The Queen of Nothing

September 15, 2019
Broken people, complicated families, magic, and Faerie politics: Black's back. After the tumultuous ending to the last volume (marriage, exile, and the seeming collapse of all her plots), Jude finds herself in the human world, which lacks appeal despite a childhood spent longing to go back. The price of her upbringing becomes clear: A human raised in the multihued, multiformed, always capricious Faerie High Court by the man who killed her parents, trained for intrigue and combat, recruited to a spy organization, and ultimately the power behind the coup and the latest High King, Jude no longer understands how to exist happily in a world that isn't full of magic and danger. A plea from her estranged twin sends her secretly back to Faerie, where things immediately come to a boil with Cardan (king, nemesis, love interest) and all the many political strands Jude has tugged on for the past two volumes. New readers will need to go back to The Cruel Prince (2018) to follow the complexities--political and personal side plots abound--but the legions of established fans will love every minute of this lushly described, tightly plotted trilogy closer. Jude might be traumatized and emotionally unhealthy, but she's an antihero worth cheering on. There are few physical descriptions of humans and some queer representation. Whether you came for the lore or the love, perfection. (Fantasy. 14-adult)

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Starred review from September 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In this closing volume to what has been an unusually strong trilogy, Black sends Jude Duarte, who was first a human spy in a faerie court (The Cruel Prince, 2018), then a seneschal to a faerie prince (The Wicked King, 2019), and is now the exiled Queen of Faerie herself, into her most fraught mission yet. Betrayed by Cardan, the High King of Faerie, her sometimes-enemy, sometimes-lover, just as they'd reached a tenuous peace, Jude is eking out a living in the mortal world when her twin sister, Taryn?herself familiar with betrayal?finds her to beg for help. Taryn needs Jude to impersonate her in Faerie, but Jude is forbidden from returning there, and the people she'll run into if she pretends to be Taryn are those most likely to see through her disguise. But Jude was never one to shy away from a challenge, and she has scores to settle, debts to pay, and a crown to claim in Faerie. She may be down, but Jude's not out; she remains a wily political thinker until the bitter end. Though Black ties up a few plotlines early on in this finale, the action remains explosive until the rewarding ending. There are even a few additional characters who turn up, adding new life to an already fresh tale. A compelling final piece in a powerful set. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The first two books in the series sold big, as did the movie rights for The Cruel Prince. Let's face it: people want this book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)