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The Darkest Part of the Forest
The Darkest Part of the Forest
Holly Black | 2015 | Young Adult (YA)
10
7.9 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Folklore (0 more)
The Knight is Young
Holly Black sticks with folklore for Faeries and still is able to make her own twist about a town called Fairfold where the townspeople coexist cautiously with the Fae. In this town there is a boy who is a changeling pretending to be human, a boy who wishes for love out of fairy tales, a girl who desires to be more than ordinary, and a horned prince in a glass coffin all of who are very important to the story because without one it is possible none of which is happening would be happening.

Ben and Hazel are on the hunt for their prince who's awoken from the glass coffin, but what is the cost of finding him when his freedom is the start of the town pointing fingers at Jack? Will these once duo in hunting the wild faeries drift further apart? Will Hazel be able to decide who she wants to be? Can she decide which side she must be on? Or will be betray those she loves, those who have confessed to her what they hold for her to keep her place? Will Ben betray his sister for the horned prince? Will he allow his jealousy for her to overcome him to ensure he is able to finally have what he wants? Will he ruin his friendship for all this?

And is anyone safe in town?

The flow of this book was amazing. We're introduced to our key characters, minor ones, and even less important ones within the first few pages or throughout without any of the development taking from the story or plot. It takes off into the action without pause and even though one would think not skipping a beat would be bad to convey the story it works here as there is so much occurring to piece the puzzles pieces together. The relationship between brother and sister despite what is between them is wonderful as it shows you can care for someone no matter what you believe within your own mind. Their interactions are what makes TDPOTF so great. I believe without Hazel's and Ben's siblinghood this book would have not worked.
  
RA
Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, #1)
Seanan Mcguire | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow. That's about all I can think of to sum up my thoughts. <u>Rosemary and Rue</u> is a knock-out debut of what looks to be a fantastic series. The protagonist, October (Toby), is interesting, tough yet still fragile, sympathetic, and her character as a whole seems so realistic. The plot and mystery held my interest and I never fully grasped the truth, I pretty much found out when Toby did, and I respect an author who can do that without everything coming out of left field. The ending was melancholy, but perfectly done. The more I think about this book, the more impressed I am; there isn't one thing I would change (although I would like to know where I could get a rose goblin ;P). This secret world of faeries is well-developed, completely fascinating, and very different from other urban fantasy series, I can barely wait to see what the next book brings.

An aside: I appreciate the pronunciation guide at the front, it came in handy whenever I forgot how Cait or Luidgaeg were pronounced.
  
ET
Excalibur: The Legend of King Arthur
Tony Lee | 2011
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
If I'm honest, I'm not really that much of a graphic novel/comic book kinda guy: I usually prefer to let my imagination do the work rather than have it 'shown' to me (which is also why I don't always like TV/movie adaptations).

Having said that, I thought I would give this one a go anyway. A retelling of the Arthurian legend, this takes in pretty much all the main characters and events of that legend, but not necessarily all how I was familiar with them (it involves the seelie/unseelie (i.e. faeries) which I don't remember ever having been part of the legend before).

Starting with Arthur's conception and ending with his 'death' at Badon Hill, the novel also glosses over some of the less savory actions that Arthur is supposed to have carried out (ref Tristan and Isolde).

An OK read, and while yes, I may pick up some of the others in the series, this failed to really change my perception of graphic novels as a whole.