Although I first read this more than two years ago, I realise that I never actually reviewed it. Now I've re-read the book, at a time when I was in the mood and actually understood the plot properly, I feel I should give a quick review.
Fairfold is a little town. There is a forest. In that forest is glass coffin, containing a horned boy. People like to gather around the coffin and some like to go and see him, talk, confess things. He has been there as long as anyone can remember and it is believed that those who try to disturb the horned boy, who try to vandalise the coffin, are cursed and disaster will befall them.
Faeries live in the forest and the people of Fairfold know them, are used to them and avoid them. Sometimes, they interact, though it is not always known whether it is a curse or blessing. There is some sort of agreement that they keep apart, but the tourists are unaware and sometimes unlucky. Sometimes the rules are broken, which is how Jack, the would be changeling, comes to live with a human family.
Ben and Hazel are two siblings who have grown up in Fairfold. Grown up to live rather independently, if that's the right way of putting it. One day, they realise that they both have skills which, when combined, could make them powerful, skilled, against the folk who take the unsuspecting.
When the horned boy is released, they find themselves both hiding secrets and dealing with the past. Hazel finds herself in deeper than she could ever have imagined and learns just how dangerous the Alderking is. But who is exactly is her ally and who is her friend?
Having done a re-read of the book, I find that the plot was very clever. It's a bit sad in places. Ben has a rough time of it trying to figure out his indentity and feelings, waiting for others to do so, worrying about Hazel. Whilst Hazel has issues too, realising she is more complex than she herself realised and their childhood was a bit give and take. Their friend Jack also carries many questions and complexities relating to who he is, or feels he is.
I didn't spot the connections to Holly Black's other books about the Fae. Severin features as a minor character in another series The Folk of the Air, and Ben and hazel gets brief appearances.
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