The Darkest Part of the Forest (2015) by Holly Black is a spellbinding modern fairy tale that weaves together eerie enchantment and raw human emotion. Set in the town of Fairfold, where humans and fae uneasily coexist, the story follows siblings Hazel and Ben—a fierce, sword-wielding girl and her music-prodigy brother—who grew up obsessed with the horned faerie prince sleeping in a glass coffin in the woods. When the prince awakens, his emergence unleashes long-buried secrets, forcing Hazel to confront her own tangled history with the fae, including a childhood pact she can’t quite remember.
Black’s prose is lush and razor-sharp, blending Gothic atmosphere with contemporary teen angst. Themes of identity, sacrifice, and the cost of desire pulse through the narrative, as Hazel navigates a labyrinth of betrayal, monstrous beauty, and her own shifting morality.
A standalone novel set in Black’s Folk of the Air universe, this dark fantasy revels in the messiness of sibling bonds and the perilous allure of the uncanny, proving that the truest magic—and danger—lies in the human heart.
