The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black is out 5th March, published by Hot Key Books
After the shocking events of The Stolen Heir, Prince Oak is in deeper trouble than ever before. As his situation grows more precarious, Oak is desperate to find a way out, before all of Elfhame is caught in the coming storm.
Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal. Imprisoned in the icy north and bound to the will of a monstrous new queen, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude ready to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, should Oak attempt to regain the trust of the girl he’s always loved, or remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too.
With war looming and treachery lurking in every corner, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. He will have some terrible choices to make. The No.1 bestselling fantasy, The Stolen Heir also publishes in paperback, 5th March 2024.
Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy books, including the novels of Elfhame, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Spiderwick Chronicles, her adult debut, Book of Night, as well as an Arthurian picture book called Sir Morien. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. The Prisoner’s Throne is Holly’s latest novel, the conclusion to the no.1 bestseller The Stolen Heir.
How would you describe Prince Oak’s journey from “The Stolen Heir” to “The Prisoner’s Throne”?
In The Stolen Heir, we see the events from Wren’s point of view. The shift to Oak’s point of view shades the events of the first book differently. And, if you’ve read The Stolen Heir, then you know that by the end of the novel, Oak found himself imprisoned by the girl he loves, so he’s starting out The Prisoner’s Throne with a lot of new problems.
Oak is facing even greater challenges in this sequel. What can readers expect in terms of twists and character development?
It’s hard to know how to talk about twists, but I think The Prisoner’s Throne allows us to see the aspects of Oak’s powers and position that haunt him and make him feel incapable of being truly close to the people he loves.
How does the setting of Elfhame influence the events and characters in this book?
Some of the novel takes place back in the isles of Elfhame, so the intertwined family dynamics and politics there are part of what the characters have to contend with. Oak being heir to the throne — and Jude’s desire never to deny him that position — complicate his relationship to his sisters, mother, and father.
Can you tell us a bit about the dynamic between High King Cardan and High Queen Jude in this volume?
They’ve been ruling Elfhame for many years, so they’ve had time to become used to being in power and being together. I think they are still very much themselves, though, and their priorities aren’t always the same.
Besides the central conflict, what other themes or messages do you hope readers will absorb when reading “The Prisoner’s Throne”?
If the Folk of the Air series asks questions about how monstrous one is willing to become for power, then I think this duology asks questions around what it means to refuse power out of a fear of one’s own inner monstrousness.
What was the writing process for this book like compared to the previous volumes in the series?
In The Stolen Heir, I had to make a lot of decisions about Wren and Oak as people, so I came to The Prisoner’s Throne with a good understanding of who Oak was, but it’s still a challenge to drop more deeply into a character. And because we were going back to Elfhame, there was the challenge of balancing characters already well known to many readers of the duology with the actual protagonists of these books.
You are known for creating rich worlds and complex characters. How do you balance world-building in Elfhame with character development in this series conclusion?
Thank you! I think the important thing in a book like this one is to give everyone their moment of being clever and also their moment of rawness — and for Oak and Wren, giving them each a conclusion to their story that’s about their own journeys individually as well as together.
Finally, what kind of impact do you hope “The Prisoner’s Throne” will have on readers and the series as a whole?
That’s an interesting question! I think that Wren and Oak are very different characters than ones I usually write about and I hope that readers will see themselves in them. As for the series, I hope that reader enjoy being back in Elfhame and are both satisfied with the journey we’ve been on and looking forward to what comes next.
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