The Darkest Part of the Forest

by Holly Black

Overview

A girl makes a secret sacrifice to the faerie king in this lush New York Times bestselling fantasy by author Holly Black

In the woods is a glass coffin. It rests on the ground, and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives....

Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in Fairfold, where humans and the Folk exist side by side. Since they were children, Hazel and Ben have been telling each other stories about the boy in the glass coffin, that he is a prince and they are valiant knights, pretending their prince would be different from the other faeries, the ones who made cruel bargains, lurked in the shadows of trees, and doomed tourists. But as Hazel grows up, she puts aside those stories. Hazel knows the horned boy will never wake.

Until one day, he does....

As the world turns upside down, Hazel has to become the knight she once pretended to be.

The Darkest Part of the Forest is bestselling author Holly Black's triumphant return to the opulent, enchanting faerie tales that launched her YA career.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316536219
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	10/15/2019
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	25,283
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	840L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children, including Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale and the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick series. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award and the Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. Holly lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library. Her website is www.blackholly.com.

Editorial Reviews

…a wickedly entertaining mash-up of genre conventions and enthusiastic subversions in which the perennial adolescent desire to be seen as normal takes on a whole new meaning…the novel's…real delights lie in its main characters' relationships. Hazel and Ben's twinned sibling rivalry and love is beautifully complex, and their relatable human yearnings for the objects of their affections anchor the novel in the believable, despite the fact that said passions are for a comatose enchanted prince and a fairy changeling. What begins as a freewheeling romp becomes, in Black's capable hands, a genuinely moving meditation on grief, falling in love and growing up.

The New York Times Book Review - Sarah McCarry

11/03/2014
Fairfold is a contemporary American town long beset by fairies. This isn’t a secret—rather it’s a tourist attraction that provides the citizens with a healthy source of income (although the visitors do occasionally get eaten by the more dangerous fairies). Hazel, a local high school student, is in love with the town’s biggest tourist attraction, a fairy prince who has slept for generations in a glass coffin in the forest. In this, she has a friendly rivalry going with her gay brother, Ben, who also loves the sleeping prince. Things have been unbalanced in Fairfold ever since a mortal woman refused to return a changeling—who grew up to be Hazel and Ben’s friend Jack—to the fairies. Now even Fairfold natives are being attacked, and after someone frees the sleeping prince, Hazel rediscovers her secret debt to the fairies. Close in tone to some of Charles de Lint’s work, it’s an enjoyable read with well-developed characters and genuine chills, though perhaps not as original as Black’s earlier supernatural excursions. Ages 12–up Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Coldest Girl in Coldtown:An Amazon Best Teen Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults
YALSA Top Ten Amazing Audio Books
A Kirkus Best YA Books

* "You may be ready to put a stake in vampire lit, but read this first: It's dark and dangerous, bloody and brilliant."—Kirkus, starred review

*"Teens with a yen for dark, futuristic novels, and maybe even a few Anne Rice readers, will find this a refreshing take on vampire lit. As always, Black's writing is quick paced and thought-provoking. A must-have for any teen collection."—School Library Journal, starred review

* "With rapid-fire dialogue, lavish details, and a wildly imagined world, this will enthrall Black's fans from start to finish and leave them hoping for another bone-chilling vicarious tour of Coldtown."—Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

Narrator Lauren Fortgang recounts, with equal parts whimsy and solemnity, the lore of Fairfold, a modern-day town where humans and fairies coexist. Through the eyes of teen resident Hazel, Fortgang describes the mysterious horned boy in the glass coffin, who has been asleep for as long as anyone can remember. When Hazel awakes one morning to find the coffin shattered and empty, she must defend her town with the help of her brother and her best friend, a changeling. Fortgang shifts effortlessly between Hazel’s vulnerability and sarcasm but is at her best when voicing the fair folk. A sense of delight and terror is palpable and will keep listeners’ attention through the action-packed climax. E.M.C. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2015 - AudioFile

2014-10-01
Black returns to her faerie roots with a fantasy set in our very recognizable modern world. Hazel lives in Fairfold, a small town in a haunted forest full of the Folk. Brother Ben's best friend is a changeling; local kids party by the glass coffin containing a horned boy who has slept for generations. Ben himself has magical musical powers, and he and Hazel used to hunt bad Folk when they were kids. But that was before they grew apart and started keeping secrets, before Hazel kissed Ben's first boyfriend (and lots of boys since). Now a monster menaces the town, and the horned boy is awake. Black clearly knows her lore, and the broad strokes intrigue, but somehow the pieces never jell. Hazel is a series of clichés dressed in outfits described with a little too much precision, a broken girl making out with boys to dull the pain, dreaming of heroics. But there's no depth; the parental neglect and secrets are so past tense that they lack urgency (and the parents, mysteriously, are now fine). When it turns out Hazel is indeed special, too many plot threads are flying for her journey to carry the novel. In the end, Black's latest seems to mirror Hazel's fears about herself—"as normal and average as any child ever born"—but like Hazel, it's not without charm. (Fantasy. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews