I like this quote. I like the idea that stories never truly end. If you’ve ever read Jasper Fford, you know that the characters in the story have full lives when they are not being read. I like that idea, as well, especially when you find a great trilogy or series. I like to imagine the characters living, loving, and moving about their daily lives when I close the book. It helps when you get to the end and you’re sad that it’s over. I mourn the characters lost and the those I love but who aren’t real (SIGH!!!).

Holly Black is one of my favorite authors. Her latest trilogy (?), The Folk of the Air has been dreamy! She writes about the Fey as though she knows them intimately, has seen their revels and danced with Faerie princes. The first two of the series, Cruel Prince and Wicked King paint a picture so vivid and heartwrenching that I was unsure of how the final book would go. I was not disappointed, though she did give me a massive fright toward the end and I almost broke my cardinal rule NOT to read the end before getting there. I am glad that I did not do so for it would have ruined the sweetness.

Jude is doomed to the mortal world indefinitely. She is always thinking, scheming of a way back to Faerie, back to her wicked king to repay his betrayal. In the meantime, though, she is a Fey fixer and assassin, when necessary. On a day that begins like all the rest, her chance for revenge appears in the form of her backstabbing twin, Taryn who has put herself on the wrong side of the Fey court. Being an identical twin has its advantages. Playing the role of Taryn, Jude defies her exile order to confront the charges against her sister and her feelings for Cardan. Upon her arrival, she discovers that Elfhame is in dire straights. War is coming and at its head is her father, Madoc. Soon she is entrenched deep in enemy territory and must find a way to stay alive long enough to warn her king of impending war. In an unexpected and tragic turn of events, a hideous curse is unleashed putting her in the very place she longed and dreaded to be, Queen of Elfhame. She must walk a razor-thin line between love and control if she wants to save her kingdom and her King.