Review – Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies by Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Golden, Troy Nixey (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy Horror
Length: 272 pages
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: July 19, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1423134015
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood’s Guide to Dangerous Fairies is a dark and disturbing illustrated novel based on the world of Guillermo del Toro’s film “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” Taking place a hundred years before the movie begins, the book chronicles the travels and explorations of Emerson Blackwood, a young and ambitious natural scientist who quickly discovers there is a mysterious world beyond what his education and peers understand. Follow Blackwood as he travels, discovering more and more about this secret world and the creatures that inhabit it — creatures that Blackwood quickly realizes are just as interested in him as he is in them, particularly a long-lived and dangerous group of beings that have had centuries of encounters with humanity, creatures that live by eating enamel and bone….”

Series Info/Source: Swapped through Paperbackwap.com. Stand alone book.

Story (4/5): This book alternates between Emerson Blackwood’s travels and his “Guide to Dangerous Fairies”. I really enjoyed the parts where we see what Blackwood is exploring and watch as he gets more and more obsessed with the “tooth fairy”. I thought the Guide portions were okay, I already know a lot about faeries and these sections were a bit boring. However, they are a well done summary of fairy lore. This book is not really so much scary as a bit creepy at times.

Characters (3/5): Emerson Blackwood is a very intriguing and well done character who I enjoyed immensely. All of the side characters are relegated to the background and I wish we had gotten to know them a bit better.

Setting (4/5): I enjoyed all the exotic settings and traveling Emerson did. This book is set in Victorian times but Blackwood travels all around the world.

Writing Style/Illustration (3.5/5): I enjoy the writing style and found it easy to read and engaging. The illustration was not as good, it was very “sketched” looking and incomplete..not a style I really enjoyed and I felt like it could have been better.

Summary (4/5): Overall this was an intriguing look into the world of dangerous faeries and was done in a way that feels really realistic. I found the Guide book portions to be a bit slow and boring but really enjoyed Blackwood’s life story. In general the book is nicely put together with a unique format and binding; I did think the illustration could be better though.

I never watched the movie that is supposed to happen later in the timeline of the world this book is set in but I kind of want to now…