The Darkest Part of the Forest

by Holly Black

[jnikkir]

This review can also be found at my blog, There were books involved...

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I am so incredibly conflicted about this one, guys! On the surface, it sounds like something I should have loved. That blurb speaks to me. Faeries! A sleeping prince! HOLLY BLACK!! But honestly, I think I just wasn't in the mood for this -- I mean, I was in the mood for what I expected it to be, but it turned out that my expectations ≠ reality.

Nothing about this book really clicked for me. Objectively, I know that the writing was really good. I know that all the elements of a great story were there. I know that the words on the page described characters I should've connected with. But I just didn't. There was a spark missing, and I just don't know how to explain it.

In short: The modern setting threw me off. The pacing seemed odd. The characters never really came to life for me. And my emotions throughout the book were just sort of flat the entire time.

Setting

First off, I didn't expect it to be so firmly set in modern times. This is a town in the southern U.S., where humans and faeries coexist. The humans know to be watchful -- and to do certain things to appease the fairies -- and tourists know there's something magical and strange about the place. Every so often, someone will go missing or have something awful happen to them, but that's just how it is in Fairfold -- they must've been "acting like a tourist". No matter what happens, though, the town just goes on as it always has, with no major attention being drawn because of its strangeness.

This sounds kind of cool, but I never found myself going "wow this is awesome". Maybe I felt weird that it was set in the US? Maybe things would've made more sense to me, and felt more organic, if it was set in a town in the UK or something? I honestly don't know. I love magical realism if the two -- the magic and the realism -- are woven together in a way that pulls me in. But somehow, that didn't happen here, for me. Something didn't click, and I never connected.

Pacing

Additionally, the pacing was... strange, for me. I felt like nothing really happened until about halfway through the book (which is not exactly true - stuff happened, it just felt super slow). And then way too much happened in the last 15-20%. So initially, the first half of the book never hooked me, and then when it started to "get good", I wasn't adequately invested, so I never got caught up in it.

Characters

*SIGH* I'm really most disappointed in my reaction to the characters. They never came to life for me. There was something about the way Hazel and Ben's timelines were handled... In the beginning, they reference things that you know nothing about, and then those things are explained much later... and I just didn't find them to be very compelling characters until the whole story came out. But even the conclusion didn't wow me -- it was more of a "Oh, finally, now things make sense." Again, I felt a disconnect for some reason; there was something keeping me from fully investing, and it drove me crazy.

 
In conclusion...

I HAVE ALL THE SADS, GUYS. I just couldn't get into this book -- the setting, pacing, and characters never clicked for me, and my feelings throughout were just... flat. I never really disliked it, but I never found myself loving it either. There were a couple instances where things picked up and I did get a little nervous or excited for the characters, but other than that, it just wasn't super engaging for me.

Actually, I think the feeling I got was one I've felt when reading original fairy tales or old legends - they don't have that sense of immediacy or connection that I usually look for when I read. It feels like you're an outsider. And while that can be okay for some stories - shorter ones in particular - that didn't work for me in The Darkest Part of the Forest.

Like I said, though, I think my feelings can be at least partly attributed to the expectations ≠ reality thing. I know a lot of people who really, really loved this one, so take my feels with a grain of salt. This is the kind of book that I would definitely recommend checking out if you like the synopsis, because you might love it! But for me, it didn't quite do it.

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There were books involved...