Review of ‘The Darkest Part of the Forest’ by Holly Black

On By howtoreadbooksIn Review

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Title: The Darkest Part of the Forest

Author: Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown Books

Publication Date: 12 May, 2015

Pages: 272

Blurb via Amazon:

Near the little town of Fairfold, in the darkest part of the forest, lies a glass casket. Inside the casket lies a sleeping faerie prince that none can rouse. He’s the most fascinating thing Hazel and her brother Ben have ever seen. They dream of waking him – but what happens when dreams come true? In the darkest part of the forest, you must be careful what you wish for…

Generally I am a huge fan of all the fairytale retellings that I read, because of my love for both the original tales and the Disney adaptations. This book is a dark fairy tale, so is more like the original stories by the Grimm brothers, although they did not usually write about fairies. Fairies are my favourite supernatural creature, because of how cunning and malicious they are. I don’t know what that says about me as a person, but it’s probably not a good thing.

Within the book, Holly includes LGBT features, like Ben being gay, but until now I have never read a story with a fairy that has fluid sexuality. Another thing I like about this is the whole small town vibe you get. I tend to be a fan of this in books, because it makes you feel as if there are secrets being hidden, which there are, but this time from the outside world. What I will say is that I was confused as to whether the world knew about fairies or not. I know there were tourists, but was that because they knew the fairies were real and in the forest?

My favouurite character in the book was Hazel, because although she made reckless and stupid decisions, she did them selflessly. This book has one of the most beautiful but simple quotes I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading: “Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself.” Can… we… just? Holly Black has done it again everybody! She has created a masterpiece within the genre of fantasy!

The more I think about it, she tackled issues with homosexuality and feminism really well, because Hazel is a warrior and actually saves the horned prince. This is great because the roles of the predictable damsel in distress scenario are reversed. And Hazel is good with a sword! The way that Holly tackles these issues is really subtly, but at the same time poignantly enough so that it makes you think. You don’t often see a fantasy-contemporary mix in books, but this definitely is one and I love it! I think this is a standalone, which is fine, but I would not say no to a sequel. *cough cough *.

5/5 stars are awarded to this dark, twisted and modern fairytale from the wonderful author Holly Black.

❤ DW

12 thoughts on “Review of ‘The Darkest Part of the Forest’ by Holly Black”

  1. Aura Willow

    It is great to read about a fairy fantasy as I think vampires have been a genera focus for a long time. I shall add this to my TBR list. Thanks for this great review.

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      2. I am not entirely sure yet as I am just blocking out characters and basic plot. Setting is next on my list, but I’m terms of high or urban fantasy, it will probably be high fantasy. However, there are humans in the world, but they hate the fairies and hunt them for unknown reasons. I thought it would be interesting to write a book where fairies can be seen as weak, because that is not a common trait for them.

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      3. Aura Willow

        Yes, definitely. It would quite cool to read something from the fairy perspective rather than the human’s. Keep us updated, it sounds amazing!

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  2. Laura

    Sounds like an interesting read. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. 🙂

    Btw., the Grimm brothers are not the original writers of our beloved fairy tales. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty etc. are European fairy tales found in different countries (France, Italy, German, Sweden etc.). The Grimm brothers re-wrote the original stories, and transformed them into “horror” stories — or maybe not all of them. For examples, in the original Grimm Brothers’ Sleeping Beauty, the prince rapes her, and she wakes up when she delivers her twins. The Grimm Brothers also released a more gentle version of their stories. 🙂
    For anyone curious, here is a translation to the original Grimm Brothers’ stories:

    Click to access 1416918759518.pdf

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      1. Laura

        That they were.
        Some people say that their stories shouldn’t be censured. The authors censured themselves, though –as I mentioned, they released a softer version. And in a way I understand why parents would not like to read the original Grimm Brothers’ stories to 5 year old kids before bed time. 😀

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