The Cruel Prince is the first novel in The Folk of the Air trilogy, a young adult fantasy series by Holly Black. Jude Duarte is a mortal raised in the realm of the fey. Trained by her adopted father, a formidable fey general, Jude becomes vicious and cunning. She wants nothing more to belong among the people that hate her for being mortal, and when a great betrayal threatens the existence of Fairie, Jude must form an alliance with the person she hates the most to save the realm.
When she was younger, Jude and her sisters were taken to a strange land, different from their earth. The High Courts of Faerie where different types of fey live. Though, her and her sisters were the only humans in this kingdom. The fey are not fond of humans and think of them as inferior. Jude wants to prove herself worthy and become a knight in the court. As she tries to make her way up, betrayal happens within the court, making it crumble. Jude uses deception and other tricks to work her way in which then leads to her having to create bonds with feys to keep her sisters, and herself.
