"Something even more dangerous than your prince walks in his shadow."
In Holly Black's The Darkest Part of the Forest, it isn't unusual to spy a fairy-tale creature flitting about the woods surrounding the town. The locals are very superstitious about them, and take care to apply all kinds of protection as they go about their days. For Hazel and Ben Evans, however, things used to be much different. Instead of wearing necklaces to ward off the Folk, they hunted them. With Ben's magical knack for music and Hazel's self-taught swordplay, they were an unstoppable force...until Ben wrecked his hand and, with it, their careers. Now Hazel does little more than kiss boys she doesn't like and pretend she doesn't care. When an escaped faerie prince puts the entire town in jeopardy, Hazel will have to put the past behind her and become a knight once again. But this isn't a childhood game anymore. If she fails, Fairfold is doomed--and with it, everyone she loves.
What's fascinating about The Darkest Part of the Forest is that, while it's a modern fairy tale, it isn't simply a rendition of a well-known classic. This is a purely original story about a girl, her brother, and her brother's best friend trying to save their town. Sure, the author pulls a lot of information from old stories about They Themselves, but it's thrown into a completely fresh context. The milk left on the doorstep, the iron carried in pockets, and the special necklaces all either ward off or placate Fairfold's immortal neighbors, yet it isn't only the off-page ones who are affected. Even Jack, the faerie changeling who lives in town and happens to be Ben's best friend, has to deal with these fully-functional superstitions, making the world that much more intriguing.
Plot-wise, there's both a lot and very little going on in this tale. While Hazel may like to think the burdens of the world are hers to shoulder, that isn't entirely the case. This makes things much more complicated than they should be, but it adds just the right touch of drama to the otherwise straightforward plot. Meanwhile, in the forest, a faerie boy who has slept in an unbreakable glass casket for centuries is on the loose, and the Folk aren't too happy about it. When Hazel and Ben find themselves tangled up in the thick of the conflict, truths are revealed about their lives that will shock readers just as much as the characters. These truths move the story forward just as much as the core conflict, and are easily as compelling.
Now for the warning labels. In this narrative, most faeries--known as Folk--aren't exactly kind toward humans. This ranges from harmless pranks to full-blown murder, the latter of which is described just graphically enough to get the point across. Tourists are the prime targets; however, they aren't the only victims. When a terrible monster is set loose on the town, everyone is fair game. Hazel's childhood knight escapades, on the other hand, are generally clean. What isn't clean is the cursing vocabulary--or Hazel's relationship with the local boys. Although she generally sticks to raging-party kisses, there is a moment where she ends up seconds away from taking things a step further with one particular character. It's also worth noting that Ben is gay, and has a bit of an insta-love romantic subplot that feels too abrupt to be genuine.
I would recommend this book to teens interested in a simple, absorbing fairy tale where the characters are ordinary people. So what if they haven't slayed monsters since they were children? So what if their faerie friend thinks it's unwise? When adventure calls, Ben and Hazel Evans are just the right people to answer, even if they don't know it. Their quest to save their town is noble, impossible, and yet somehow accomplishable,and it is that ability to suspend reader disbelief that makes Holly Black's narrative so irresistible. The only real downsides are the insta-love and the somewhat graphic faerie "tricks", because otherwise The Darkest Part of the Forest is pure gold. In the end, it deserves four stars.
Plot-wise, there's both a lot and very little going on in this tale. While Hazel may like to think the burdens of the world are hers to shoulder, that isn't entirely the case. This makes things much more complicated than they should be, but it adds just the right touch of drama to the otherwise straightforward plot. Meanwhile, in the forest, a faerie boy who has slept in an unbreakable glass casket for centuries is on the loose, and the Folk aren't too happy about it. When Hazel and Ben find themselves tangled up in the thick of the conflict, truths are revealed about their lives that will shock readers just as much as the characters. These truths move the story forward just as much as the core conflict, and are easily as compelling.
Now for the warning labels. In this narrative, most faeries--known as Folk--aren't exactly kind toward humans. This ranges from harmless pranks to full-blown murder, the latter of which is described just graphically enough to get the point across. Tourists are the prime targets; however, they aren't the only victims. When a terrible monster is set loose on the town, everyone is fair game. Hazel's childhood knight escapades, on the other hand, are generally clean. What isn't clean is the cursing vocabulary--or Hazel's relationship with the local boys. Although she generally sticks to raging-party kisses, there is a moment where she ends up seconds away from taking things a step further with one particular character. It's also worth noting that Ben is gay, and has a bit of an insta-love romantic subplot that feels too abrupt to be genuine.
I would recommend this book to teens interested in a simple, absorbing fairy tale where the characters are ordinary people. So what if they haven't slayed monsters since they were children? So what if their faerie friend thinks it's unwise? When adventure calls, Ben and Hazel Evans are just the right people to answer, even if they don't know it. Their quest to save their town is noble, impossible, and yet somehow accomplishable,and it is that ability to suspend reader disbelief that makes Holly Black's narrative so irresistible. The only real downsides are the insta-love and the somewhat graphic faerie "tricks", because otherwise The Darkest Part of the Forest is pure gold. In the end, it deserves four stars.
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