Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince is a YA novel our local library was promoting for an adult YA book club that meets monthly at the library.

While last year’s themes were Surrender and Acceptance, this year’s theme seems to be, Find Your People. I’m an adult, and I like YA lit. I picked up a copy of the book at the front desk, and snagged one of two spots left in the book club meeting for later in the month.

Then, I spent several hours I could (and maybe should) have spent sleeping before and after a night shift and binge read it. Indoors, outdoors, and way past my bedtime.

The story takes place in Faerie. I’ve read some fantasy, but I’m not familiar enough in the genre to understand many references to mythological creatures and faerie social hierarchy. I frequently referenced the internet for clarification of mythological terms, and was often greeted with images of interesting, furry, ethereal, or strange creatures on the back side of a search.

The book had a rich vocabulary. I was online searching for vocabulary support as often as I was searching for images of mythological creatures I wasn’t familiar with.

The book throws in some pop culture similar to the way Rick Riordan brings mythology into modern times. It also contains very culturally current sexuality themes, although I’m sure the argument could be made (if I knew more about faerie social norms) that faeries were always as liberated as they are in this book.

I appreciated the interesting look at family dynamics, as well as the way the book turns bullying on its head. The author takes things we may find deeply uncomfortable, and asks us to hear the other side of the story. The characters are multidimensional creatures, and while there are clear villains, not even the protagonist comes out morally superior here.

One of the common tropes in books of this genre and novels in general is two people who can’t stand each other falling in love. This story takes that idea and again, turns it upside down. The story makes us kind of want a romance to take place when it wouldn’t really be appropriate. At the same time as we’re feeling repulsed for feeling that way, we wonder how the characters can love/hate/want each other the way they seem to, then realize we’re feeling exactly the same thing about the story, and THAT’S how it happens.

I was looking forward to the book club, but also feeling a little nervous. This year has been a big one for personal change, but trying new things in groups is still something that makes my hair stand on end.

As it happens, the book club was great. The room was full, and everyone had read the book. We went loosely off of a list of questions from a book club guide, facilitated by two librarians. But mainly, we just discussed everything from the characters, to their relationships with one another, to the plot and the world of Faerie. I heard plenty of interesting opinions and observations, and there was a lot of laughter as well.

There wasn’t really time to talk to anyone individually, but I’ll start to get to know people if I keep going. The book club meets once a month. I missed the first one in September (maybe it wasn’t as well publicized, maybe I just didn’t make it to the library often enough in September to find out about it).

A great number of the attendees were serious YA readers, familiar with a dizzying number of series and authors. They remembered individual plot lines from different books, as well as which books within a series they preferred. I’m not that on top of YA lit. I like it, but it’s one of many genres I enjoy. I probably only read 3-5 YA titles a year, if that.

At another point in my life, I would have been intimidated by how much many of the people knew, but instead I just enjoyed listening to them talk about something they were passionate about, and marveled at their ability to recall details.

I was surprised by how much I liked the book club. Once I was in the room and we all started talking, I didn’t feel nervous or awkward, I just enjoyed talking with other people who had all read the same book I had. I’ve already started reading the next book in the series, The Wicked King, and I picked up the next book club book from the front desk before I left for the night.

My kids were at the library with the Chaplain while I was there for book club, and nearly every single one of them found a reason to walk past outside by the window of the room I was in, or walk slowly by the door from the inside. Some of them did it more than once. With six kids at the library, and some making multiple passes, that’s a lot checking on Mom. But I feeling relaxed and enjoying my time, so I just waved at them or smiled and went back to focusing on the group.

Take-away? The book was pretty good. The book club was even better. And the people in the group who had already read the second book said it’s even better than The Cruel Prince. I look forward to finding out if I agree.