The Queen of Nothing

The Folk of the Air, Book 3

By: Holly Black

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A powerful curse forces the exiled Queen of Faerie to choose between ambition and humanity in this highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to the Folk of the Air trilogy from a number one New York Times best-selling author.

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 mortal 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....

©2019 Holly Black (P)2019 Little, Brown Young Readers

Didn't have the closure of a finale

I really loved this series, and I really expected another book to follow! I looked it up and it said this was the last one, which I found rather surprising as it has a lot of loose ends and I don't really feel satisfied. I mean, I usually am not when a series I love ends, but this was different. Also the reader didn't do as great of a job with this book as she did the others. Like a lot of scenes were read in the wrong tone/voice and it was super obvious. She read most of the scenes as tense/fast paced even when they were not and it came across as a little 1 note. Not her best, but I still love the voices she makes.

Fitting end, not as engaging as previous titles

As title. The ending felt a little obvious and the 'hook' for the 'twist' at the end comes during this book, making it feel rushed and not as well planned.

The jump in the main relationship feels a little unnatural as far as hate-turns-to-love type stories.

The performance is solid with reasonably well-defined voices, though the narrator sometimes relies more on cadence than tone to differentiate characters (A military officer partway through the book who only has a handful of dialogue sounds the same as The Roach, but in a different rhythm, which can be jarring/illusion breaking).

As with previous books, I noticed the audio at times seems to swap in quality, making the narrator sound much closer or a bit farther at times. Sometimes short phrases sound very 'cut in' and not as if the book is being read in a sitting, but that a phrase was forgotten and had to be edited back in. It is minor but if you listen on headphones, it's very noticeable.

Worth the dive into the series, you will definitely like it if you've enjoyed Holly Black's other titles.

Satisfying ending to a guilty pleassure trilogy

4,5⭐ Good audiobook production. This trilogy is the perfect guilty pleassure YA fantasy I just didn't know I needed in my life. It is super dramatic, cheesy,funny, atmospheric,so magical,unpredictable,lush,dark and delichious. Not quite like anything else I've read,and with such an interesting premis and world. This conclusion to the trilogy wasn't quite as epic as it could have been,and maybe it should have been a few chapters longer,but it was still so dang enjoyable,and overall a satisfying ending to this story ! I think Jude ,the MC, had an amazing journey and transformation throughout the books, both finding her place in the fairy world,and also becoming more of a human along the way.

Great Book

I loved the story. The narrator did a lovely job. Definitely felt for the characters.

OMG

loved loved it. oh my that was a wild ride. I loved the ending so much, it was a satisfying happish ending.

A great ending to a great series!

Holly Black takes us back to Faerie once more in the climatic ending to The Queen of Nothing. Jude, now as Queen of Faerie, must return back to Faerie and she arrives just in time as a war brews. Alliances change and a long dormant curse awakens in the land of Faerie endangering many. Can Jude and the others overcome these personal trials, a war, and a curse and bring peace and healing to the land?

I absolutely love Holly Black's The Folk of the Air series. Cardan has always been my favorite character and I say I kind of like the Red Cap General Grima Mog also hahaha. I enjoyed this conclusion to the series and absolutley loved the ending of The Queen of Nothing. The whole book just kept you engaged and hooked to all the politics and going on in Faerie. My only annoyance with the book is that Jude, through a good portion of the book, seems to regress in her role from the other books and becomes a little more timid or unsure of herself. Then finally, about 3/4 of the way through, the Jude I grew to love finally emerges once again. But other than that the politics, the war, the curse, the character's were all beautifully done, and as always the narration of Caitlin Kelly led such beautiful voice to this story and the character's in it.

Amazing written work!

One of my favorite series this year! I'm ecstatic to read further stories by Black!

Incredibly prefictable.

predictable. I enjoy the world building and subject matter, the actual story is really easily predictable, which tales a lot of the enjoyment out of it. Should you endeavor to read this, be prepared for a disappointingly foreseeable story with not a single twist or surprise.

Great finale to an amazing trilogy!

I loved this book! It has become my favorite series and I’m so disappointed for it to end. That being said, I do think some of the actions of the main characters at the end of the book weren’t quite in line with how they have been in the rest of the series. However, it wasn’t enough for me to lessen my feelings about the book and trilogy as a whole.

love it

well what can I say other than I absolutely love the whole series well worth the credit for all books