Review // The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

Monday, January 1, 2018


The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: January 30th, 2018
Rating: 2 Stars
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC
Pages: 368

Summary (from Goodreads):

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.

**Thank you Flatiron Books for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review**

Okay, I'm not promising you that my first review of 2018 is going to be a super fantastic one. I literally don't know what to say about this book. I was entertained while I read it. I even thought I was enjoying it while I read it. But now that I am done with it and have to put my thoughts about it together, I have no idea what to say.

First of all, I don't think that The Hazel Wood is going to be a super memorable book for me. It isn't living up to the hype I have seen for it. I got through this book and sat down to kind of recap the plot and.... I just don't really feel like a lot happened in this book???

Basically Alice and her mother, Ella, have spent Alice's whole life moving around the country trying to outrun the bad luck that's been following them. And also the superfans of Alice's grandmother's book, Tales from the Hinterland. It's essentially a collection of rather dark fairytales that don't tend to have happily ever afters. And then Ella is kidnapped by characters straight out of the Hinterland and Alice has to rescue her despite warnings to stay away from the Hazel Wood.

There are three main characters in this book. Alice, Ella, and Ellery Finch. Finch is one of the superfans of Tales of the Hinterland that Alice has spent a good portion of her life trying to avoid.

I feel like the most memorable character in this book was Finch just because I had problems with him. I feel betrayed by Ellery Finch because I liked him until the end of the book.

I liked Alice, I guess. Moving so often throughout her life has resulted in her mother being the only person in her life. Everyone else is so temporary. So obviously when her mom gets nabbed by weird people from a different world, she's gonna go running to find her. What else does she have? Which, I liked that about her. She won't stop until she has her mom back. She would even die to save her. At points I didn't really like her attitude, though.

Buuuuut, I feel like Ella only exists in this book to get Alice to the Hinterland. I really didn't care all that much about her. I don't really know anything about her because she has kept her past such a secret from Alice. The only reason I wanted Alice to rescue her was because she wanted it so bad.

There isn't any romance in this book. I know I see people frequently looking for books without romance. If you're one of those people, this book might be for you. The most important relationship in this book is the one between Alice and Ella.

Frankly, I'm glad that there wasn't any romance because I think Finch is a fool. I don't really feel like I can say why because I personally think it might be spoiler-y.

The pacing of this book might have been a little bit off for me. I feel like for the first half-ish of this book, not much happens. And then Alice gets to the Hazel Wood and I felt like everything happened too fast. I absolutely could not follow anything that happened from the point that she started getting close to the Hazel Wood to where she enters the Hinterland.

Honestly, that could definitely be my reading comprehension as of lately, but I was so lost during that section.

I don't know why, but I also just didn't like the Hinterland. I thought that the stories were interesting. In fact, that might be the only thing I really truly liked about this book after really thinking about it. The glimpses of the stories we got as Finch was retelling them to Alice was by far my favorite thing.

But getting to the Hinterland and it's full of characters stuck reliving their fairytales over and over again. Plus, there are refugees from Earth and possibly other worlds just hanging out amongst them?? I don't know, I thought that was weird. Maybe I just don't get it.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that I didn't really enjoy this book. I guess I really didn't fully realize that until I wrote this review. I am definitely a black sheep. Goodreads is full of glowing reviews for this one. If you are looking for a book that doesn't have any romance, you should give this one a try. Also if you're into dark fairytales that bleed into the real world, you might be into this book.

Have you read The Hazel Wood yet? Have you ever read a book that you thought you liked until you wrote the review? Or is that totally weird?

2 comments:

  1. I completely understand what you mean! I really liked this book and was super impressed by it when I finished it, but now that I have to sit down and write my review, I feel unsure how to craft my words. There were a lot of elements that I really loved, but it's hard to describe. I agree that the stories were really interesting, and I think that story element is what made this book particularly interesting to me overall--plus, I'm just a sucker for dark fairytales. Ella was an odd character to me as well,and I agree that Finch is the most memorable. Really great review!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I wish I would have liked this one more! I wish we would have gotten more of the fairytales from the Hinterland. Those were the parts I was the most interested in. I guess we can't love them all though!

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