The Darkest Part of the Forest (Little Brown Books for Young Readers) by Holly Black, $18.00
In the woods is a glass coffin. It rests on the ground, and in it sleeps a boy with horns on his head and ears as pointed as knives….
Although Black’s newest novel initially sounds like it’s a twist on the story of Sleeping Beauty, it is also the story set in the world of faeries and peopled with an Alderking, monsters in mourning and human knights. The bravest knight is Hazel, a girl who grew up alongside her brother Ben practicing her knighthood deep in the woods in the magical town of Fairfold. Hazel, who discovers a golden sword as a child, and her brother, Ben who has been gifted with magic musical ability use their skills in this town where humans and the Folk exist side by side. They grow up using their gifts to keep harm at bay. Tourists, who drive in to see the lush wonders of Faerie and, most wonderful of all, the horned boy, fail to see the danger.
But this is no sweet story of Sleeping Beauty awakening to love from a kiss. The horned boy’s glass coffin is located deep in the woods, surrounded by broken beer bottles and litter—scenes typical of teen hideouts and partying. This is where the town’s teens gather to drink and hook up and to imagine what it would take to wake this sleeping boy.
Black didn’t originally set out to write about the glass coffin. She said in an interview for the Huffington Post that this novel “started with the idea that I was going to rewrite a Scottish folktale called ‘Kate Crackernuts,’ about a step-sister outwitting the faeries for the love of her much prettier step-sibling. I also pulled from the German Earlkönig legend for the person of the Alderking. But as the story evolved, it moved away from those initial influences as I had to figure out how to structure the story I wanted to tell.”
“And, of course,” she added, “the book was influenced by ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in that there’s no way to write a story about anyone sleeping in a glass casket in the woods without that fairy tale being in play. Even if the sleeper is a horned fairy prince.”
The novel opens with readers learning that since they were children, Hazel and Ben, a knight and a bard, have been telling each other stories about the boy in the glass coffin. Black blends the realities of contemporary culture with fantastical elements. The town’s jocks challenge one another to awaken the sleeping boy even though legend has it that evil will befall anyone who mocks him or tries to destroy his coffin.
While Fairfold is a world that teens can recognize, it is also a town that contains very real violence at the hands of the faeries. Even so, young Hazel and Ben pretend their prince could be different from the other faeries, the ones who made cruel bargains, lurked in the shadows of trees, and doomed tourists. As Hazel grows up, she sets aside these stories believing the horned boy will never wake.
But then he does awaken.
Hazel has to become the knight she once pretended to be and here is where this fairy tale turns to a tale of love and betrayal because Hazel and her brother are both in love with the horned prince. Hazel is swept up in new love, with shifting loyalties and the fresh sting of betrayal. Hazel must be strong and she must remain loyal to her beliefs for she is the one who can return order to the world even if it’s at great cost.
The Darkest Part of the Forest received the Indies’ Choice Book Award for Young Adult Book of the Year. This should come as no surprise; this best selling author is renowned for her ability to write young adult faery tales.