‘I loved every second of it.’
Summary
We return, once again, to the enchanting world of Elfhame, but this time Cardan gets to lead the way. We finally learn how Cardan perceives the world around him, and more importantly, we learn how he perceives himself. Through eleven enchanting stories, we get to know him as a little boy and see him and his demeanor towards his surroundings change throughout the years. A few scenes from The Cruel Prince are revisited and described from Cardan’s witty yet poetic point of view. On top of that, almost every page reveiles a beautiful illustration of a specific scene or moment. Certainly a treat for all the fans of the original trilogy.
Review
Oh, I was so looking forward to reading this one! I loved the original trilogy, Jude and Cardan literally own my heart. So when I heard – or rather saw – that another book was published, I ran to the nearest bookshop. I was beyond happy. It even turned out to be an illustrated one!
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories is an amazing collection of eleven stories about Cardan. There’s no ‘real plot’ to be discovered in the book, but I did notice the reoccurence of a certain story, which I really liked. To me, the beauty of this book lies within the details. The familiar characteristics from the characters and some amazing quotes from The Cruel Prince were also part of the experience.
I literally have no bad words to say about this book. I simply thought it was too short, because I need more content about my babies Cardan and Jude! But yeah, that critique doesn’t really stand, because everything was concluded pretty nicely. The illustrations really added to the story and I was so happy to find out that the illustrator perceived Jude and Cardan just like me.
Conclusion
So, to conclude all my enthousiastic remarks: I’d recommend this book only to the people who read (and loved) the original trilogy, because I think that this book consists of too many hints to the original books. I think one could describe it as some sort of explanation for Cardan’s strange demeanor, enriched with stunning illustrations that will melt the hearts of all Jurdan lovers.
| Product information: |
| Written by: Holly Black Illustrated by: Rovina Cai |
| Pages: 200 |
| Publisher: Hot Key Books |
| ISBN: 0316540889 |
| Interested? Buy the book here. |