The Darkest Part of the Forest in Baltimore County Public Library Summer Reading BCPL SRC

Jun 09, 2014 Sherrie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal-fiction, young-adult-books, fantasy, audio-books, magic

Holly Black is one of my favorite authors, I love her creativity and her writing style. I chose the audiobook version of The Darkest Part of the Forest which combines Lauren Fortgang's pitch perfect narration and Holly Black's luxuriant prose with winning results. Hazel and Ben live in Fairfold, NJ where mortals live alongside the faeries and delight each other with tales of the horned boy in the glass coffin. When the horned boy suddenly wakes the balance of power shifts and the faeries and hum ...more

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Aug 28, 2014 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile, audiobooks, magic

This book was so amazing, it's beyond words. I'm fairly new to Holly Black: I read the Spiderwick Chronicles years ago and loved them, but then I tried Doll Bones and disliked it, but if her other works are anything like this one, I'll be hooked! I also haven't read much Fairy fantasy stuff, so I don't have much to compare this too. But I loved all of the fantastical, magical, fairy aspects - Holly Black did an amazing job of creating an other world (tied seamlessly with the real world) and how ...more

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Dec 14, 2023 Josiane Claremont rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-manga, e-copies, ya-f, fae

It's a very neatly packaged stand-alone book set in a cross between Faerieland and the mortal world. It's like the scene of a magical Disney movie, except you know the Fae can kill you anytime they want and the adult humans are stubborn and scared.

In the town of Fairfold, the local humans and Fae have eeked themselves an unspoken promise of peace. Fae don't mess with locals, and locals don't mess with Fae. Tourists are fair game, though. So when local kids start turning up in comas and vines hav It's a very neatly packaged stand-alone book set in a cross between Faerieland and the mortal world. It's like the scene of a magical Disney movie, except you know the Fae can kill you anytime they want and the adult humans are stubborn and scared.

In the town of Fairfold, the local humans and Fae have eeked themselves an unspoken promise of peace. Fae don't mess with locals, and locals don't mess with Fae. Tourists are fair game, though. So when local kids start turning up in comas and vines have been overgrowing in unusual spots, it's hard to believe that nothing's changed; especially when the local attraction, the horned boy in the diamond coffin, disappears. Hazel and Ben Evans know their prince needs them, and all their childhood stories are coming true. It's up to them to figure out why the Fae are acting out and how it relates to the prince from the coffin.

The only reason I picked up this book is because Severin, the horned boy, shows up in The Folk of the Air (The Cruel Prince series). And I'm suddenly reminded about how Holly Black's faeries universe is all interconnected in some way, and mildly connected to Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones). Not gonna lie, I'm still expecting Roiben (Tithe) to show up in the shadowhunters' universe at some point.

So yes, delving into the interconnectedness of Holly Black's faeries to learn about the red-haired lady knight and the mortal red-haired bard, and the new Alderking Severin. I don't remember why he Alderking is obsessed with "retaking the Court of the East" which is probably Roiben's Court of Termites, but I also don't think I want to commit to rereading every faerie Holly Black book to recall the details. I could be convinced to reread the Folk of Air trilogy just to straighten out the details of the coronation if Jack the changeling was there, and how Severin and Ben and Hazel are doing; like how we were able to get a glimpse of the Roiben and Kaye's life together after Ironside.

This book is very knight-like, probably the honor that Jude Duarte wanted but couldn't have. Probably everything Jude Duarte could have been, and Taryn as Ben. One twist that got me was (view spoiler)

As with all Holly Black books, no matter if the ending is as solid and sweet as this book, or as unfulfilled as other works, we just want a little more to see how the characters are. We're so in-touch with her characters that leaving them is difficult. Who cares about the intangible easily-ignored background and settings, we just want some character drama! ...more

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Sep 20, 2015 Shellby rated it liked it

I will say this Holly Black is a fantastic writer. The fault of my lack of interest in the main story falls solely on me.

The star of this book bored me to tears. I was more interested in the snippets of her brothers story. I gave it three stars because I did enjoy the plot and how everything eventually unfolded.

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