The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
Book #3 of The Folk of Air Series
Reviewed by Parina – Grade 11
Rating: 5/5
The Queen of Nothing is the third installment of the Folk of Air series. This series follows Jude, a human who just became the Queen of Elfhame, and Cardan, the King. After Cardan and Jude getting married secretly, Queen Oralagh, the Queen of the Sea, tells Cardan to punish Jude from Fae for killing Prince Balekin, Cardan’s brother and Oralagh’s messenger between the sea and land. Cardan banishes Jude from Faerie to the mortal world, all of which took place in the second book of the series, The Wicked King. In this book, we watch Jude feel powerless and work on building herself up from the mortal world. As the story goes on, she works on breaking the curse put upon her that is keeping her from entering Faerie. Throughout this story, we still get a look into politics, war, and love.
I absolutely loved this book. Like the second book, this book had me on the edge of my seat. With each chapter, I became more engrossed in the story. When I finished the book, I was sad to see one of my new favourite series end. I felt like there were a lot of aspects of the story we can all connect with, maybe not literally but metaphorically. I love how Black allows her sequels to pick up right where the last story ended.
This book really builds on the first book, but it goes right into the action. I would recommend this series and book to fantasy and young adult readers to read this series because it is a beautiful piece of work, and this characters now hold a special place in my heart. I would also recommend this book to romance lovers as well, as you really get to watch Cardan and Jude’s relationship.