[R] The Darkest Part of the Forest, by: Holly Black

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?

my thoughts

"Come now, my child, if we were planning to harm you, do you think we'd be lurking here beside the path in the very darkest part of the forest?"

When I saw that Holly Black was going to release another fantasy stand alone, I had to read it. I really loved The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and its actually one of my favorites. I do not like too much vampires, but her made me love them. Now, fair folk are other thing. Reading books of them, I actually like them very much, but I'm always scared of what they can do. They aren't weak and they are very very smart. So, once again, Holly Black charmed me with a book and it was about fair folk, oh, I love it.

“There's a monster in our wood. She'll get you if you're not good. Drag you under leaves and sticks. Punish you for all your tricks. Anest of hair and gnawed bone. You are never, ever coming... home.”

If you have read books about fairies, then you will not be lost and if you haven't you will be a little bit lost with all the terms, situations and creatures. This story follows two siblings that live in a town named Fairfold. Hazel & Benjamin (aka Ben) Evans were born and raise there between humans and the lurking forest where fairies reside. The Fair Folk for them were not children's stories, they were as real as the ground. Somewhere in the forest lives the Fair Folk Prince, eternally sleeping in a coffin. Never waking up for no one, curse to sleep and no one bothering him to wake him. Hearing sorrows, drunk people, loud music and heartbreaks. But Ben and Hazel weren't that human either, something valuable they must have... Because one day the Prince just woke up and upon their door he knock.

"We love until we do not. For us, love doesn't fade gradually. It snaps like a branch bent too far."

The stories, the world, the characters, the plot, the ending... everything was just perfect. This book deserves all the stars, just like any Holly Black novel. If the fairy folk you want to seek to the darkest part of the forest you must go AND if a book like this you want to read, seek no more and read THIS book. Totally recommend it!

“Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.”