It's a terrible shame such an enjoyable book has such a hideous cover! Oh well, such is the opportunity to not-judge-a-book-by. I was a bit dubious starting this as faeries aren't really my thing in fantasy, but occasionally (as with Kat Howard's Roses and Rot, which coincidentally also suffers from its cover) I am entirely won over. There's such a fine faerie line - making them inhuman and scary but still believable, still compelling. I think what really helps here is Jack, and his (human) family, who make a good argument for nurture over nature. I love that his mum kept his changeling self, and I love that his adopted brother and father stick by him no matter what. I am, to be honest, far more interested in his living in two worlds bit than I am in Hazel's - while she was my favourite character and I liked her a lot, the lost memory day-Hazel vs. night-Hazel didn't do much for me, and the return of her memory was somewhat unconvincing in that it seemed to have no effect on her personality and so on. But that doesn't take away from the fun, creepy imagery that's scattered all through The Darkest Part of the Forest and which is actually the best part of it: the horned prince in his glass coffin, Ben with his broken fingers, the tree-like Sorrow, the kids with leaf and dirt stuffed mouths repeating that creepy little lament...