A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.
Holly Black returns to the world of Elfhame in the first book in a new duology, following Jude’s brother Oak, and the changeling queen, Suren. I am late to the party on finally sitting down to read this, my review come as a surprise given my thoughts on The Cruel Prince series… Trust me I was as shocked as you are about to be:
THE PLOT, CHARACTERS AND STORY PROGRESSION
*sigh* I really wanted to love The Stolen Heir, I really did. I finished it in a day! I love Holly Black and her previous books but this, it hit the mark for me. It was complacent and just not good enough. The character development in The Stolen Heir is so incredibly shallow, verging on the non-existent. We all know and love Holly Black for her tear jerking tension and irresistible chemistry, its like no other. We have spent the last few years revelling in it, screaming about it from the rooftops and adoring every ounce of it… so you’d come into this strapping yourself in for a whole new emotional rollercoaster, right?
Yea, apparently not.
There is zero chemistry between the characters in this book, none at all. Its entirely made up of unconvincing cliché flashbacks to their childhood which do nothing to convince the reader of their “connection” in the present.
Wren, written to be so painfully passive. She had the potential to have so much depth, I was ready for a complex, intricate character that just fell flat the whole book. Her backstory in the beginning was set up to be so fascinating, enough to leave you with an intrigue about her as you read and you just get, nothing?
And Oak, good lord where do I begin… you want to be invested in him as he came from the first series but he lacks anything unique, riveting or interesting. By now he should have developed as a person and we got to see none of that. Just a bland stereotype that leaves anything and everything to be desired.
I love to read other reviews for books after I finish to see how other people felt and this review was the most accurate:
“Holly loves to try and give redemption arcs to characters that don’t deserve them (like Taryn) but after this, holly’s gonna need one herself.” – Matilda
WORLD BUILDING, ATMOSPHERE AND SETTING
I really found the parts of The Stolen Heir that take place in the modern world jarring, mentions of vape pens and the like continued to throw me off. I was trying really hard to immerse myself into the story and to be invested in it but I just couldn’t. I’m not sure if it was the constant back and forth or the lacklustre writing but it really impacted the atmosphere and world building for me.
THE VERDICT?
I ultimately feel like this could have been fleshed out, just entirely as a book in its entirety. This genuinely felt like a rough first draft. A mind map of ideas for a world and its characters… there’s no way this was the final draft Holly wanted it to be. Perhaps she had pressure from her publisher or was going through a hard time writing this and just needed it to be done. Or maybe it was just a quick buck, write something hollow knowing fans of The Cruel Price will lap it up and devour it. No effort required. – I don’t want to believe that is the case but something has gone wrong here and to say I’m disappointed in The Stolen Heir is an understatement.
Rating: ⭐⭐