Places are fascinating. They feature in stories everywhere, whether it is New York in The Great Gatsby, Norfolk in Never Let Me Go, or Spain in For Whom the Bell Tolls, throughout history the setting has frequently influenced plots everywhere, and a good location is key for a good book. It is just as well, then, that The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black features Fairfold, an intriguing, mystical town of faeries, princes and knights, a hotspot for tragedy and tourism.
Reading the blurb, it is easy to expect little from this book. Faeries? Love? Sleeping princes? It's all been done before, and I know for certain that I expected a dreary fairy-tale retelling set in some rural moors or another. However, Black has expertly weaved a story which is totally unique, fascinating and modern, almost startling in its originality and strength of plot. The storyline is inventive and captivating, and I cannot comprehend how much imagination Black must have to craft something like that.
The Darkest Part of the Forest is about siblings called Hazel and Ben, living in a town where the boundaries between Fae folk and humanity are increasingly blurring. All their lives they have been fascinated by an unbreakable transparent coffin deep in the woods, containing an unstirring horned boy, subject of all of Hazel and Ben's fantasies and dreams. They feel as though they are on a different level to the mortals and tourists enamoured with the romance and mystery of the Fae, and locals have survived with pockets full of iron and oatmeal and locked doors peacefully throughout the past. It is only when the horned boy awakes that events start meandering, and the siblings realise the valuableness and preciousness of trust, and blood.
I would firstly like to praise Black's prose throughout the novel. Blunt and often short sentences are packed with buckets of emotion and power, and I was immediately in awe of her ability to craft a sentence so meaningful and poignant out of a few informal words. The world-building of Fairfold was additionally outstanding. I was enthralled by the town very early on, through her descriptions and words.
I'd like to give a special mention to the characters of The Darkest Part of the Forest, who essentially form the plot and occurrences. In order for this to work, characters must be extremely strong and well-developed, and I felt that the personalities within this book were vivid and unique, and astonishingly accessible, despite the dissimilarities between their lives and the life of a normal human!
Overall, this book is a must read for anyone who enjoys fantasy or twists of faery tales. I can guarantee that anyone will be surprised by its originality and strength, and I cannot wait to read more of Black's work.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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