A One Paragraph Book Review
It won’t come as a surprise to any of you who are following along that I don’t like flowery, over descriptive prose. It’s not that I don’t appreciate an author’s careful description of their fantastical world-building, rather that I don’t appreciate superfluous scenes that seem to exist only so said author can spend pages waxing poetic about characters’ ball gowns. Words must have purpose, they can’t just be pretty. Enter Holly Black and The Cruel Prince: this, ladies and gentlemen, is what “lush” and “decadent” writing looks like. TCP is a delicious example of how vibrant description can work to enhance equally delicious characters and riveting plot to create a story that is not only worth reading, but worth savoring.
Erin Simpson 