He will be destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy.

Reading and reviewing one’s most anticipated release of the year is the most stressful and yet the most wonderful feeling in the world. After finding out the release date was pushed forward, I couldn’t believe the end of this amazing trilogy was coming to an end, and yet the waiting seemed like forever. So how do I subdue my expectations, collect my thoughts and put aside the love bursting from my chest for these series to give this book an honest review it deserves? Well, I still don’t know, but the more people expect from a certain book, the more likely they are to be disappointed – especially me, huh. But that’s all part of that reading experience and I guess I’ll learn to accept that imperfect ending doesn’t mean my favorite book is ruined.


After Jude’s exile and Cardan’s betrayal, there is not much for her to do in the mortal world. Her pride wounded, her trust in her king broken, left with nothing but her sister’s apartment and the acid taste of defeat in her mouth, Jude lets herself be preoccupied with mundane tasks in the mortal world. Until, one day, she finds her sister Taryn – who betrayed her and Cardan to Madoc – at her door, asking for help. She didn’t quite think about the consequences when she killed her husband Locke, and as it turns out, the only one with the power to lie to the High King is her sister. So Jude decides to take her only chance of returning to Elfhame and joining, once again, the fight for the throne.


Words of this universe cannot even begin to describe how much these series mean to me – for the last year and a half, I’ve been in constant touch with these characters, schemes, plots and the world of faerie Kings and Queens. Jude and Cardan have won my heart and I don’t even want it back – Elfhame is a new home now and I’m never going to leave it. Black’s incredible writing and intricate storytelling captured every ounce of my attention, not letting go of it until the very end. I am still overwhelmed with emotion – from the joy of having such a beautiful book in my life to tears because, at last, it is over. These books have permanently engraved themselves into my mind and I think it is going to be a very long time before I can stop thinking about them.

I loved every single character from this book – from the most unlikeable ones to my favorites Jude and Cardan - they are all so amazingly developed, their dynamics and interactions carefully conceived in a ruthless war for power. The additions to the story like Grima Mog or the rulers from the Court of Teeth brought some fresh energy and the intense note of a war, yet the old characters such as Bomb and Ghost are the ones that reminded me precisely how much I loved that world of trickery and betrayal. I could read solely their interactions and dialogues for the rest of my life without getting bored.

Jude is still one of my favorite characters of all times – that ruthless queen warrior will not be perfect, but the change I was most astonished by was the one within Cardan’s character. He became a ruler he was always meant to be, only fairer and juster, with a mortal queen at his side. He shed all his armors and became only stronger for it, defying all those who wanted to see him fail. Their relationship is an enemies-to-lovers trope in a form you’ve never seen before – a game of trust and lies with no actual winner.