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

I was unsure what to expect going into this book. Typically, retellings from a different character's point of view, feel like a cheap way to milk a buck from a series *coughstephaniemeyercough. But the author is Holly Black. And...I heard there were pictures.

This book reminds me of The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo, which makes sense since the authors seem to know each other based on the acknowledgements in Holly's books (by the by, if you haven't read that book, I recommend).

This book was a string of different short stories in Cardan's life, both before, during, and after The Cruel Prince trilogy. But it wasn't a play-by-play of scenes in the trilogy, nopity-nope. They were actually original and quite helpful to some of the reactions and behaviors we saw in his character.

And. 👏 That. 👌 Art. 🖐 Work. 🙌 Daaang girl. The pictures are so simple and monochromatic, but the whispy strokes and pops of gold fit this series perfectly. It's gorgeous.

I'd rate this a PG-13 for alcohol/drug use and nods towards sex, although nothing detailed.