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The Darkest Part of the Forest
A girl makes a secret sacrifice to the faerie king in this lush New York Times bestselling fantasy by author Holly Black In the woods is a glass coffin. It rests on the ground, and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives.... Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in Fairfold, where humans and the Folk exist side by side. Since they were children, Hazel and Ben have been telling each other stories about the boy in the glass coffin, that he is a prince and they are valiant knights, pretending their prince would be different from the other faeries, the ones who made cruel bargains, lurked in the shadows of trees, and doomed tourists. But as Hazel grows up, she puts aside those stories. Hazel knows the horned boy will never wake. Until one day, he does.... As the world turns upside down, Hazel has to become the knight she once pretended to be. The Darkest Part of the Forest is bestselling author Holly Black's triumphant return to the opulent, enchanting faerie tales that launched her YA career.
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Community Reviews
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.
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.
Humans and Fae live alongside each other, and in Fairfold, things are quite out of the ordinary. Many tourists see the boy sleeping in the glass coffin, but Hazel and her brother dream up stories of the day he wakes up when one day he does…
Black’s writing will always be a lovely friend to return to, but I wasn’t quite expecting this, not after the Folk of the Air. The teenage drama bits sometimes put me off, and the miscommunication trope is the most infuriating thing on this planet. However, I still love Black’s world of Fae, and I still had a wonderful time getting thrown back into her world.
Hazel constantly thinking about boys and kissing was annoying. Perhaps this is the young adult part of the book that I have grown out of liking. Also, Hazel was honestly an idiot, and that put me off.
Half of the conflict is due to Hazel and Ben not telling each other important, pivotal things, which is the most annoying trope I know. Otherwise, the storyline itself is lovely. Understanding Ben, Hazel, and Jack by coming to know their families and how they grew up together pulled everything together about how they all interacted with other and how they understood the world around them.
To start, I had such a hard time imagining Severin as a grown-ass man who has been alive for decades. Hazel and Ben constantly refer to him as the boy in the glass coffin, and being connected to them makes it hard to imagine him as anything other than a teenager. However, every line he said just reminded me how much older he was and how wise. And how hot. Severin was pretty hot.
Also, the fact that Severin could hear everything and remembered everything that was said to him while he was asleep? 10/10. Loved It. I loved how it contributed to the story, but at the same time, that poor, poor man. Imagine listening to people dance, drink, scream, shout, talk, and stare around you anytime. It’s a wonder he didn’t go insane. I’m glad he had Ben and Hazel, who respected him and thought of him as a living being (for the most part).
Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack. He deserves the entire fucking world, and if I could, I would give it to him. This poor boy lives around others who don’t fully accept him except five people, and he is constantly surrounded by people who actively try to ward those like him off. Honestly, the fact that he only snapped at one kid in his entire school history is a mystery to me. Humans are scared of him, but he has more self-control than most of them will ever have. He was a teenager, but he had an older sense of wisdom about him that I just loved. I loved his outlook on everything. He deserves the entire world and people who love him without any expectations. I feel for him when he has to return to his faerie mother, where he is treated like owned property.
Black’s writing will always be a lovely friend to return to, but I wasn’t quite expecting this, not after the Folk of the Air. The teenage drama bits sometimes put me off, and the miscommunication trope is the most infuriating thing on this planet. However, I still love Black’s world of Fae, and I still had a wonderful time getting thrown back into her world.
Hazel constantly thinking about boys and kissing was annoying. Perhaps this is the young adult part of the book that I have grown out of liking. Also, Hazel was honestly an idiot, and that put me off.
Half of the conflict is due to Hazel and Ben not telling each other important, pivotal things, which is the most annoying trope I know. Otherwise, the storyline itself is lovely. Understanding Ben, Hazel, and Jack by coming to know their families and how they grew up together pulled everything together about how they all interacted with other and how they understood the world around them.
To start, I had such a hard time imagining Severin as a grown-ass man who has been alive for decades. Hazel and Ben constantly refer to him as the boy in the glass coffin, and being connected to them makes it hard to imagine him as anything other than a teenager. However, every line he said just reminded me how much older he was and how wise. And how hot. Severin was pretty hot.
Also, the fact that Severin could hear everything and remembered everything that was said to him while he was asleep? 10/10. Loved It. I loved how it contributed to the story, but at the same time, that poor, poor man. Imagine listening to people dance, drink, scream, shout, talk, and stare around you anytime. It’s a wonder he didn’t go insane. I’m glad he had Ben and Hazel, who respected him and thought of him as a living being (for the most part).
Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack. He deserves the entire fucking world, and if I could, I would give it to him. This poor boy lives around others who don’t fully accept him except five people, and he is constantly surrounded by people who actively try to ward those like him off. Honestly, the fact that he only snapped at one kid in his entire school history is a mystery to me. Humans are scared of him, but he has more self-control than most of them will ever have. He was a teenager, but he had an older sense of wisdom about him that I just loved. I loved his outlook on everything. He deserves the entire world and people who love him without any expectations. I feel for him when he has to return to his faerie mother, where he is treated like owned property.
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