Fans of the current booktok trend can now satisfy their interests in the world of board games, through a new card game based on The Cruel Prince.
The Folk of Air series is a franchise of young adult fantasy books written by author Holly Black and set in a fantasy world populated by faerie royalty, whose court is a place of intense political gamesmanship and hedonistic cruelty. Beginning with The Cruel Prince in 2018, which follows a human named Jude Duarte who is drawn into the machinations of the faerie court against her will, the series has since spawned three main books, as well as several novellas and a spin-off series featuring two books.
Black’s book series is considered part of a current trend on social media platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram called booktok, which has seen several series, often aimed at female audiences and featuring romantic and/or sexual themes, become popular thanks to followers of the trend recommending them, making inside jokes about them, or otherwise discussing the books. In addition to the Folk of Air series, booktok has sparked interest in other fantasy romance series such as A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas and The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros.
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Enemies & Lovers: The Crown of Elfhame (though not the first card game based on a booktok series, that being Embers of Memory: which is based on A Throne of Glass) is an upcoming board game based on the aforementioned booktok series, Folk of Air. In the card game, two to four players attempt to plan and execute their own political machinations within the faerie court of Elfhame, before any of their opponents can.
In a game of Enemies & Lovers, which lasts between 15 and 40 minutes depending on the number of players, each person starts with three cards. During the game, players will draw cards and place them in their hand, then play them in front of themselves as if they were their court. Their goal is to be the first to place a coercion card, a prince card, a conspirator card, and a crown card in their court.
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To accomplish this goal, players will need to steal cards, poison their enemies, and spy on their opponents for information. Players will also be able to hide, protect themselves, and set traps using whatever cards they can get their hands on. The various cards in the fantasy game feature characters from the series, such as Jude, Madoc, Valerian, Balekin, and Cardan, and players will try to work their way through the deck or acquire cards from their opponents until they have what they need – all while fending off attacks.
Enemies & Lovers: The Crown of Elfhame was designed by Holly Black, author of several book, comic and short story series, with illustrations by Frostbite Studios, an independent illustrator. The crowdfunding campaign for the game is live on Kickstarter until May 31, with a $30 (£24) pledge for backers to get a copy of the game in September.