The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Synopsis:

 

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?

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

After LOVING The Cruel Prince and HATING Tithe, I was apprehensive about The Darkest Part of the Forest. I'd heard mixed things, and honestly probably would not have picked up had I not adored The Cruel Prince. But I'm happy to say that if you loved The Cruel Prince, you'll like this one.

I've come to realize that you read Holly Black's books for her characters. As much as I enjoy her faerie lore and how she blends myth with reality, I don't think her world-building is strong enough to carry her books. Black's rich cast of characters is what keeps you reading. I absolutely adored Ben, and Hazel was so wonderfully complex. Severin fascinated me. I thought Jack was the weakest of the main cast, but I think that has to do more with his relevance to the plot fizzling out than bad characterization.

However, it's exactly because I read for Black's characters that I thought The Darkest Part of the Forest stumbled in places. I mourn Ben's lack of screen time in comparison to Hazel. I thought he was just as compelling, but the majority of the novel is told through Hazel's POV. That started to shift about halfway through, but instead of giving the brother-sister duo equal page time until the end, Ben gets the shaft in favor of Hazel. And we never get his POV again.

I was significantly more invested in Ben and Severin, but instead the focus was on Hazel and Jack. It killed some of my enjoyment. If the novel's intent was to tell Hazel's story, why include Ben's POV chapters? Why tease an LGBT+ relationship, but then refuse to let the reader see it unfold? I guess I just don't understand. It would've been so easy to incorporate both Hazel AND Ben's POV chapters, so I don't see why Ben has almost none in comparison to Hazel.

While I appreciate that Hazel is a complicated heroine that defies tropes, I found her hard to like. She's in a similar vein as Jude from The Cruel Prince - an anti-heroine - but unlike Jude, I didn't always understand Hazel. I love Jude because even though she can be cruel and brutal, I understand the motivation behind her actions. I understand what made her act that way. And so even if I don't necessarily approve of her actions, I can root for her because I understand her. In Hazel's case, I didn't always grasp the reasons behind her viciousness.

I really liked Black's writing in this. I don't like her early writing, but she's definitely finessed her craft over the years, and you can definitely see the difference when compared.

My thoughts can really be boiled down to: too much Hazel, not enough Ben. If Black had better balanced their two narratives, or decided to focus exclusively on one or the other, this would've been a five star book for me.