It has been numerous years since I finished reading “The Folk of the Air”. In all honesty, this series was okay, with The Wicked King being the exception. However, little Oak made me curious and now that he gets his own duology, I was excited to read The Stolen Heir, the first book.

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• Title: The Stolen Heir
• Author: Holly Black
• Series: The Stolen Heir Duology #1
• Publication date: January 3, 2023
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• ISBN: 9780316592703
• Number of pages: 356
• Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.

Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black returns to the opulent world of Elfhame in the first book in a thrilling new duology, following Jude’s brother Oak, and the changeling queen, Suren.

My expectations were quite high. I enjoyed “Folk of the Air”, but I disliked Tithe. In that review I already mentioned my excitement for The Stolen Heir, but it took a little longer to actually read it. Unfortunately, I had a very, very though time with this book. If it wasn’t for a buddyread, I would have DNF’ed it pretty soon in.

The thing that annoyed me the most was the fact I barely remembered a thing from most of Queen of Nothing, the final book in the “Folk of the Air” series. The bridal and Lady Noren didn’t ring a bell at all. This put me off so much, that I didn’t succeed to get into this book at all. Also, the characters were boring. Ren was better than Oak, but they didn’t interest me at all.

The writing was okay, not extraordinary or whatsoever. I struggled a lot with listening to the audiobook, even though Saskia Maarleveld did a great job on the narration. However, I was so irritated by the confusion about earlier events that it heavily influenced my reading experience. To not say ruined. I just couldn’t follow the plot and therefore didn’t get invested. The things I could foloow from the plot, also bored me. However, I suppose this is all linked to eachother.

All in all, I didn’t enjoy my time reading The Stolen Heir by Holly Black. It has been about four years since finishing The Queen of Nothing and many events of that book return in this one. Or at least, the mention of these. However, this all happens without any explanation and therefore I couldn’t remember a thing. This heavily influenced my reading experience. This book gives me the feeling of obligation, the obligation to read “Folk of the Air” first. You just can’t enter Elfhame by starting in this book. I strongly recommend rereading the “Folk of the Air” series before diving into this one. Maybe I will do the same and give this book another try, but I’m not prioritizing it.