#modern faery tale series

[faerytalesfromtheabyss]

With The Stolen Heir out in the world, I thought it would be helpful to bring this post back

Welcome to Faerie Land: A Guide to Holly Black’s Extended Faerie Universe

With Wicked King making the NYT Best Sellers list and more people reading The Cruel Prince/The Folk of the Air Series, I decided to make a quick guide to the other books in Holly Black’s Faerie universe. 

One of the things I love about Holly Black’s books is how they interrelate. They give you background information about the world and side characters in TCP. But it’s not necessary to read these books to understand TCP. Also, since Jude has been in Faerie for almost her entire life she sometimes brushes over certain faerie rules that new readers might not know (eg. the effects of cold iron and faerie true names). Holly Black’s earlier books lay out these rules much more effectively.

So if you’re a new reader of Holly Black’s books, welcome! I’ll try to stay away from spoilers, and I’ll add links to Goodreads for more in depth summaries. If you’re a veteran, here’s a quick review of the other books in the Faerie Universe and a little bit about how they relate to TCP.

Keep reading

[mia-nina-lilly]

Holly Black's fairy universe is so rich, expansive, and solid that one can have some certainty about the nature of her fey without it being affirmed all the time.

For example, one thing that seems clear is that fairies feel, and they feel intensely. If they hate, they can hate for centuries. If they love, they will love eternally and be willing to give their life for their beloved. In "The Darkest Part of the Forest," this is told as a horror story. In "Modern Faerie Tales," Kaye's entire adventure is based on her desire to become Roiben's consort.

In "The Cruel Prince" trilogy, Balekin hints at this difference when he talks strangely about how humans love — this is all without mentioning Tiernan and Hyacinthe, who became enemies and still love each other enough to fight for each other, or Lady Nore with her late husband's hands around her neck.

We see this firsthand with Cardan not once, but twice! The first time occurs when he throws himself in front of Jude to save her from being hit by one of Grimsen's traps, and the second time is when, similarly, Cardan throws himself in front of Jude to save her from having a blade buried in her body.

The first time, he shows surprise with himself. It was the moment he realized he loved her on that level — in fact, he just loves her as is natural to his species. The second time, any surprise seems to have vanished, as if he had already accepted that he would do it for her a thousand more times if necessary.

That is, the fairies indeed love as described in the poems, and that is simply fantastic on the part of the author because, let's face it, it makes perfect sense considering the aesthetic of the fairies and everything else. Yes, all of this is about how much I love Holly Black and her skill in creating such wonderfully subtle wonder-filled settings ✨✨

[starrynightsxo]

HELP ME BUY A BOOK

help me guys I need opinions on what book to buy and why...

PLEASE PLEASE REBLOG for a bigger sample as I've only done the poll for ONE DAY SO I NEED VOTES I BEG <333

[l3st1b0urn3s-707]

Here again with more book posts because I read A LOT in the past two weeks, so let's star with The folk of the air by Holly Black.

I already mentioned that I was rereading these books but god they were good. I first read the series when it first came out, and I remember having to wait for both the 2nd and 3rd book to be published, so it felt so good to read them all together this time.

For those who don't know what The folk of the air is, it's s trilogy (featuring The cruel prince, The wicked king and The queen of nothing) about a mortal girl growing up in Elfhame, the land of the fae, and trying to get recognised and involved in the world's pollitics.

I've always felt this fascination mixed with a bit of terror about celtic mythology and folklore, having lived in a territory with celtic herritage since I was born. So it's not surprising that I like this series, filled with magical creatures.

One thing I must say is that I enjoyed it so much more this time, also because I read The modern faerie tales not that long ago and now I got some of the easter eggs (and recognised my dear Lord Roiben, who I love deeply). You don't need to read these to understand the plot, but it just adds a little something.

What else to say? This trilogy is just so amazing, I loved when I first read it at 11 years old and I loved it even more now that I could understand some things better. Some noticeabld characters that I wanted to mention just because I love them so much are Cardan, Oak (I still haven't read his books but I really want to 😫), Bomb and Hollow Hall's door, who I personally think is very underrated.

Aghhh, I love these books so much, specially because I think they make me connect with younger Les a bit. I still haven't read The darkest part of the forest yet, but I'm really hoping I'll be able to read both that one and The stolen heir soon.

I coud talk about these books for ages, so if anyone wants me to discuss this more deeply I will (please ask me about it, I really need to talk about this stuff). That's it for today :)

[faeish-art]

Kaye ˙𖦹 ⋆꙳ ໑ had some inspiration as I’m rereading my fav series :> photo one is glamoured Kaye and photo two is pixie Kaye!

[ionlydrinkhotwater]

OK this is just my headcannon BUT

I remember that Taryn told Jude that the nickname Cardan and his squad called Jude and Taryn the 'Court of Worms' as a joke.

So I wanna imagine that as Queen Jude and her squad of Humans: Taryn, Hazel, Ben, Kaye and Heather call themselves the Court of Worms and do fun human things and exchange war stories about those crazy Faeries. I just really want those guys to become friends

I will say though that nothing beats the Court of Shadows but Jude can be part of as many courts as she likes

[mecharose]

the modern faerie tales series is rly getting me bc the whole thing abt Cruel Prince is oooh cardan and his friends are so meeean fairyland is soooo dangerous which like fair

but in this series. bitches are being RITUALLY SACRIFICED underneath NJ highways and being tortured like literally tortured for each others amusement and shooting up magic like its drugs in the manhattan bridge T-T HELLO???

[godzilla-reads]

Before I started reading The Folk of the Air series, I started with The Modern Faerie Tales series and I still think it’s my favorite series by Holly Black.

[rewritingkel]

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with (Item) on the Cover

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday a new topic is assigned, and then you post your top ten list for that topic. You can read others Top Ten Tuesday picks here. This weeks topic is Books with…

[ekbelsher]

Kaye and Roiben having a quiet moment 🖤 The Unseelie king has a blood red bedchamber and you can’t change my mind. I’m re-reading The Modern Faerie Tales, and it’s still among my favourite-ever series (although I was low key offended when I read that Roiben later cut off his beautiful pewter hair!). 

[madockisser]

The folk of the air/ the cruel prince theory spoiler warning for the series (not including tsh or tpt)

so i’m doing my seasonly tfota read, specifically tcp rn, and i just reread a line balekin said to cardan when jude breaks into hollow hall.

he says romances PLURAL, which ofc mainly insinuates Nicasia, but it got me thinking. cardan states that balekin never failed to throw jude’s existence in his face to insult cardan, which he admits to her when she’s kidnapped him. and then of course the infamous scene in book 2 where balekin is all like “i heard the feeling of falling in love for mortals is like fear�� but like, what compelled him to say that ? maybe it can be dumbed down to him being confused abt why she’s seneschal, or maybe he thinks that the reason that she helped cardan get the throne from balekin is bc she loves him.

and we all know the scene in twk when balekin is all like “kiSs mE liKE i’m cArdaN”(🤮) which means he knows of the feelings they have for each other, but when exactly does he realize cardans feelings for jude?

which brings me back to when balekin says romances plural. does he perhaps already know of cardans feelings toward jude even in the first book? he’s aware that cardan frees his mortal servants, and refuses to kill them, and even takes beatings for them (which he recognizes as weakness), and nicasia knew that cardan had feelings for jude, she knew the dress he sent her for dains coronation, did balekin also?

in a short story, “a visit to the impossible lands” focusing on kaye and roiben(the modern faerie tales), kaye IMMEDIATELY sees cardans feelings for jude, describing the way he looks at her, like she were made of glamour and smoke, comparing it to the same way her lover and emo bf roiben looks at kaye.

and even locke knew cardan wanted jude “i knew you wanted her, which is why i had to have her first”(mean!) and even in taryns novella, she notices that cardan looks at jude with a “lascivious” heavy lidded stare. DAIN also partook in the acknowledgment of jude and cardans lovers quarrel after the tournament in tcp, so does this mean that perhaps balekin did also?

anyway i think this is a really interesting theory, i really like reading abt cardan and balekins dynamic, abt how balekin refers to mortals as “mice” and how cardan is confused and empathetic toward them. (and fascinated by jude)

feel free to add on or let me know your thoughts!

[starrynightsxo]

anyone know what the tithe series by holly blck is about? tryna do some reasearch here. is it similar to the folk of the air or completely different? is there a romance subplot (not that I want there to be but I wanna know if there is? who's the main character? who's the love intefest, if any? I really appreciate any help !!

[avas-poltergeist]

To the five people who also read The Modern Faerie Tales alongside The Folk of Air series. have ya'll talked about the parallels between Roiben and Kaye and Jude and Cardan? Has anyone in this place talked about how Cardan more times than not is like Kaye? Has anyone talked about the Kaye and Cardan got along right before the coronation and how she sent him a mug with a phrase that imitates the mug in Knives Out, apparently a movie that Cardan likes? Has anyone even tried touching upon the way knighthood is just constantly unattainable to Roiben and Jude?

[letmeliveinelfhame]

What's your favourite book set in faerieland?👀

Thank you so much for your ask! I love getting asks but it's very rare I actually get any 😅

GOOD QUESTION purely because I cannot choose just one book 😭😭 my favourite series is of course TFOTA, that's what started everything for me when I read it on my Kindle back in the summer holidays of 2023.

I'll do a ranking of my favourite to least favourite series:

1. TFOTA (The Cruel Prince, The Lost Sisters, The Wicked King, The Queen Of Nothing, How The King Of Elfhame Learned To Hate Stories)

2. The Stolen Heir + The Prisoner's Throne (it's part of TFOTA but it's a seperate series so it gets a seperate ranking)

3. The Modern Faerie Tales (Tithe, Ironside, Valiant)

4. The Darkest Part Of The Forest (I haven't read it yet, so I'm just going to put it here on the ranking for now)

AND CAN I JUST SAY I cannot wait for Holly's next faerie book, I'm curious on whether it will be Jurdan focused or Nicasia focused. Something tells me it will be Nicasia focused with Jurdan appearances here and there, BUT I WILL ACCEPT THOSE CRUMBS

[godzilla-reads]

☃️ Ironside: A Modern Faerie Tale by Holly Black

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“You are the only thing I have that is neither duty nor obligation, the only thing I chose for myself. The only thing I want.”

The thrilling, despairing, and satisfying finale to the Modern Faerie Tale series. A rash declaration of love and Kaye Fierch is sent on an impossible quest, while the Seelie and Unseelie Courts are inches away from all-out war. Once again, Kaye finds herself caught up in the rivalries.

Not only was I enraptured by this book from start to finish, but it went miles. The characters experiences so much growth and pain, they deal with change and finding their place in a confusing world. Being human is hard enough, but adding the world of Faerie into it?

I loved reading this series and I’m happy to know that some of the characters are reoccurring in the Folk of the Air series. That’s where I’ll be going next!

P.S. Luis and Corny get ALL my love.

[im-fostering-it292]

I HAVE A NEW FAVORITE SERIES. I HAVE DECIDED ONE OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS IS HOLLY BLACK.

THE MODERN FAERY TALES SERIES WAS AMAZING.

I LOVE KAYE AND CORNY AND ROIBEN AND LUIS AND VAL

IT WAS SO PERFECT

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