So let’s be honest here: who doesn’t love fairy tales? Anyone out there truly, honest to pick-your-deity not secretly at least kind of a fan? I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about them that continues to get me–something that at once grips the imagination, then holds on tight, until the bitter end. Having just spent the better part of a semester thinking about, studying and writing these tales, my appreciation for the amount of effort that goes into trying to come up with a truly unique spin on these classic stories is amazing. I mean, while I do love a good fairy tale, what I don’t want is to read the exact same story over and over again, right? Or to plow through only a thinly-veiled version of one I’ve already worked my way through. Which is why Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest did just exactly what I want every fairy tale to do: it captured my attention and refused to let go for the entire ride.
A fairy tale, as I’ve learned this semester, is not a simple tale. It is actually a complex one, rife with otherwise cliche premises, characters and ideas. It is a balance of the child and the adult lurking around the corner. It is dark and light blended together in a way that keeps you from knowing which one is prevalent at every turn. It is easy to fall in love with or easy to hate. It is a journey of conventions that are needed because, despite the timeless love for these tales, part of what we love (whether we realize it or not) is the necessary and repetitive conventions. Indeed, I would argue that without these cliches and conventions, the tale would cease to be a fairy tale and would be a young adult story.
So when I read the blurb on Holly Black’s tale–filled with fairies, mythical creatures, a quest, a brother and sister fae-fighting duo, and the search for love, I had to get my hands on it. Thanks to Audible, I was successfully able to distract myself from writing final papers for a few days at least as I flew through this tale about fairy knight and fearless killer Hazel and her brother Ben on their journey through young adulthood. Through their adventures, we learn about the random tourist bump in the road town they’ve grown up in called Fairfold, where the people can’t exist unless they live in partnership with the magical world around them. Where changelings and halflings and horns and wings all have a place; where kids are raised knowing all those old wives tales that have been forgotten over time and where strangers go for quaint potions, pictures and picnics, in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the other-worldly that that lurk in shadows and on the other side of twilight. What they don’t expect is the danger–who thinks bad thoughts at the possibility of fairies, anyway?–or of the constant risk that comes with living there. Or of how to keep the bad in the fae world at bay?
Hazel and Ben started fighting the bad when they were just kids on a conquest: Ben’s music hypnotized them, and Hazel would kill them. But only the bad ones. And despite growing up in this town and under these circumstances and with the knowledge of the magical and all their falseness, Hazel still makes a deal with them, one that she is forced to spend the better part of the book questioning and revisiting, as she and her brother search out the boy from the glass coffin with horns, who’s now awake and on the loose; as they learn what’s killing people with vines and mold; as they try to figure out how to make things right again, in only the way that a fairy tale can. And while it sounds wicked hokey to say that here and now, let me tell you: Ms. Black writes quite a set of characters. Hazel strikes me as a cross between Karou from Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series and Izzy from Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments books. With maybe a little Nasty from Cate Tiernan’s Immortal Beloved series, for good measure. And perhaps a light fight, a la Lex from Gina Damico’s Croak Series. She’s part bad ass, part flirt, part lost girl, part deviant, part warrior. This blend makes for an interesting protagonist, but her juxtaposition with the other males–her stylish, gay brother; her brother’s handsome changeling best friend; the ethereally beautiful boy with the horns–serves to underscore her uniqueness.
What I Liked About It:
1. It’s fun. As in, SUPER fun. As in, you won’t be able to stop yourself from occasionally laughing out loud/smiling along the way fun, and you certainly won’t want to close the book.
2. The protagonist was pretty darn cool. She’s not perfect, and she’s no innocent princess waiting to be rescued, either. She’s got a personality, conflicts, issues. She’s not secretly perfect or perfectly secret. She’s made mistakes, needs help and deals accordingly. And she’s unapologetic about it all.
3. There are parents, but they’re terrible. Not terrible as in the author used that as an out to not talk about them, but terrible as in they’re addressed and talked about and they just really suck as parents, but that’s part of the story.
4. The fairy tale aspects of the story are neatly interwoven in the text. It doesn’t feel like you’re stuck in one, waiting to rescue a princess or anything. But the fairy tale vibe is alive and well, and there are rescues and there is a monarchy, but it’s a different spin on the whole thing.
5. It’s a well-done stand alone book that does not necessitate a commitment to a thousand book world, or demand the reading of the follow up book to know what’s going to happen. Is there room for more? Definitely! Did I finish this one feeling that I needed it? No. And that’s a great thing.
What I Didn’t Really Love:
1. The Fairy King’s big badness felt kind of contrived. I don’t know why, to be honest. It just seemed like, with so many magical creatures running about, if everyone disliked him so much, why didn’t anyone other than Hazel do anything about it?
2. The series of clues left for Hazel were attenuated, at best. I don’t want to spoil this whole plot point so I’ll leave it at that, but despite all the fairy tale elements, it was this series of clues that clanged for me.
3. There were points at which I felt there was too much going on. Wait–she does what in her sleep? And for how long? And hasn’t noticed because apparently she’s the only human who doesn’t need to sleep ever? And who’s dating whom now? And how does this all work, again?
4. There are amazing details included in the story about the magic, myth and lore of the world of Fairfold. However, much of it didn’t really come to play in the plot–but it could have. I’m not 100% certain how to reconcile this, in light of the fact that I think the author did a great job researching fairy tales in putting this together and did a wonderful job of creating this world for us. It just felt like too too at times.
Overall:
Great read, perfect for summer! I had the pleasure of the Audible version, and thought the narration was fantastic and the book itself was a wonderful adventure.
So what do you think? Anyone out there enjoyed this one yet?
The Alpha and the Omega: The Endless Ramblings of a YA Lit Lover 