If there’s one thing this novella made me appreciate, it’s that Jude is the protagonist of the actual trilogy, not Taryn. This was about 45 pages; I don’t think I could deal with several hundred more of her whining about Jude being mean and Elfhame being awful. At least Jude does something about it.

Anyway. I’m rating this based on my opinion of the novella itself, not Taryn. If I was rating it based on her, I’d give this 0 stars. She’s obnoxious, and for me, this only solidified that opinion. As a whole, though, I did like the way Holly wrote this, as if the whole thing was a story one person was telling to another.

Now, a couple of notable things.
“I hated the way he questioned me, as though you were so much more interesting than I was.”

Because she is. Jude will always be more interesting than you, you well-dressed wet sock. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“I was the good sister, the one who kept faith and stuck to the rules. You were the angry one, the one who didn’t know how far was far enough, the one who courted disaster. It wasn’t fair.”

Hang on.

“I was the flimsy sister, the one who fell in love with a faerie boy even as I warned you of their atrocities. You were the determined one, the one who sought to protect us both, the one who deserved so much better than my selfishness. I wasn’t fair to you, but I’m still going to play the victim.”

There we go. Fixed it. :)

“And you’re going to forgive me. You have to.”

The entitlement here is actually astounding. Taryn goes on to ramble about how they’re sisters, of course Jude will forgive her, blah blah blah. And like… no. Go step on a Lego.