The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

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Book summary:

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?

         In case that you're thinking that in this book Holly Black will deliver you a fluffy and lovely story about magical land where everything ends with HEA, well don't raise your hopes. Even after reading The Coldest Girl in the Coldtown I knew that this one would be different, but I didn't know by how much.

        Here we're in a place somewhere, between reality and fiction. It's a world just like ours only it's slightly different as it has fae in it. The folk of Fairfold are aware of it and while they tend to warn all tourists away from the woods, it's hard to resist temptation. Especially after the Snow White, sorry, a boy with horns is missing from his glass coffin. It triggers all kinds of change that neither Hazel nor Ben thought would ever happen. Their fantasies are close to coming to life, only what if they aren't as idealistic as they seemed in their little heads.

         For me, Holly's greatest strength beside captivating writing is that she can use any typical paranormal creature and give you a story that is all but typical. Vampires don't turn too human in here books and fairies don't make you fly, it's quite opposite as humans are more likely to become like vampires and run from fairies as far as they can. It's what intrigues me so much that I will read anything she writes.

Rating: 4 stars.

Until the next time,