The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black Pages: 336
Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers on December 9, 2014
Genres: Fairy Tales & Folklore, Fantasy & Magic, Love & Romance, Young Adult
Source: Paperback ARC from Publisher
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?
The Darkest Part of the Forest is a book that I have been dying to read for a long time. And a lot of that had to do with the cover. I still sometimes get lost just looking at it. I love it that much. Plus, I was really loving the fact that this book is a standalone. And I did end up liking the book…just…not as much as I thought I would. Now, I haven’t read too many reviews for the Darkest Part of the Forest so I have no idea whether I will be in the minority or majority, but I will attempt to convey my kind of confused relationship with this book.
I absolutely LOVED the way the book started and the way the book ended. In kind of an anonymous third person narrative that felt like the start of a fairy tale narration. “deep in the middle of the forest, there was a boy…” That kind of thing. But it was very well done at grabbing your attention right off the bat. I really wanted to know what the deal was with the sleeping boy. I was pumped, this was going to be such a cool story. But then it got a little bumpy from there. And don’t get me wrong, it still was a cool story. But within the first few chapters, a lot is thrown at the reader. Names, and things, and concepts that you just have no idea what they mean or what they are. It is a lot to get at once. And I get that this was a special kind of town, where things were never really normal. I liked the concept of the town. Humans mixed with fairies and creatures in the forest. It reminded me of the Hansel and Gretel: witch hunters movie or Grimm Brothers movie.
Holly Black did a great job with the setting and scenery descriptions in the story. I felt like I could really picture the town of Fairfold and the forest creatures, but I had a bit of trouble connecting with the characters. The pacing seemed off in that regard. Sometimes I felt like the story was going by too fast with not enough detail and sometimes I was just plain bored while reading. I could never fall into my reading stride, where time ceased to exist and I could read for hours and have it feel like minutes. I felt all of the minutes and hours it took me to read The Darkest Park of the Forest.
The underlying story plot, with the monster within the forest was the most interesting part of the story. That and Hazel’s “hunting”. Both of those things were the reasons why I wanted to keep reading The Darkest Part of the Forest. I loved the background information on the monster and I loved the way all of the secondary characters and villains connected and came together. The story reveals itself all in due time and for that I was grateful. I thought the tale that Holly Black told was a creative one, but the pacing was a miss for me and made it hard for me to completely fall in love with this book. But I can see a ton of people loving the world that Holly Black has created here, and loving the twisted creatures of Fairfold. So, if you like the Fairfolk and you like dark, but not really so dark undertones to the story, then The Darkest Part of the Forest is the book for you!
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Kate @ Ex Libris
I can’t wait to read this. I am such a Holly Black fan and I love the way she writes faerie books!
Michelle @ Book Briefs
I haven’t read any of her other books! I know that must be hard to believe. If you get a chance to read this one, please let me know what you think 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Kate
Karen
I have the same feeling but for posit reasons. lol The characters were what kept me reading, I didn’t like the folklore so much. I did have problems with the pacing as well though. I almost gave up a few times but ended up liking it.
Karen @For What It’s Worth
Michelle @ Book Briefs
haha thats funny. I think the pacing was the main problem and for me it affected the characters and for you it affected the folk lore. I’m glad you ended up liking it as well Karen 🙂
kindlemom1
I am so glad the good outweighed the bad for you. It seems many reviewers are saying the same thing. I do want to read this but I am afraid that I won’t be in love with it either.
Michelle @ Book Briefs
Yea this was one that I have wanted to read for so long, but then I haven’t really seen too many reviews around, which seemed weird to me. I must have missed them all, but it ended up being good, there was just something about the pacing that held me back from loving it.
I hope you really enjoy it if you try it though!
Frannie Pan @ In Clouds of Pages
Never read a fairy book before, I want to try with this one!
ps. I have a blog as well, both in Italian and in English. I’d love if you wanted to check that out! 😀 -> http://frannieinthepages.blogspot.com/
Megan McDade
I have this for review and am looking forward to it. I do find Holly’s writing hard to read reading a previous book of hers but I hope this one is better. I do love the cover as well.
Michelle @ Book Briefs
See, I haven’t read any other books by her, so I really didn’t know, but she is a hugely ppoular author. I did like this one, just not as much as I was expecting too.
Thanks for stopping by Megan. How are you doing?
Jaime Lester
For me, Holly Black is a genius, and with the exception of one book she has not disappointed me. Even with that ONE, I enjoyed it, just didn’t love it like I assumed I would. This one got me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I did…. I was consumed, and could not put it down for a second. I am sorry that you didn’t have as good of a time with it. That always stinks, especially with those that you pine for for so long
Sandra Watts
It still sounds worth checking out. Thanks for the heads up!