The Darkest Part of the Forest

I really loved the writing style in the book. I love reading 3rd person POV. Holly Black is fantastic at writing paranormal standalones.

Hazel and Ben live in a town on the edge of Faerieland. But not the nice faeries. They Fey, the Sidhe, not the nice Botticelli cupid fairies from Renaissance paintings or even the slightly mischievous pixies from Disney. These are the faeries that steal your children. These are the faeries that take your life away from you with cunning and trickery. These are the faeries that slit your throat open and use your blood to decorate their homes. These are the more interesting, in my mind. I find them way more fascinating and I have been intrigued by them ever since I was little and I read a story about a girl whose brother was almost stolen by faeries and she tricked them into giving him back. Honestly, I think that was what I liked best about this story -- the sense of foreboding and wariness. The sense that you were most likely going to be tricked and you'd best just try to get the best trick possible.

Fortunately, it was more than just the right kind of faerie. The characters of Ben and Hazel were interesting and compelling, twisted with their own secrets and the malformed attempts to protect each other. There was Jack, the changeling who'd been kept alongside new human brother. Can you really trust someone who's from the outside? Or does growing up alongside you negate their foreignness? There was the horned prince in the glass coffin, a delightful alternate to Snow White. There was saving and being saved. There was kissing of everybody. There was sorrow and finding gifts in curses and finding curses in gifts.

The only thing that makes this book a 4.5 for me instead of a 5 was that the whole cursing and bargaining felt clumsy to me. It was hard for me to keep things straight, and I so wanted it to slot into place, right at the end, for me and the characters, like puzzle pieces. I've read books like that before, where you know there's an easy solution you can't see and then boom, it hits you and the characters all at the same time. It's like finding the perfect position of your body in a difficult yoga pose. The heavens open up and the angelic choir sings. I love it. I don't know how to do it properly, or I'd already be published. And I'm not even sure it's something you can really teach; it's just how to put things together. And Ms. Black didn't really have it together. Thus, the ending felt a little incomplete.

But aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it practically in one sitting, enchanted by the faeries and the boy in the glass coffin and the mystery. I already want to go back to such a faerie world, even though I know I'd surely make a bad bargain. Still, it's the kind of magic I like best.

A beautiful somber world, with damp moss and tears shed from self discovery. The fantasy in the worlds written by Holly Black is dark and dangerous, with just the perfect amount of alluring.

not your usual kind of fantasy. i'd rather say it's an example of magical realism - which i like as a genre (probably most of all genres). though it's probably the only fascinating thing about this book. i didn't really relate to either of the characters and found the story a bit slow - not boring but not exciting, as well

I read this book coming off on my cruel prince high. While it’s similar, it’s no where near as addictive. It wasn’t a bad read, but it did take me about 200 pages before I was even vaguely invested. Also I didn’t love the random chapter from Ben’s POV. I think if I had read this like 3 years in the future, I might be more here for it, but reading it right after my folk of the air high was a bad idea.