Page Count: 336
Published on: January 13, 2015
Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre(s): Young Adult, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy
Source: Paperback - personally purchased
Source: Paperback - personally purchased
Age Rating: YA
My Rating: 4 stars
Goodreads synopsis:
Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they’re destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she’s found the thing she’s been made for.
Hazel lives with her brother, Ben, in the strange town of Fairfold where humans and fae exist side by side. The faeries’ seemingly harmless magic attracts tourists, but Hazel knows how dangerous they can be, and she knows how to stop them. Or she did, once.
At the center of it all, there is a glass coffin in the woods. It rests right on the ground and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives. Hazel and Ben were both in love with him as children. The boy has slept there for generations, never waking.
Until one day, he does…
As the world turns upside down, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?
~~~
Hey, guys!
After reading The Cruel Prince, I just had to pick up another faerie book from Holly Black. Once again, I'm impressed with her books. I think her YA books are what I love the best. The Darkest Part of the Forest follows Hazel and her twin brother Ben in the town of Fairfold. In the town of Fairfold, humans and fae live and exist together. The townspeople have an agreement, the faeries do not play their cruel tricks on the townspeople and the fae may play tricks on the tourists that wander into danger. Seniors in high school, Ben and Hazel have lived in Fairfold for almost all of their lives and they know of the dangers that the fae can unleash.
However, The Darkest Part of the Forest wasn't as good as The Cruel Prince in my opinion. This was an excellent standalone. I loved it, but there was just something missing for me. I feel like there was something missing from the overall book and I felt like there was something lacking in Hazel's character. I also felt like the ending was rather rushed and the characters didn't seem to develop as much as one would hope over the course of a novel. The relationships that developed throughout the novel were also initiated quite quickly. I really hoped that they would have developed over more time, but it just seemed very instantaneous.
Although it wasn't my favorite, I still really enjoyed the book. The writing style was awesome. I basically devoured this book; the story was so addicting and I didn't want it to end. I really enjoyed the dark and mystifying plot and world. Holly Black managed to develop a mysterious and intriguing world that I wanted to visit within the first fifty pages. The characters and their stories were so riveting that I didn't want the book to just be a standalone. However, they also did not really develop like I would have hoped they would. During the first half of the book, I became really interested in the characters; but, during the later half, it didn't seem like they were showing the kind of growth that is usually found in a standalone. I got somewhat bored with them, but not enough to hate the story. During the last few pages, the story really picked up and I really enjoyed it. Even if the ending wrapped up too quickly.
Overall, this was a really good book. I really enjoyed the characters, the plot, the world, and the writing. However, the characters were missing a sort of depth that I was hoping for and the book was wrapped up too quickly. Though this isn't my favorite of Holly Black's work, I'm really excited to dive back into her other YA work.
My Previous Holly Black Reviews:
- The Field Guide (Spiderwick #1)
- Spiderwick #2-#5
- The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1)
- Bailey's Spiderwick series review
- The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
Happy reading!
Olivia
~LivTheBookNerd~
