Waiting on Wednesday (6): THE DARKEST PART OF THE FOREST

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: The Darkest Part of the Forest

Author: Holly Black

Release date: January 13th, 2015

Summary: Children can have a cruel, absolute sense of justice. Children can kill a monster and feel quite proud of themselves. A girl can look at her brother and believe they're destined to be a knight and a bard who battle evil. She can believe she's found the thing she's been made for. 

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 pointed 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, Hazel tries to remember her years pretending to be a knight. But swept up in new love, shifting loyalties, and the fresh sting of betrayal, will it be enough? 

Thoughts: Where do I start? First of all, there is a HUGE dash of fairy tale in this summary. Knights and bards and faeries and a glass coffin in the woods. I'm a total sucker for fairy tale retellings, and ESPECIALLY original fairy tales, which sounds like this book. Also, the town of Fairfold reminds me a bit of Wall, the town from Stardust. And though I haven't read Stardust yet, I really love the movie. 

I'm also really intrigued by the gender roles hinted at in this summary. For a book with a fairy tale feel, the gender roles seem to be flipped and twisted a bit. It's Hazel, not her brother Ben, who believed she was a knight as a child. It is a boy sleeping in the glass coffin, rather than a girl like Snow White. And BOTH Hazel and Ben were in love with the boy as children, which I absolutely love. 

I haven't read any Holly Black yet (I know, blasphemous!), but I've heard her name come up SO many times in the booktube community, and I'm also really interested in reading her new middle grade series collaboration with Cassandra Clare. So I'm starting to think that Holly Black's books are right up my alley, and I can't wait to give this one a try. 

Tell me: what are YOU waiting on this week? Let me know in the comments below!