Reviews with content warning for Violence - O canto mais escuro da floresta

Set before the Cruel Prince, this book was a great way to see a different part of the world where humans and faeries live on the same land. There is a crossover of characters from both stories, and the main character Hazel has many similarities to Jude, but there are enough differences to make it enjoyable. The ending was surprising and incredibly satisfying. Also, the LGBTQ representation is done well.

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erzywerzy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sweetlikesadia's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

💫I have read The Folk of the Air series, so this book had me excited. I enjoyed the storyline and the diversity e.g. LGBTQ.

💫Another fearless female hero

📈I wishe there was more witty lines and more display of characters personalities..sometimes it felt rushed.

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whenjessreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a cute, modern fairytale, definitely for a younger audience than the Folk of the Air series. Themes were coming of age/growing up/all that fun teenagery stuff. I had a bit of trouble trying to relate this to FOTA. Is it a prequel, is it set in the future, is it not related at all? There were some overlapping characters, but it didn’t seem to mesh in any meaningful way.

Holly Black’s writing was lovely, as always. This read like a fairytale. The setting was also great - the existence of faerie within an urban environment should have felt more jarring, but was managed well.

There were a couple of good twists on traditional roles in here. The damsel in distress saving herself; the fairytale princess being a fairytale prince; the modern representation of knights and bards etc etc… but I just wasn’t a fan of the characters. They were all either annoying or undeveloped, and the relationships just lacked substance.

The plot twists were fun, but honestly the whole thing felt a little chaotic, especially toward the end. Combine that with the slow start and… it felt disorganised and kinda boring. I enjoyed it but I’m already forgetting it.

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