The Cruel Prince series became an instant hit among young adult fantasy readers and I’ve got the list of all books in The Cruel Prince series in order (including novellas and related series!) so that you don’t miss a single adventure in Elfhame.
The Cruel Prince series, also known as The Folk of the Air series, is written by Holly Black and earned her a Goodreads Choice Awards nomination and two wins for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Check out the entire The Cruel Prince series in order below along with accompanying novellas and related series in the recommended reading order and see why it earned a spot on my list of the best fantasy romance books!
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The Cruel Prince Series in Order:
- Book 1: The Cruel Prince (2018)
- Book 1.5: The Lost Sisters (2018)
- Book 2: The Wicked King (2019)
- Book 3: The Queen of Nothing (2019)
- Book 3.5: How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (2020)
Related Book Series: The Stolen Heir Duology
The Cruel Prince Series in Order with Publisher Descriptions
The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince Series Book 1
2018 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
The Lost Sisters
by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince Series Book 1.5
While Jude fought for power in the Court of Elfhame against the cruel Prince Cardan, her sister Taryn began to fall in love with the trickster, Locke.
Half-apology and half-explanation, it turns out that Taryn has some secrets of her own to reveal.
The Wicked King
by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince Series Book 2
2019 Goodreads Choice Awards Winner for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne.
Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
The Queen of Nothing
by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince Series Book 3
2020 Goodreads Choice Awards Winner for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction
He will be the 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 twin sister, Taryn, whose 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.
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
by Holly Black
The Cruel Prince Series Book 3.5
Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue.
Before Cardan was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone. #1 New York Times bestselling author, Holly Black reveals a deeper look into the dramatic life of Elfhame’s enigmatic high king, Cardan.
This tale includes delicious details of life before The Cruel Prince, an adventure beyond The Queen of Nothing, and familiar moments from The Folk of the Air trilogy, told wholly from Cardan’s perspective.
This new installment in the Folk of the Air series is a return to the heart-racing romance, danger, humor, and drama that enchanted readers everywhere.
Each chapter is paired with lavish and luminous full-color art, making this the perfect collector’s item to be enjoyed by both new audiences and old.
The Stolen Heir Duology Books in Order:
The Stolen Heir: A Novel of Elfhame
by Holly Black
The Stolen Heir Duology Book 1
A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.
Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.
Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods.
Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets.
Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.
Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help.
But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.
The Prisoner’s Throne
by Holly Black
The Stolen Heir Duology Book 2
After the shocking events of The Stolen Heir, Prince Oak is in deeper trouble than ever before. As his situation grows more precarious, Oak is desperate to find a way out, before all of Elfhame is caught in the coming storm.
Related Book Lists:
- The Best Spellbinding Fantasy Romance Books
- The Best Enemies to Lovers Books in Fantasy Romance
- The Selection Series: The Complete Guide
- From Blood and Ash Series: The Complete Guide
- A Court of Thorns and Roses Series Order: The Complete Guide
Discover all the BOOKS IN ORDER Lists!
With so many beloved authors and popular romance book series to read, you want to make sure you never miss a book and read them in the right order.
Check out all of my BOOKS IN ORDER posts for even more of these great lists!
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