The Queen of Nothing: 3 (Folk of the Air)

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Along with some begging on your part. A little light grovelling.' He gives me an embarrassed smile. “My fantasies were rife with overweening ambition.'" [1] The Queen of Nothing has been one of my most anticipated releases of the year ever since its publication date was moved from January 2020 to November 2019, and Im pleased to say it didnt disappoint! Everything feels like it is chaos, and at the start of this book we see Jude slowly accept her fate, while also learning the pain of her anger and betrayal. She is taking side-jobs from the fae residing among humans, and she just takes on a job that is about to really test her skills. Especially when she comes out of the job realizing that things might really not be going that great for Cardan in the realm of the fae. But Jude doesn’t care, right? But she gets an opportunity to go to faerie and see for herself, regardless of her exiled status, and the situation is a matter of life and death.

That doesnt mean this book isnt without its problems and I have a feeling its going to be a fairly polarising finale not because of its ending or anything, but because of the way we get to that ending. Like the other books in this trilogy, The Queen of Nothing moves along at quite a fast pace and there are plenty of moments that could have been drawn out or questions that could have been answered. Lady Asha, as the mother of a prince, found herself much in demand with the Court, if not the High King. Given to whimsy and frivolity, she wished to return to the merry life of a courtier. She couldn’t attend balls with an infant in tow, so she found a cat whose kittens were stillborn to act as his wet nurse.I could see where the plot was going from fairly early on and I could guess the solution to the novels major problem straight away, but, honestly, I didnt care. This series is just so much fun to read; these books are like popcorn, sweet and salty and moreish, and Ive read this whole trilogy this year purely and simply to be swept away somewhere else and entertained. This final book continued to do that for me, and I really enjoyed it! Moments later, a terrible explosion is heard and Madoc soldiers enter and capture Jude, thinking she is Taryn. Madoc soon appears and wraps his arm around her waist, as the girl collapses. In the previous book, they kept hinting something about Jude's mother, some secret or something but it was mentioned basically once in this book and then nothing of it.

What about Lady Asha and what she did. She was build up as this untrustworthy character, and then she was left out. Madoc may have been punished but in a very unpunished way. I wanted someone to suffer! Also, the way he just stopped fighting seemed a bit out of character for him. The coronation takes place, but before Dain gets crowned, it is sabotaged by Prince Balekin and Madoc, who kills him. Balekin can only be crowned by a member of the royal family, but in the ensuing scuffle, multiple members of the family get killed, leaving only Cardan of the Greenbriar line. Cardan hides, is found by Jude and both of them evacuate the halls. Jude later places Cardan in the arrest of the Court of Shadows for 24 hours, and they both have an intimate conversation where they reveal their mutual desire for each other. What has Jude, in all three books, been fighting for?…She began with the goal to prove others she has what it takes to survive the fae worldbut as each book unfolded, we could see Judes heart: justice for the oppressed, to keep evil at bay, to eventually put a fair ruler on the throne/or be a fair ruler, etc. Shes merciful, often giving characters second chances, forgiving those who are remorseful, who would normally be cut down in cold blood for their past sins. Though she fights well, its never for the sake of cruelty itself, but for some better end, to fight off the darkest, bloodiest forces scrambling for power, to do what is best for all. This is Jude. This is what we know of her: justice, fairness and kindness toward the oppressed beings in the fae world (human slaves, and other fae servants), forgiveness for those who mess up and are sorry for it, all good things….she fits the savior mold quite well, doesnt she? I start to speak, but he stops me with a gesture. “And you.” He looks at me, his lips curving in something that’s not quite a smile; it’s more and less than that. “I knew little else, but I always knew you.” And when he kisses me, I feel as though I can finally breathe again.”Meanwhile, Prince Dain is to be crowned within months and he takes in Jude as a spy, due to her human ability to lie (which faeries cannot) and employs her in the Court of Shadows with a trio consisting of The Roach, The Bomb and The Ghost. Prince Dain gives Jude a geas that prevents her from being enchanted into obeying instructions from fae (mind magic). Jude begins a practice ofmithridatism– taking small doses of poison to become immune to its effects. Eu amei tanto esse livro, meu deus! No tem nem como descrever direito! Sei bem de alguns pequenos defeitos que ele tem, mas li de uma s vez, numa euforia sem ar e sem cabimento que, afinal, tudo que importa! Sentia muita falta de ler um livro assim e foi uma escolha perfeita para o final do ano! No existe sensao melhor do que a que eu senti durante a segunda metade inteira do livro! Por isso, ele entrou para os meus favoritos e claro que eu dei cinco estrelas. How has the night been going for you? Mine has been full of dull conversations about how my head is going to find itself on a spike." (The Cruel Prince) Lady Asha did not flinch. “I will rear him as befits his station. He is a prince, after all, and your son.” Later on, Balekin poisons Cardan and in his drugged state, Cardan kisses Jude on the mouth in front of the High Court. Jude was very worried about him and dueled with Balekin to get the antidote.

I still hate Taryn, the only good thing with her coming to ask Jude for help is that this was a great excuse for Jude to go home, because the girl betrayed her sister and never did a single thing to help Jude feel better about being exiled or whatever. Taryn Duarte is just not my favorite character.

Garrett, "The Ghost": Member of the Court of Shadows; Dain's former spy and shooting expert; Taryn's lover The next few days are spent planning and trying to figure out how they'll stop Madoc and try to convince the Lower Courts to join Cardan's army. Cardan and Jude try to also convince Grima Mog to join his generals. During the planning, Grima Mog and Fala offer that they go out and fight Madoc. Cardan points out that Madoc will call a truce and they need to hear him out. Jude points out that Madoc wants a duel, and it would be very hard to say no. The Bomb adds that they could just tell Madoc to surrender his weapons. Cardan detests the idea, as he is too prideful and that would make him look like a coward.

Later, when Jude sneaks into Cardan’s room, he pulls her into bed beside him and apologizes for how he treated her. He also tells her that since he hated himself for wanting her, he wanted her to get out of his sight, but when she was actually gone under the waves in the Undersea, he hated himself more than ever for wishing her gone. He also says one of the only things he had done right was imagining Jude by his side while she was gone. Even though I am the queen in exile, I am still the queen. And that means Madoc isn’t just trying to take Cardan’s throne. He’s trying to take mine."

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Balekin Greenbriar: Former ambassador of the Undersea; Eldred's eldest son; Elowyn, Dain, Rhyia, Caelia and Cardan's half-brother; killed by Jude Talking about Oak and them wanting him being the High King one day. So, why did Jude think it was smart giving Madoc unrestricted approach to Oak? He can hammer a lot of nonsense into him, then Oak will become king and breaks the whole land. Not really smart. Plus I'm not really sure how Jude worded Madoc's exile but could it be possible that Oak could be able to pardon him once he becomes the High King?