How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air)

Loved the stories and the artwork is beautiful. Great companion book for the series.

This book was good and gave me good insights on how Jude and Cardan lived after the queen of nothing, but was kind of confusing.

I hate that this was a novella and not a whole novel because diving into Cardan’s mind was such an interesting little adventure. I loved the stories told inside and the glances into his and Jude’s future. It also showcased a lot of his past, both the bad and the good (mostly bad though) and through this, we could see his path towards wickedness - how everything started from the moment he took his first breath. One of my favourite parts was the illustrations that came with the book which made me fall in love with the characters all over again (and grin like a fool when it showed Cardan obsessing over Jude being a mortal). <spoilers> The one part that had me miffed was when Cardan learnt about Nicasia and Locke, I wish he had done more because he didn’t deserve that at all (this cemented my hate for Locke and I did very much enjoy Cardan punching him). </spoilers> Overall, this was an amazing addition to the series and I just wish it was longer because I didn’t want to finish it!

I understand all good books must come to an end at some point and the folk of the air trilogy was not meant to last. As sad as that fact makes me, because those books mean the world to me. But for that trilogy to end and then we receive this from the queen herself. What? I am shaken. This was EVERYTHING that I did not even know that I needed, but now I will never be able to forget about. This reads like a fairy tale story, and I guess in a lot of ways it is, and I loved that about it. It had stunning chapter art, and all the stories were connected to lead up to the final story, Jude, and Cardan’s last adventure. It was heartwarming, it was reflective, it was a feel-good little story about two of my favorite comfort characters, but mainly Cardan. This explained Cardan so much more. I already loved him, but this cemented that feeling. This book will forever hold a very special place in my heart now and forever. Read this if you love the Folk of the Air trilogy and Cardan and Jude are two of your favorite characters. This is a mini back story and a mini continuation of their story in fairy tale form and with stunning artwork throughout! Happy reading besties 💕

This is a short book that summarizes Jude and Cardan’s story from his POV and from a completely different perspective while also bringing a dose of his background into the picture. It’s an easy read with beautiful graphics and, though I found it entertaining, I’d have liked it better if it had dug a bit more into his POV not just some broad strokes of their whole story. 3 stars

I didn’t know how much I needed this until I read it, and now I wish I could hand it directly to Jude and make her read it. This novella adds so much quiet depth to Cardan. Seeing his childhood through his own eyes, understanding how stories shaped him and how cruelty was woven into his earliest memories, completely reframed his character for me. The boy behind the crown, the fear behind the cruelty, the longing beneath the mockery, it all clicks into place in the most heartbreaking way. Holly Black’s writing here is soft but devastating. Every short scene feels intentional, peeling back layers we didn’t even realize were missing while reading the main trilogy. It made Cardan’s actions, silences, and choices in The Folk of the Air series ache with new meaning. More than anything, this novella made me want Jude to know. To understand what he never said, what he never knew how to say. Because so much of their pain came from what was left unspoken and this story fills in those gaps beautifully. Tender, melancholy, and deeply necessary, this novella is the perfect companion to the series. A small book with an enormous emotional impact.

This book is much better than the Taryn-centered novella, but it comes after Queen of Nothing, and that's an impossible act to follow. And my main beef: there's not enough Jude in this book. This is a cute follow-up to the Folk of the Air trilogy, and it offers a good insight into Cardan's childhood and youth to explain exactly why he became so awful. It's Holly Black's strength that she can write about awful and traumatic experiences in such a beautiful way that the reader both feels them and can stand to read about them despite their awfulness (a difficult thing to master for a writer). The story is well-crafted, but the fairy tale that the book centers on makes the morale of the story a bit too obvious, and that's my main beef - there's not enough subtext, everything is fully explained to the reader. Might be because Holly Black writes YA, but I didn't see this problem in the Folk of the Air books. The ending is a bit weak, and my inner fangirl wanted way more Jude-Cardan interactions. Still miles better than what most fantasy writers can come up with.

love! cute extra book with some background on Cardan. I enjoyed it !