The darkest part of the forest – review

Title: The darkest part of the forest

Author: Holly Black

Format: Paperback from library

Publisher: Indigo

Page count: 324

Release day: January 13^th 2015

Genre: Ya fantasy/ paranormal

Rating: 4 stars

What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)

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:

Since I loved the cruel prince and the wicked king, and enjoyed her Magisterium series with Cassandra Clare, I felt like I needed to read more of Holly Black’s ‘single’ work. So when I saw this in the library I just took it with me 🙂

To be honest I didn’t really have high expectations, since this of course an ‘older’ work of hers. But as soon as the story began I was surprised by my enjoyment! This book is so magical, I loved so much about it! I just could not put the book back down! Which is always a good sign.

I think the main thing I love about Holly Black is her writing style! I loved it in this book as well as in the cruel prince! It just makes me want to continue reading. I also really like her different takes on fae, they are both magical and horrifying at the same time. If I’m correct she even has one more series about fae, that is again different from the ones I read 🙂 Definitely excited to read that one as well!

But more about this book. It was really action packed, so you could just not put it down, since you need to know what happens. Some scenes were almost scary to me. It kept me on the edge of my seat! (well actually I was mostly lying in bed while reading this ..). It was really interesting to see how this city and the faeries lived together, and how they got intertwined at some points. I would have loved to see more of the faeries tbh.

All the characters are really well developed and intriguing! I was interested in Hazel, she is so unapologetic #bless, just as much as in the Horned prince! (Also where can I find his glass casket?!!)

The main reason for me taking a star is that at the ending I got really confused. I’m not really sure if that’s my fault, since I was really tired, or the books fault.. I kept rereading parts, because I didn’t understand how they got at a certain place or situation.

Conclusion, this book is really well written, fast-paced, enjoyable characters and has an original take on faeries! Definitely worth the read if you, just like me, got introduced to Holly Black by the Cruel prince!

Come talk to me!

Do you read ‘older’ books of authors you love?