The Darkest Part of the Forest (2015) by Holly Black is a teen novel about growing into your childhood dreams. The book follows the siblings, Hazel and Benjamin who lives in a small town adapted to the frequent visits by the dangerous and trickery Fae Folk. In the forest, a fay prince rests in an unbreakable glass casket. Both Hazel and Ben dream about waking him up and falling in love, just as in the fairy tales. When the fairy attacks on the town intensifies and the casket finally breaks, Hazel and Ben must figure out the truth of the fairy court’s relationship with the town and their prince, and step into the heart of the forest before it is too late.
The Darkest Part is part fairy tale, part romance. It offers up two relationships to cheer on – a gay one and a straight one. Both are great and satisfying for the reader. The queer relationship isn’t bolded out in any way, but skillfully braided into the world as the most natural thing that could happen. However, there is a minor instance of homophobia from parents in the book in their past.
One of my favorite things about this book is the large amount of different fae and creatures introduced. There are tons of them and I love to see the twisted curses the fae put on people. It feels surprisingly believable when it is already rooted in a small, cursed-blessed town where well-founded superstition run through its marrow. The whimsical nature of it all kept me turning the pages.
The characters are wholesome. I think if I’d read this book when I was thirteen, I’d want to be exactly like Hazel – a knight who fights monsters, falls in love, and get to experience a grim and enchanting fairy court. Or maybe Ben, who plays enchanted music, and longs for a prince to love him back. Or maybe, Severin or Jack. All the characters were fantastic!
As a sibling myself, I highly enjoyed the close sibling relationship. It shows how far siblings are willing to go to protect each other, and the undeniable love and trust between siblings that is often hard to understand for only children. While we mostly experience Hazel and Ben in the now, we also get to learn about how they grew up together with neglectful parents, and how it shaped them and their relationship to each other and others. For this book to only be a little over 300 pages, we get a lot of content in all the good ways.
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black is a slice of whimsical and creepy magic I’m happy I picked up, and wish I’d picked up sooner. I loved the knighthood tale of Hazel, and the love stories. I loved the relationships and all the characters. The fae court is terrifying, but stunning. The bargains unpredictable nature makes you want to keep reading. I throughoutly enjoyed this read.
This is a book fitting the lower YA/Teen demographic. It has a somewhat childlike expression that should be expected if you're a older reader.
Rating: 5\5 stars.
Information
Format: E-book Pages: 336 Genre: Fantasy Demographic: Teen Year of Publishing: 2015 Series: Standalone. Unfolds in the same universe as The Folk of the Air and Modern Faerie Tales.
Trigger warnings
Child neglect. Animal death. Homophobia (minor).
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