I Write What I Read: Holly Black

The Wicked King (Folk of the Air Series #2) by Holly Black

5 stars 1/22/2019

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The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

4 stars 2/06/2015

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

I'm telling you, Fairfold is my kind of place. I'm always such a sucker for stories set in a small town with a friendly community where everyone knows each other and of course there has to be a special element to that town. Holly Black being the author of this book, what do we first think of? Anything fantastical! Fairies! Creatures of the Forests! Adventures! Although I may not have read a lot of Holly Black books (which I plan to remedy soon), but before even reading it I knew I would love The Darkest Part of the Forest, plus the book cover is quite ctaching, is it not?

I guess you could say I am one of those people that beleive in fantasticals and such. "I do believe in fairies, I do, I do..." The concept of people living with the fairfolks and other creatures, this is so much like the provinces here in my country. We are rich with beliefs, legends and stories about the "di ingon nato." From the protections, to the offerings, to the old people telling the youngins about old tales... I felt such at home! So so much like in our country.

The story is beautiful, I think everyone who has read the book agrees to this, noh? But the thing is, it's more than beautiful, it's dark... it's exciting... it's enchnating! I wanted the fairies to whisk me away as they did with Jack and Hazel, but in reality I whisked the pages like the wind. There's a puzzle, and I got so engrossed on questions that needed answer I was willing to sacrifice work just to find it out right away! Darn these supervisors!

Hazel, Hazel, Hazel... Why did here name have to be Hazel? Hazel Grace Lancaster ruined that name for me forever. I couldn't look at my office mate with the same name without remembering that Lancaster girl. But also notice the other characters' names: Ben, Jack, Carter, Amanda... So generic right? I guess to get the simple town, simple people vibe going on?

Parties in the woods with the horned boy in the glass coffin?? That's awesome! It just blew me away! Kids, have a little respect! Atlest offer him a beer or something before dancing on top of his coffin, jeeeeesh!

I'm so glad it's a stand-alone book. After the epilogue, I swear, I sighed with relief knowing that it was it for the Fairfold folks.

"Dead and gone and bones."

Rating

4.5 stars

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Cover Reveal - The Coppper Gauntlet by Cassie and Holly

book cover 2/04/2015

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Now Reading - The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

Holly Black 2/03/2015

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The Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare and Holly Black

3 stars 10/23/2014

Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial.

Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail.

All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can mean only bad things for him.

So he tries to do his best to do his worst- and fails at failing.

Now the Magisterium awaits him. It's a place that's both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.

The Iron Trial is just the beginning, for the biggest test is still to come . . .

Callum Hunt, having a bad leg causes him to have a limp when he walks and an easy target for teasing and bullying, but he is far from any of the bullied kids because he fights back and isn't one to be put down by anyone. He lives in a sleepy little town with his antique-collecting father, Alastair Hunt.

Call seems like an ordinary pre-teen angry boy, but he has his fears and nightmares. While some may be fascinated with the thought of magic, he and his father are not. This being the reason of the death of Call's mother, as what he is told by his father, whom was once a mage but turned his back on it completely after the death of his wife. Ever since he was young, he was warned by his father to never have to do anything about magic, mages and especially the Magisterium – a school where master mages make apprentices of magic-wielding children like Call – or his death would be imminent.

Before one gets to be an apprentice, one has to first pass a sort of entrance exam for the Magisterium, the Iron Trial. Call and his father's plan was to fail all the tests intentionally, easy right? While he did succeed in failing all the tests, even given negative scores, still he was chosen by Master Rufus as apprentice, his father's same master while studying in the Magisterium. Of course at first he was frightened but gradually Call liked being the Magisterium learning magic and stuff and had even made great friends with his co-apprentices.

But what was his father really so afraid of? His past and his future are laid out for him, and it is up to him to choose which path to take.

While the prologue of the story was grim, the rest of the story was entrancing. The characters are likeable and familiar. By familiar I meant like the Golden Trio familiar. The whole time I'm reading it I kept thinking of the Harry Potter series! I can't help it! I kept comparing them.

Like Hogwarts, the Magisterium is also a school that teaches magic
Three main characters both having two boys, and a girl. Both girls are smart!
School with lots of secret rooms, passageways, corners… check and check!
While I wouldn't say Jasper comes any close to Draco's swagger, they're both annoying still.
The return of the Enemy, like Voldy who was reduced to something when he tried to kill Harry and began living in someone else's bodies, the Enemy allegedly transferred his soul to Call as a baby.

Cassie has a way of creating funny conversations between characters, but I don't see so much here. There are some humorous lines but not one I really LOLed to, like the way I do in TMI series.

I hope it gets better in the coming books, because I really think it has a good story.