Di Maitland's Reviews > How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

I now have a thing for stories within stories. This is the second in a row (The Empress of Salt and Fortune being the first) and both were brilliant.

“You didn’t hear the story I told,” he goes on. “A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like.”

Set after The Queen of Nothing concludes, Jude, Cardan, and Jude's siblings, are on their way to the human world to investigate reports of a faery crime. As they travel, Cardan flashes back to scenes from his childhood that went on to make him the Cruel Prince he was. Again and again, he's told a story about a boy with a wicked tongue and a wicked heart and how he grew. Even now, Cardan is doing his best to remake that story to give him the ending he so longs for.

“You don’t think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?”

I loved the outward simplicity of the inner story, reminiscent of a true fairytale told around a warm campfire. With each retelling, Cardan takes away a different message, a different moral, and he learns; just as I, in turn, take lessons from his story. In short, it's a story about the importance of stories and I found its layers, its self-contemplation, satisfying.

“Boys change. And so do stories.”

If you didn't enjoy or haven't read The Folk of the Air series, you're unlikely to enjoy this novella. If you have read and did enjoy the other books and are unsure as to whether to dive back into the world again, do. On the one hand, its a chance to spend time with some of our favourite characters and see some tender moments between them. On the other hand, it's its own story and a beautiful tale too. Recommend.

NB. I listened to the book but I hear the illustrated paper edition is WONDERFUL.