Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

31 reviews

paperquilt's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Stalking, Kidnapping, and Toxic relationship

msavaiano's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Kidnapping

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism

mky's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I do love the dark fairytale and the mystery of this book. I also enjoyed the fairytales that were interspersed throughout the book and how they tied into the story. This book is a great and fast paced young adult read. However, I felt the book was a little predictable and tended to be written for a young adult audience. Overall, I rated it a 3 because the story concept was fascinating and interesting, but I was clearly not the target audience for this writing style. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Cannibalism, and Kidnapping

maregred's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Minor: Suicide

sunnydale's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As someone who loves fairy tales and fairy tale scholarship, I felt so seen. Beneath the story, which was compelling on its own, was the author's clear understanding of why we tell fairy tales and why they hold power over us. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Blood, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cursing, Classism, and Gun violence

The protagonist is kidnapped as a child, but is unharmed and not sexually abused in any way. The kidnapper's identity is later revealed, and he never intended to hurt her.

krhea's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, and Cursing

Minor: Suicide

joisaddler's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

drinaiscold's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Racism, and Physical abuse

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was kind of weird. 
I thought the synopsis sounded interesting, and I really enjoyed the first 30-40% of the book. I thought the writing style was fun, there was intrigue in the plot, and when Alice and Finch started to work together I had high hopes for the rest of the book. Only... it didn't live up to the expectation. The shift in Alice's narrative voice was disappointing because it's what made me start the book in the first place. But the weirdest part was the pacing of the plot. It just felt so fragmented. The plot started off with a compelling mystery but completely switched to a surreal, nightmarish fairy tale. I actually loved the fairy tales on their own and the idea and atmosphere of the Hinterland. But the actual plot in the Hazel Wood was so rushed and boring, and then suddenly the book was over? And it feels like at the end you have more questions than actual answers. Weird. 
The character work... wasn't the best, either. But I liked Finch a lot... which lead to more disappointment about wasted potential. So yeah, amazing world building and really really interesting ideas, but the execution far from perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Violence, and Death

Minor: Racism and Suicide