Review: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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 has a lot of great ideas, and I loved how the fae were portrayed, but just like the other two stories I’ve read from this author, something was missing which kept me from loving it. In Fairfold the citizens are well aware of the existence of faeries. They accept them, but are also cautious, since the fae are tricksters and can get violent. It’s mainly tourists who wind up dead in the forest where there’s a crystal casket encasing a horned boy. Then one night, Hazel wakes up muddy and learns that the horn boy has been set free. There’s also a monster after him and it’s going to tear apart the town. It’s up to Hazel to save everyone.

I really liked The Darkest Part of the Forest in the beginning. I loved how the fae were kind of the town’s little secret, but also attracted tourism. I also really liked how the fairytale trope was flipped, and it was the ordinary human girl saving the extraordinary boy from evil. There’s also a changeling who lives amongst them, and is best friends with Hazel’s brother. There’s just a lot of little things that I really enjoyed, but about halfway through I found myself kind of over it. Maybe there were just too many interesting, individual things that I loved but didn’t necessarily get me more involved in the story. I kind of had this feeling of the author trying too hard to be unique which annoyed me. Not to say that’s what she is doing, but that’s just how I’ve felt about everything I’d read from her so far.

The Darkest Part of the Forest did pull me back in again toward the end, since it has a lot of great twists. I loved how things weren’t exactly how they seemed, and there were little details that made for fun “AH HA!” moments. But all of that didn’t make up for the nagging feeling I had throughout. I really do not know what it is about this author’s writing that just does not sit right with me. I absolutely adore all of her ideas, but then they all just kind of lose me once the plot actually picks up. Perhaps I’m just a fan of her world building and not her plots.

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