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Trivia
Trivia, title by title: 31 in total. Tap a cover to open it. Titles you haven't marked as read stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- Behind the scenesOptioned before it came out
In June 2017, months before it hit shelves, the book was optioned by Universal, with producer Michael De Luca. The movie never happened.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesFaerie scavenger hunts
Holly Black grew up believing in the supernatural. Her mother told ghost stories, insisted the house was haunted and ran faerie scavenger hunts around the neighborhood.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe art book that scared her
Black says she fell for faeries through Faeries, the art book by Brian Froud and Alan Lee. She calls it beautiful and kind of terrifying, the tone she brought to Elfhame.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesA TikTok phenomenon
During lockdown, the trilogy blew up on TikTok, passing half a billion views. Its UK publisher says the three books have sold over 12 million copies worldwide.
source ↗ - SetupWatch Madoc
Black has said Madoc, Jude's guardian, is in some way her model. The question she leaves open is what Jude becomes if she follows his path. Notice how alike the two are.
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- Behind the scenesReaders' choice
The book won the 2019 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy, voted by readers.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesTwo-time finalist
In 2020, it was a finalist for the Lodestar, the young adult award given with the Hugos, and for the Locus Award.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBetter than the first
Kirkus called it a rare second volume that surpasses the first. Booklist said it avoids the second-book slump.
source ↗ - SetupA bigger board
Before book 1 came out, BookPage reported that the sequel would take Faerie politics to a larger arena. Watch the courts beyond Elfhame.
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- Behind the scenesBack-to-back Goodreads wins
The trilogy finale won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fantasy, a year after The Wicked King won the same category.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesCarnegie nominee
UK publisher Hot Key Books says the book was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, the British award for children's and young adult books.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesOn EW's list
Entertainment Weekly named it one of the best young adult books of 2019.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe next story started here
Black says the idea for Oak and Suren's duology came to her while she was writing this book.
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- Behind the scenesDigital only
The novella came out October 2, 2018, as a $2.99 e-book, to tide fans over until The Wicked King. There is no print edition.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesRead by Caitlin Kelly
The audiobook came out the same day as the e-book, narrated by Caitlin Kelly.
source ↗ - ReferenceA letter to Jude
The whole story is a letter from Taryn to her sister. The series wiki recommends reading it between The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King.
source ↗ - SetupLove or horror
The tagline says that sometimes the only difference between a love story and a horror story is where the ending comes. Keep it in mind when you think about Taryn and Locke.
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- Behind the scenesSaved on purpose
Black says she always pictured a Cardan novella, but there was no way to write it during the trilogy without spoiling readers' sense of who he was.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesAn illustrated treat
After the trilogy, she and Little, Brown wanted to do something special. Every chapter comes with full-color art by Rovina Cai.
source ↗ - ReferenceScenes from the other side
The book revisits moments from the trilogy through Cardan's eyes. Kirkus warned you need to have read all three books first.
source ↗ - SetupThree versions of one story
As a child, Cardan hears the tale of a boy with a heart of stone in three versions, each with different details and a different moral. Compare them.
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- Behind the scenesNot an easy romp
After writing Book of Night, her first adult novel, Black expected returning to Elfhame to be easy. She said it was not the easy romp she had promised herself.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNumber one
The book hit No. 1 on the New York Times list. The audiobook won an AudioFile Earphones Award in 2023.
source ↗ - ReferenceJude's mirror
Black says Suren's story echoes and reverses Jude's: Jude was taken from her family, while Suren was taken by hers.
source ↗ - ReferenceGoblin Market
Black compares Faerie's pull to the fruit in Christina Rossetti's poem Goblin Market: something you shouldn't want, but do.
source ↗ - SetupA fairy-tale map
The map of Faerie is deliberately useless for working out distances. Black wanted it to feel like a fairy tale, not high fantasy. Don't trust the routes.
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- Behind the scenesTwo halves, two narrators
Black wanted to try a structure common in realistic-fiction duologies: the second book picks up where the first ends and switches narrators.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe date moved
When the duology was announced in 2022, the UK publisher set the second book for January 2024. In the US, it came out March 5, 2024.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesWrite it wrong first
Black says she has never stuck to an outline and has to write it wrong before she writes it right. She treats each book as a torture device for her characters.
source ↗ - ReferenceJude and Cardan return
Black confirmed before release that Jude and Cardan appear in this book, both in Oak's memories and in the present.
source ↗ - SetupWhat Oak was hiding
The book revisits events from the previous volume through Oak's memories. Have The Stolen Heir fresh in your mind.
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