The Darkest Part of the Forest

So... This was not what I was expecting. I'm sure plenty of folks say that that have read The Cruel Prince Trilogy and then pick this up. I know it was set in Elfhame, but it just didn't feel like it. I was intrigued by the story. The monster in the woods and the prince in the glass coffin/case. There's just something about this story that feels so off it's hard to out a finger on it. I feel like reading the Cruel Prince, I knew it was YA going in, but it didn't feel like YA. I couldn't put it down, but this book, even being set in the same world, was so different, but not in a good way. This is classic YA. As a ripe 26-year-old, this was just not my cup of tea. Which makes me so sad when I loved the Cruel Prince, another YA by Holly Black. I feel like if I was 12 or 13 again, I would have liked this. Reading as an adult, I found myself constantly rolling my eyes at some parts, but being intrigued at others.

I liked the idea of the boy in the glass casket, and the story behind him and the monster in the woods. Hazel wanting to be a knight and Ben being gifted in music. These are all great concepts. Such a great start to a story about the Folk. It didn't take off like I would have wanted. We learn about Ben and Hazel's childhood through the book, other Folk secrets I won't describe, but the book felt so rushed. The end was wrapped up nicely, but there was so much to explore with this. We barely saw the Folk, or got to know our Prince. I'm not even going to sit here and front. I wanted to hear more about Ben and Severin, and even Jack. Their story was so much more interesting than Hazel's. Jack was always hungry. I want to know more about changelings. We hear about them all the time, but I'd have loved to follow his story and how years from now, if he's still living that human life or how he navigates in Faerie. I'd have loved to hear about Ben's story learning to play and control his music. The Folk he plays for or how he visited the High king & High Queen of Elfhame to play for them; what his life is like in Faerie with his lover. I would have LOVED to hear more about Severin, and his sister, Sorrow. To hear how he carries on after the end of the story, what he gets up to in his time or challenges he faces. What he and his lover may face in the future. I would love to read a story about someone else besides a human girl finding her way into Faerie. We've got plenty of them. Can we find some about the Folk and follow them instead? We've heard Hazel's story before. Multiple times. There was nothing special about her story. It was almost a mirror reflection of my girl, Jude, whose story was much better.

The kisses were rather annoying. They were all over the place, and very much YA. I can't complain about those too much. They felt very YA, and then some were rather... explicit. There was one scene where Jack's pants were low on his waist and then another scene where they were low again and he reaches down to button them back up. I'm not sure how to feel about them since Hazel is 16. We all know what teens get up to these days, but the book used, 'make-out' and other times 'hook-up', but they were really just talking about kissing. It was kind of hard to follow when the book started as PG and then kept veering left and then back to PG. Just something I thought was weird for this book.

There was adequate representation in this book. I love seeing black folks represented. Jack and Carter, and their parents were nice to see in this book. Do I love Jack's mom being described as the same shade as the bark on trees? No. I tried to liken it to the saying,"White as paper", but I don't think that's taken well either. Regardless it was nice seeing different humans in this book besides just white, and the Folk being a range of descriptions. Additionally we had some queer rep in here as well. Ben is gay and later we find out that Severin, our prince, loves him. Additionally, there are times when Ben thinks back to previous dates with boys or kissing boys. The longer I sit here writing this, the less I like this book... It wasn't good. I wish I had those hours of my life back honestly.

Overall the plot & characters were there. The execution was not even with so much potential. The same story as every other Fae book with a human girl and a fae MC. Very much YA. Will not read again or recommend. Nowhere near as good as The Cruel Prince Trilogy.