From the Bookshelf of Ranters and Reviewers…

“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”

“The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock.” Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long-fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger. “Someone tries to betray the High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look, murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder.”

“I hate you," I breathed into his mouth. "I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else.”

“I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone—truly gone beneath the waves—I hated myself as I never have before.”

“If he thought I was bad, I would be worse. If he thought I was cruel, I would be horrifying.”

“Your ridiculous family might be surprised to find that not everything is solved by murder,” Locke calls after me.

“We would be surprised to find that,” I call back.”

“Revenge is sweet, but ice cream is sweeter.” She goes to the freezer and removes a tub of mint chocolate chip. She brings that and two spoons back to the sofa. “For now, accept this delight, unworthy though it is for the Queen of Faerie in exile.”

"He bares his teeth as he advances on me, and I, who have been pretending to subservience, remember my most troublesome talent: pissing off the Folk."

- The Cardan-Nicasia-Locke relationship. After how much they've betrayed and played each other, how can they possibly still want to be around one another? I can't wrap my head around it. Like, why make Locke Master of Revels when he took Nicasia from you, then played her and played Jude too?

- The hate fucking scene. What the hell was that? As much as I ship them together, there was no build up. Epic love stories, or just any love story really, aren't supposed to come from giant red flags. That screamed toxic relationship to me from miles away.

- The Heather and Vivi situation. That was clearly going to go wrong, one way or another. I just feel like Heather is a filler, a tool to get Vivi out of Faerie and then there's no more use for her.

- When Jude is taken to the Undersea I felt absolute indifference about the betrayal. I should've been screaming because it's someone I actually liked in the first book, but instead I was just like oh, okay. Why? Because he practically doesn't show up in this whole book! If he had been more present, it would've made more of an impact. Not to mention that we don't know why (other that he disn't like to be bossed around by her) or what he got in return.

- Speaking of the Undersea. What was that like? I can't tell you because I wasn't told. It's this place under the sea with mermaids and who knows what else and we got to see nothing of it.

- Which leads me to: the world-building. I had this problem in the first book too. I don't feel like the world is real enough, I don't know what it looks like. All I know is that it must be tiny, because Jude seems to be able to get everywhere by foot.

- And not just the world, but the different courts too, I feel like they are underused and could have much more presence. The Court of Termites, for example, they are only used to get Jude moving, but nothing else. The Undersea is just a catalyst. Not to mention Cardan's mother, whose presence serves no purpose at all.

- And finally, the characters. Like I said in my review for The Cruel Prince, not many characters are straight on likeable, which isn't a bad thing, I love me some flawed characters. But they need to have redeeming qualities for me to be able to root for them. Right now the only characters I can say I fully like are the Bomb, the Roach and Cardan. You know that thing that happens right at the end? I'm taking Cardan's side on that, she had it coming. The problem is that most characters are just pawns of the story, they're there to fulfill whatever is needed from them and then disappear into the background. And what about Jude? I liked her better in this book, because she starts to worry about Oak and Cardan and puts others before herself, but I still cannot connect with that thirst for power of hers, I get where it comes from but still... no.