what more can a fan of the series possibly ask for? There are stories that show scenes from before and after the completed series. You get to, finally, see the world through the eyes of the infamous ‘cruel prince’ and get a glimpse into how his mind works. Naturally it was marvellously written and portrayed the fae in a wonderful manner which merged their beauty and wickedness superbly. And I can truthfully say that there wasn’t a weak story in the bunch. I’m not even sure if I can pick a favourite as I enjoyed them all so greatly. Although, despite its short length, I will say that I absolutely adored the tale of Cardan’s ‘inconvenience’. Some of the scenes from his youth were harrowing yet some of the later scenes, with Jude’s family, left me grinning like mad. How Holly Black does this I do not know. I also adored the tale that was woven throughout this collection and watching how it changed and grew. It was a wonderfully smart way to draw the collection together and I honestly do feel as if I could have read a dozen different takes on that particular tale. So yes, yes, yes I absolutely recommend this book to fans of the series; especially to those that adore Cardan as much as I do. Additionally I also highly recommend purchasing a hardback edition of this book as it’s truly exquisite and the illustrations deserve to be seen in print. Fingers crossed that someday soon I’ll get to visit the wonderful world of Elfhame again.

Parfait pour les fans de la série ! Livraison rapide et produit en excellent état. Ma sœur a adoré découvrir ce nouveau volet des aventures de Cardan. Une lecture addictive !

Ho aspettato un po’ prima di scrivere questa recensione per valutare al meglio questo splendido e utilissimo prodotto. La spedizione è stata davvero veloce con Amazon Prime e il prodotto è addirittura arrivato prima del previsto, come sempre Amazon è una garanzia. Il venditore è davvero affidabile e svolge in modo meticoloso il proprio lavoro. L'imballaggio è molto buono, di giusta grandezza, facile da aprire e curato in modo da nascondere il proprio contenuto. Tutti i materiali che compongono il prodotto in questione sono ben realizzati nei dettagli. Tutti i componenti del prodotto funzionano alla perfezione. Il design è gradevole. Sono davvero soddisfatto di questo acquisto che consiglio vivamente per il suo eccezionale rapporto qualità/prezzo. I colori del prodotto corrispondono a quelli in foto. Ero un po’ scettico in fase di acquisto visto che non vi era alcuna recensione dettagliata, ma chi mi segue sa che a me piace rischiare, quindi ho effettuato l’acquisto e devo dire che questa volta sono stato davvero fortunato perché il prodotto è davvero straordinario e molto utile per le mie esigenze quotidiane. Libro scritto in inglese. Per gli amanti del genere. 📦 Imballaggio ottimo da nascondere il prodotto all'interno 📦 💲 Ottimo Rapporto Qualità/Prezzo💲 ✅ Consiglio Vivamente L’acquisto Di Questo Valido Prodotto ✅ 🚧 GRAZIE PER L’ATTENZIONE CHE MI HAI DEDICATO!!! 🚧

Für Fans der Reihe ist es absolut Super!!! Als einzelnes Buch ist es auch gut.. Tolle Bilder!!