The Darkest Part of the Forest
Mythopoeic Award nominee 2016.
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?
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Holly Black
Holly Black is a name that has become synonymous with dark, enchanting tales where the boundary between magic and reality is as fragile as the fates of her characters. With her signature blend of dark fantasy, sharp intrigue, and an exploration of power, loyalty, and betrayal, she has carved out a space where readers can lose themselves in worlds of dangerous faeries, morally complex characters, and high-stakes intrigue.
Born in New Jersey, Holly’s love for fantasy started early. She spent her childhood reading everything from fairy tales to mythologies, which would later inspire the intricate, otherworldly realms she’s known for today. With an academic background steeped in history and a passion for creating stories that both thrill and challenge, she began her career writing about the dark side of the fantastical. Her first success came with The Cruel Prince, the start of the Folk of the Air trilogy, a series that would quickly cement her as one of the leading voices in young adult fantasy.

