[second read, February 2023]
Rating raised from 4.5 stars to 5.

This book. This one. It’s the best in the trilogy, and anyone that disagrees can argue with a wall.

I never expected I’d grow to love Jude and Cardan as much as I do, but here I am. They’re just brilliant. They’re iconic, and impossible not to love. Their enemies to lovers journey is delicious, and Cardan has some of the best romantic lines in YA, up there with the other Biggest Simps™️ like Thomas Cresswell and Nasir Ghameq. I said what I said.

Also. I am absolutely CACKLING at Past Me calling them Stab Queen and Tail King. Because like…. I’m not wrong. But it’s still highly amusing.

As for some of my other comments from the first time around—I’m not sure I agree with my opinion on Taryn and Vivi. Sure, it was nice to see more sisterly support, but Present Me is still bitter about Taryn’s past actions. I don’t want to forgive and forget, I want to revenge and remember. (Jude’s rubbing off on me, clearly.)

I still think Vivi is better than Taryn—I didn’t explicitly say that before, but I know I thought it—but, this time around, she also bothered me more than she used to. The way she was always so flippant about her sisters’ struggles in Faerie, and never seemed to truly care about anything that Jude was trying to do… it left a bad taste in my mouth.

And also, cool as Heather is, why was she there literally the whole time?? I feel like the page time dedicated to the Vivi/Heather drama could’ve been better used on the main story. (And I say that as a sapphic myself. Sorry not sorry, girls.)

Because, speaking of—last time, I said the book felt too short, felt anticlimactic, and I’m torn on whether or not I agree with that now. On one hand, the political machinations, curses and kisses, threats of malevolent magic and war were fascinating; they made for a quick read. On the other, at ~300 pages, this book is the shortest in the series, and I do kind of wish we’d gotten a bit more, in terms of both main story and epilogue. Hmmm…..

It’s still the best in the series though. I might have a couple of doubts, but that’s not one of them.

[first read, September 2020]
The Queen of Nothing might be my most surprising read of 2020. Not only did I speed through it in three and a half hours, I enjoyed it. After being thoroughly unimpressed by The Cruel Prince and reading The Wicked King on a whim, finding it entertaining without getting attached to any of the characters, I didn’t know what to expect from this final book. But here I am, extremely and pleasantly surprised, to say that not only is this my favorite in the trilogy, but it also saved the series for me.

I was intrigued by the high stakes and cunning schemes. I was shocked when characters didn’t do what I expected. I was especially shocked when I realized that, somehow, at some point, I started liking Jude and her sisters, even Cardan. I wanted their relationship to work out and develop properly. My lack of interest or investment was my main issue when I read the first two books, but this time, I cared. I never thought I’d care about Stab Queen and Tail King, yet here I am.

And their romance? Lowkey feels like one specific scene took things from zero to one thousand really fast, but honestly, I’m okay with it. Their dynamic is complex, which makes sense given that they’re both more complex characters than I ever gave them credit for. I...... ship it.

I also liked the roles Taryn and Vivi played, and I feel like over the course of this book, their past sibling issues were resolved. They were sisters and friends, and I love to see it.

My main problem (only problem?) with this book is that it’s so short, and ultimately, rather anticlimactic. While I liked the route Black took, I don’t think it was fleshed out enough or given the proper amount of page time. Despite the build-up, things ended quickly, and to be quite honest, it all felt too easy.

Complaints aside, I did really like the ending. I’d have liked more from the epilogue, but what we did get was quite happy and satisfying.

So, yeah. I had low expectations for The Queen of Nothing, but I ended up enjoying it. I’m surprised and kind of excited. When it comes to books, I’m almost always happy to be proved wrong.

Representation: