Reviews

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

malquinn's review against another edition

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5.0

Amazing! I enjoyed reading this book so much. Albert's writing is excellent, and the book was difficult to put down.

Alice Crewe is a 17 year old girl who has been on the run with her mother all of her life. Bad luck follows them in each new place. Not knowing other details is what made this such a fantastic read so I'm stopping there.

This twisted fantasy horror novel is labeled young adult, but adults will definitely be drawn to the story. Adult language and situations abound in the story so it is more appropriate for high school readers than 6th or 7th graders. (However, I spotted many of my 6th graders reading it in the cafeteria, so I decided to read the book myself!)

kileydanielle's review against another edition

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2.0

Super disappointed by this book. It started off promising with interesting characters and a fun scary stories. But about half way through it lost its touch. The ending was super eh. I wanted it to be such a fun story but after the big build it just dropped off.

nan_can_read's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sydneypeca's review against another edition

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4.0

It took a couple chapters but I actually really enjoyed the story. It wasn’t what I was expecting. The only thing that really got me was there were a few too many pop culture references. I’d highly recommend the audiobook!

antiroos's review against another edition

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2.0

Not the book for me

yanouvdp's review against another edition

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3.0

3,5

lenauryn's review against another edition

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3.0

Interesting, and it started out strong, but about midway through I felt that it started to wander and never entirely found itself. I wasn’t entirely satisfied by the ending, but it had some interesting ideas.

dewnator_16's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5*

I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. I mean, I thought at best it would be ok because my relationship with spoopy/dark fantasies are hit-and-miss. This one, however, completely delivered in so many ways.

The only reason I'm not giving it a full 5-star rating is because I ended up wanting to see more of the spoopy fairytale land. Don't get me wrong, what was presented is serviceable and the writing style gives off some good visual elements that were cool to imagine in my mind. I don't know, I wanted to see more of those stories from Hinterland. Maybe have more segments were Finch re-told the stories to Alice or have her interact with more of the characters from those stories. But that's like, a minor nitpick tbh.

This is full of wonder, mystery, and enough spoopy vibes for a scaredy cat like me.

donnapontehampton's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5, strange but definitely kept me turning the pages to see what happens next.

juliamc_corner's review

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3.0

3.5 - There were a couple parts of this book that just didn’t work for me, but I ended up being pretty invested in the story and it had a twist that I didn’t expect. The original fairy tales weaved throughout were really interesting. Though it had an unsatisfying ending, I’d probably read the sequel.