Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of violence, child abuse, and death.

The Prisoner’s Throne is the sequel to The Stolen Heir, and the duology itself is a follow-up to the Folk of the Air trilogy and the novella How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (2020). The books all share a narrative continuity and a cast of characters. The original trilogy focused on the relationship between Jude and Cardan and their ascension to the roles of High Queen and King. Oak and Wren both originally appeared as minor characters in these novels, as they were children at the time.

The Cruel Prince begins with Jude, her twin sister Taryn, and their older half-sister Vivi, forced to go to Faerie after their parents are murdered by Madoc, a general of the Folk, who raises them as his own. As teenagers, they endure bullying from the faerie nobility, including Prince Cardan. Prince Dain, the High King’s heir, recruits Jude as a spy. When Dain’s coronation arrives, another brother, Balekin, reveals himself as a traitor. With Madoc’s help, he murders the entire royal family except for Cardan, whom Jude rescues.