The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert Published by Flatiron Books on January 30, 2018
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Fairy Tales & Folklore, General, Dark Fantasy
Pages: 368
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Welcome to Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood—the fiercely stunning New York Times bestseller with seven starred reviews everyone is raving about!Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away—by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began—and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Why Did I Read?
Oh the hype was huge for this one! The cover is gorgeous! Dark fairytales! It sounded fascinating and JUST like my sort of thing!
My Thoughts:
Spoiler alert: I was such a black sheep on this one. The premise is really intriguing. Alice has spent her whole life moving around with her mom because bad luck always seems to find them. Her grandmother is sort of famous for writing a book of dark fairy tales — a book that she can’t seem to ever get ahold of. Soon, it becomes evident that there’s something else at work here as things from the fairytales show up and she has to go venture into this world that is apparently not fictional.
It has this sort of creepy, dark, haunting atmosphere throughout the book which I appreciated. I actually found the fairytales themselves really cool and way more interesting than the main plot… which was a problem. The book just seemed incredibly slow to me. There didn’t seem to be enough substance to drive a solid plot despite the really cool premise and all this dark fairy tale fodder it had to work with. I also struggled because I didn’t seem to have any connection to Alice, the MC. I just didn’t care enough about her at all which made me not feel invested in her story. I just seemed to have this huge disconnect with her and had about zero emotional attachment to her and what was happening to her in the book.
I wish I liked this more, I really do! The writing was fantastic, and I did find the actual fairy tale stories/characters really interesting.
I do have to point out that I am definitely in the minority here. There was a massive amount of hype surrounding this book from BEA a whole year before its release and people LOVE it so please take my reaction with a grain of salt.
In Short…
While this one had all the makings of a fantasy that should’ve lured me in, it fell short for me. My lack of connection to the main character made me not invested in her journey. I wish it had a stronger plot to drive the other interesting elements but despite the good writing and haunting atmosphere, it ultimately missed the mark for me. As I am a black sheep in this regard, you may be among the majority that loved it!
I saw so much hype for this book and everyone loved it but i couldn’t get a real idea how it was! Just found your reviews!