Review of The Darkest Part of the Forest

The Darkest Part of the Forest

Author: Holly Black

Format: HC

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

ISBN:978-0-316-213073

Summary 

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 pointy 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 and a hero is needed to save them all, Hazel tries to remember her years spent pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough?

Review

I know there are already a lot of reviews for this book out there, but I still want to give it a go. With Halloween approaching, The Darkest Part of the Forest with it’s deliciously creepy, Brother’s Grimm-esque fairy tale was a great read. 

Hazel and her brother, Ben, live in a small town called Fairfold where the locals know the fair folk are real and tourists flock to see a boy with horns and pointed ears in a glass coffin in the forest. When the boy, who turns out to be a prince, wakes up, everything that can go wrong in Fairfold does. The locals, previously protected from the Fair Folk, are now under a threat from a monster, and it is up to Hazel with the help of her brother and the prince to stop it. But Hazel, having made a deal with the Alderking himself when she was a young child, is not as innocent as she may appear. Thrown in a changeling, romance, fairies, and knights, and this story is absolutely spell binding. 

Both the writing style and the narrative rich in folklore and devious but beautiful fairies reminded me heavily of Tithe, the book that made me first fall in love with Holly Black’s writing. This book has an additional element, a gay character and a bisexual character — neither of which are forced — and both of whom are more defined by other characteristics than their sexuality. The romance is just there for a bit of fun. My one critique about the book is that at times the plot can be a bit chaotic, jumping randomly to flashbacks or action sequences that don’t seem necessary at the time. However, by the end, this story has interesting twists to familiar folklore and was a very enjoyable read. 

Cover: 5/5
Writing style: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters/character development: 4/5

Overall score: 4.4/5

Review of At Water's Edge by S McPherson

At Water's Edge

Author: S. McPherson

Format: ARC

Publisher: S. McPherson Books

Publication Date: November 10, 2015

ISBN: 9780993360503

Summary

At Water’s Edge tells the tale of two lovers trapped in two different worlds. One world is Earth, and the other is Coldivor; a dimension full of magic and danger. When Dezaray Storm is mistaken for the most powerful sorceress of this other realm her life changes forever. She finds love in the arms of Milo Thor, but this love can also lead to her death and the destruction of seven empires.

Review

I was not drawn into this book right away, and I must say that by starting out in the first chapter with a scene involving domestic violence where the female protagonist makes no attempt to fight back and with no explanation for her apparent submission to her abusive older brother, I almost stopped reading the story right away. However, since I received a complementary copy, I felt obligated to read and review the entirety of At Water’s Edge.

While the beginning was slow and, quite frankly, uninteresting, as the plot developed, where Dezaray Storm discovered there was another world connected to her own by a portal and her counterpart, Lexovia, was destined to be the weapon her world, Coldivor, needed, I was drawn more into the story. Once Dezaray and Lexovia switched places and Dezaray, with the help of Lexovia’s friend, Milo — Dezaray’s love interest — pretends to be her counterpart in a different world full of magic, the story’s pace really picked up and became more interesting. With elements reminiscent of Harry Potter thrown in (potions taught by a stern, taskmaster and a restricted section of the library, the parallels to Potterverse are clear) and an abundance of magic,  I found the story entertaining despite its slow beginning.

Many of the side characters uninteresting. They were barely there, often interchangeable,  and needed a lot of development. Lexovia’s introduction was interesting, but once Dezaray and Lexovia switched places, Lexovia practically drops out of the story until she randomly reappears at the end for a brief action-y sequence. As Dezaray’s counterpart and Coldivor’s weapon, she deserved much more attention. Dezaray’s character was much better developed, but it took awhile. I really didn’t start to understand Dazaray until she was in Coldivor and away from her abusive older brother when I really saw her character start to emerge and change. 

When it comes to the romance between Dezaray and Milo, I found Dezaray’s dreams about Milo and practical infatuation-from-first-sight a bit corny. That being said, their romance was adorable for two teenagers and throughout the story I was really rooting for them to get their HEA. 

While the story became more interesting as it developed, the dialogue was weak all the way through. Many of the side characters all spoke with the same voice, and even the main characters all sounded identical. There was no variation in the speech patterns between characters, and the dialogue seemed at times a way to give plot based information rather than to aide in character development, which is perhaps a reason all the characters, particularly the minor ones, sounded like they were exactly the same character.  

One final issue with the book that really bugged me was the inclusion of the restaurant owned by Dezaray’s brother, Steak Home. Even by the end I still did not see the purpose of including the restaurant in the story with such detail, and as a proper noun, it should not have been put into quotes as it was repeatedly in the first half of the book (but not in brief references later on). Normally I wouldn’t comment on grammar issues, but as this one was repeated so many times I felt it merited some mention, but as this is only an ARC, hopefully this issue will be fixed. 

My overall impression of the book was that despite the flaws, the story was intriguing and if I have time, I would even be interested enough to eventually read the second book, but it won’t be at the top of my reading list. This book is suitable for those seeking some entertainment, but it is not a read over-and-over type of book. This is the type of book I would recommend picking up from the library but not necessarily buying. 

Cover: 4/5
Writing style: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Character/character development: 2/5

Overall Rating: 3.1/5