By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly
Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds
herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. Of course I want to be like
them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live
forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than
all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can
hardly breathe. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she
and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of
Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite
her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan,
the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court,
she must defy him--and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes
embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for
bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in
violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her
sisters, and Faerie itself.