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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Alice and Ella have had to move around a lot. However, when Alice's grandmother dies it seems that their luck is changing....then strange things start to happen, and they're linked to the Hazel Wood. What secrets does her grandmother's estate hold?
This book was quiet a surprise. It had been really hyped up and I can see why! It was a good story. The mix of fairy-tale and the real world was interesting, especially with the way it was written. I really liked the plot twists too because I really didn't expect it.
I went through a lot of emotions whilst reading this book which is how I know it was good. The only reason I didn't give it a full five stars is because sometimes Alice's attitude was really annoying.
Overall, this book was really good and unlike anything I've read before. We all know the original fairy-tales were dark and this proves it.
4/5 stars.
If you like mystery and contemporary I'd definitely recommend it.
This book was quiet a surprise. It had been really hyped up and I can see why! It was a good story. The mix of fairy-tale and the real world was interesting, especially with the way it was written. I really liked the plot twists too because I really didn't expect it.
I went through a lot of emotions whilst reading this book which is how I know it was good. The only reason I didn't give it a full five stars is because sometimes Alice's attitude was really annoying.
Overall, this book was really good and unlike anything I've read before. We all know the original fairy-tales were dark and this proves it.
4/5 stars.
If you like mystery and contemporary I'd definitely recommend it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t know why I was so surprised by how much I liked this? It had some of my favorite traits, like fairy tales, and the mixing of modernity with magic, although it was a lot darker than my usual taste. The second half was a bit weird pacing-wise but that felt fitting for the fairyland it was portraying. I especially appreciated the shoutout to Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland, which I adore, and I’m definitely going to be seeking out book 2 (although we’ll see if I have the stomach to read the fairy tales themselves)
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If I hadn’t been listening to this as an audiobook while driving, I would have probably given up on this story completely. The author tried making up fairy tales, and they were very dull. Not even sure what the point of any of them was. And the plot twist was kind of dumb. At least there wasn’t a love triangle, and the story wasn’t based on a relationship. But overall I was very underwhelmed and just did not care.
Love this take on the darkness of fairytales; portrayal of mother-daughter relationship is strong
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2.5
Im dalej... tym gorzej.
Początek zapowiadał się wspaniały. Lekko gotycki i baśniowy klimat, który bardzo mi się spodobał. Jednak z czasem było tylko gorzej. Główna bohaterka pod koniec stała się nie do zniesienia. Sama historia dosyć mocno mi się dłużyła (mimo iż mam wrażenie, że autorka postępowała z całą akcją zbyt szybko). ,,Wątek romantyczny" (o ile można go tak nazwać, bo właściwie biorąc pod uwagę końcówkę nie jestem tego taka pewna) jest zwyczajnie nijaki.
To tyle z minusów.
Jeśli chodzi o plusy. Sama w sobie historia (jak już wcześniej wspomniałam) bardzo przypadła mi do gustu. Historia mroczna i tajemnicza, gdzie właściwie nie wiedomo co się wydarzy. A na dodatek wszystko to przeplatane osobliwymi baśniami (które swoją drogę były dosyć straszne (baśń o ,,Drzwiach, których nie było" wywarła na mnie ogromne wrażenie)).
Im dalej... tym gorzej.
Początek zapowiadał się wspaniały. Lekko gotycki i baśniowy klimat, który bardzo mi się spodobał. Jednak z czasem było tylko gorzej. Główna bohaterka pod koniec stała się nie do zniesienia. Sama historia dosyć mocno mi się dłużyła (mimo iż mam wrażenie, że autorka postępowała z całą akcją zbyt szybko). ,,Wątek romantyczny" (o ile można go tak nazwać, bo właściwie biorąc pod uwagę końcówkę nie jestem tego taka pewna) jest zwyczajnie nijaki.
To tyle z minusów.
Jeśli chodzi o plusy. Sama w sobie historia (jak już wcześniej wspomniałam) bardzo przypadła mi do gustu. Historia mroczna i tajemnicza, gdzie właściwie nie wiedomo co się wydarzy. A na dodatek wszystko to przeplatane osobliwymi baśniami (które swoją drogę były dosyć straszne (baśń o ,,Drzwiach, których nie było" wywarła na mnie ogromne wrażenie)).
★★★.5
Or maybe 2.5. OR maybe it's actually 3 stars. 3.5? I'm very conflicted by this book clearly
So what's going on here?
Alice and her mother, Ella, have lived their lives on the road, and on the run. Whenever they stay in one place for too long, bad luck seems too find them, occasionally even leading to the death of a loved one. Alice has never known why, and dreams of finding one place to call home. But mostly, she dreams of her elusive grandmother, author of a book of fairytales with a cult following, and the estate in the forest she lives in known as the Hazel Wood. Alice's mother, however, is adamant that Alice never meets her, and especially never reads her book. But when Ella is kidnapped by a character from the book, she must enlist the help of a friend and fan of the novel to find her, even if that means venturing into the dangerous world of fairytales that she never guessed was actually real, and finding out some hard truths about herself along the way.
What I loved
I absolutely adore this world, this is for sure one of my favourite worlds that I've ever experienced in a book. It gave me major Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire vibes, which is probably a top 5 favourite series of all time, so I was over the top happy about that. I would love it if Albert did novellas exploring the other fairy tale worlds that were hinted at in this book like McGuire does (if that's what the next book is about then im going to straight up DIE), or even a book of short stories, OR published Tales from the Hinterland as a separate novel. That would be cool as fuck. (Edit: THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING I'M HYPED). The world of The Hazel Wood is the only reason that I'm so conflicted with my rating, because I love it so much while I dislike a lot of other stuff about this book
What I didn't love
As much as I love this world and would love more books about it, I DESPISED the majority of the characters. I didn't mind Finch, and I liked the side characters from Hinterland (Janet, the Story Spinner, and the dude from the cafe mostly). Ella was alright I guess but she didn't really have a major role and I found her character to be rather underdeveloped. But my main issues lies with Alice. WOW I did not like her AT ALL. She was angry, arrogant, stuck up, and so god damn privileged that I almost DNF'd after that scene with Finch and the cop. I literally only kept with this book because of the world, so I'm desperately hoping that she won't have as much of a role in the next book. Please for the love of all that is good in the world, let the next book not centre on her so much. There are SO MANY other characters that it could be about, ones that we already know from this book or new ones all together. In a world where so many other worlds exist, I'm sure there's gotta be someone, ANYONE else, that The Night Country could focus. PLEASE
Ok I'm done ranting about how much I hate Alice now lmfao
There are also a couple things that left me sort of confused and asking questions at the end, things that didn't quite make sense or that I maybe missed (I listened to the audiobook and there is a very good possibility that I zoned out for a couple seconds on the bus and missed some vital information. But whatever). I won't go into detail about it because nothing is overly importantly and didn't really make me lower my rating by too much, especially considering there are going to be more books and she might answer those questions later. But yeah some confusion with world building stuff is present!!
Overall thoughts
Overall I can say that I enjoyed this book. I didn't love it, but I definitely liked it and it will read the next one. Probably not right away, since The Night Country comes out the same day as like a million other books that I want to read and will probably like more, but I'll read it eventually lmfao.
Or maybe 2.5. OR maybe it's actually 3 stars. 3.5? I'm very conflicted by this book clearly
So what's going on here?
Alice and her mother, Ella, have lived their lives on the road, and on the run. Whenever they stay in one place for too long, bad luck seems too find them, occasionally even leading to the death of a loved one. Alice has never known why, and dreams of finding one place to call home. But mostly, she dreams of her elusive grandmother, author of a book of fairytales with a cult following, and the estate in the forest she lives in known as the Hazel Wood. Alice's mother, however, is adamant that Alice never meets her, and especially never reads her book. But when Ella is kidnapped by a character from the book, she must enlist the help of a friend and fan of the novel to find her, even if that means venturing into the dangerous world of fairytales that she never guessed was actually real, and finding out some hard truths about herself along the way.
What I loved
I absolutely adore this world, this is for sure one of my favourite worlds that I've ever experienced in a book. It gave me major Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire vibes, which is probably a top 5 favourite series of all time, so I was over the top happy about that. I would love it if Albert did novellas exploring the other fairy tale worlds that were hinted at in this book like McGuire does (if that's what the next book is about then im going to straight up DIE), or even a book of short stories, OR published Tales from the Hinterland as a separate novel. That would be cool as fuck. (Edit: THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING I'M HYPED). The world of The Hazel Wood is the only reason that I'm so conflicted with my rating, because I love it so much while I dislike a lot of other stuff about this book
What I didn't love
As much as I love this world and would love more books about it, I DESPISED the majority of the characters. I didn't mind Finch, and I liked the side characters from Hinterland (Janet, the Story Spinner, and the dude from the cafe mostly). Ella was alright I guess but she didn't really have a major role and I found her character to be rather underdeveloped. But my main issues lies with Alice. WOW I did not like her AT ALL. She was angry, arrogant, stuck up, and so god damn privileged that I almost DNF'd after that scene with Finch and the cop. I literally only kept with this book because of the world, so I'm desperately hoping that she won't have as much of a role in the next book. Please for the love of all that is good in the world, let the next book not centre on her so much. There are SO MANY other characters that it could be about, ones that we already know from this book or new ones all together. In a world where so many other worlds exist, I'm sure there's gotta be someone, ANYONE else, that The Night Country could focus. PLEASE
Ok I'm done ranting about how much I hate Alice now lmfao
There are also a couple things that left me sort of confused and asking questions at the end, things that didn't quite make sense or that I maybe missed (I listened to the audiobook and there is a very good possibility that I zoned out for a couple seconds on the bus and missed some vital information. But whatever). I won't go into detail about it because nothing is overly importantly and didn't really make me lower my rating by too much, especially considering there are going to be more books and she might answer those questions later. But yeah some confusion with world building stuff is present!!
Overall thoughts
Overall I can say that I enjoyed this book. I didn't love it, but I definitely liked it and it will read the next one. Probably not right away, since The Night Country comes out the same day as like a million other books that I want to read and will probably like more, but I'll read it eventually lmfao.
mysterious
tense