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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was pretty underwhelming. I won't be continuing this series.
C- 5
The characters were confusing and didn't seem to act as normal humans do. I especially struggled to understand Finch's actions at the end of the book. As someone who doesn't think every female character needs a male love interest, this ending was worse actually.
There was a scene where Finch and Alice are stopped by the police and Alice starts yelling at them as they are being misogynistic to her. Finch, who is mixed race, then yells at her about her white privilege and how he couldn't get away with arguing with the police. While this is true, it felt heavy-handed and gratuitous. It also did it in a way that completely ignored the sexism Alice faced. It felt like an oppression competition.
A- 6
You'd think that a book that's based around a creepy wood would have a good atmosphere. However, it felt like the author didn't put much description into the Hazel Wood as she thought the reader would already know what one looks like. It was generic but had potential to be pretty spooky.
W- 6
The writing was alright, but was brought down by the sheer number of Harry Potter references. There may have only been 3 or 4 but that's too much to be reading in 2025. Some of them fitted with characterising Alice as a reader, if they were just saying she'd read the books at one point. However, saying something looks like Ron Weasley's worst nightmare is going to spring out is unnecessary and uncreative. If you need to lean on another piece of media to create the image you want, you need to improve your writing.
P- 6
The pacing was odd. The blurb says that Alice needs to save her mum from the Hazel Wood. Her mum goes missing at around 100 pages in and she doesn't reach the Hazel Wood until much later. In between was just random conversations and inexplicable creepy things happening. The way the Stories played out almost felt like the author thought we'd read her fictional fairy tales so we'd get the references. Building the world through Alice going "what the fuck was that" and Finch going "that's Twice Killed Katherine from your grandmother's book" felt lazy. Again, this could've been really good but wasn't. This book needed refining more, with more editing and rewrites to bring out its potential.
I did enjoy the ending of this book (apart from Finch). The ex-Story support group worked to give the book closure and gave hope that Alice's life will begin to make sense. However, it didn't drive me to pick up the sequel.
I- 6
I didn't really care about Ella and when she was found I still didn't care. It also all felt very coincidental and as though the plot happened to the main character, not the other way round. I feel like the same things would have happened without her doing what she did.
L- 5
Finch's ending. What a waste of character development.
E- 5.5
C- 5
The characters were confusing and didn't seem to act as normal humans do. I especially struggled to understand Finch's actions at the end of the book. As someone who doesn't think every female character needs a male love interest, this ending was worse actually.
There was a scene where Finch and Alice are stopped by the police and Alice starts yelling at them as they are being misogynistic to her. Finch, who is mixed race, then yells at her about her white privilege and how he couldn't get away with arguing with the police. While this is true, it felt heavy-handed and gratuitous. It also did it in a way that completely ignored the sexism Alice faced. It felt like an oppression competition.
A- 6
You'd think that a book that's based around a creepy wood would have a good atmosphere. However, it felt like the author didn't put much description into the Hazel Wood as she thought the reader would already know what one looks like. It was generic but had potential to be pretty spooky.
W- 6
The writing was alright, but was brought down by the sheer number of Harry Potter references. There may have only been 3 or 4 but that's too much to be reading in 2025. Some of them fitted with characterising Alice as a reader, if they were just saying she'd read the books at one point. However, saying something looks like Ron Weasley's worst nightmare is going to spring out is unnecessary and uncreative. If you need to lean on another piece of media to create the image you want, you need to improve your writing.
P- 6
The pacing was odd. The blurb says that Alice needs to save her mum from the Hazel Wood. Her mum goes missing at around 100 pages in and she doesn't reach the Hazel Wood until much later. In between was just random conversations and inexplicable creepy things happening. The way the Stories played out almost felt like the author thought we'd read her fictional fairy tales so we'd get the references. Building the world through Alice going "what the fuck was that" and Finch going "that's Twice Killed Katherine from your grandmother's book" felt lazy. Again, this could've been really good but wasn't. This book needed refining more, with more editing and rewrites to bring out its potential.
I did enjoy the ending of this book (apart from Finch). The ex-Story support group worked to give the book closure and gave hope that Alice's life will begin to make sense. However, it didn't drive me to pick up the sequel.
I- 6
I didn't really care about Ella and when she was found I still didn't care. It also all felt very coincidental and as though the plot happened to the main character, not the other way round. I feel like the same things would have happened without her doing what she did.
L- 5
Finch's ending. What a waste of character development.
E- 5.5
Average book in every way. I wasn't upset about the ending or happy. Read if you want to? No regrets.
Creepy and weird but I enjoyed it still? Weird right.
I went into this book thinking that it would suck. It did nit but the end made me a little mad. I loved this book. Why would you introduce such a likable character (Finch) and feature him in the book so little? That bothered me. The fairytale elements in this book were surprisingly really food for such a modern book. The author used the word “vast” a little too much when describing things. World-building was excellent. Creepiness was on-point. Excited to read the other books!
I found the voice of the first chapter was a little different/off from the rest of the book. It bothered me a little. But I loved the dark aspect of this book, and the travelling between worlds. The twists were kind of predictable (and by kind of I mean they were, I predicted all of them) but it was still enjoyable. Many people said they disliked Alice as a character, but she seemed fairly human to me
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Rollercoaster read that I would not repeat
The premise didn't get its payoff. I am all for subverting a reader's expectations, but this was like two books tied together by a house that didn't really matter. Last chapter was like...oh yeah, I need to wrap up with the mom. meh. The first third of the book gave me anxiety in the best sort of way.
Really loved this, kind of felt like a cross between Alice in Wonderland and little bit of Kafka on the Shore? Very strange, but engaging from start to finish.
Wow. Wowwowwow. My assessment here falls somewhere between the haters and the raves.
Alice has always felt like a young woman standing on the outside looking in. She has no real friends, no real connections. Her unconventional mother Ella has kept the two of them in the move for as long as Alice remembers, partly due to the fact that the two of them seem to be cursed. Uncanny bad luck seems to descend upon them every time they get anything close to settled. When the two learn they are the recipients of a mysterious inheritance, Alice discovers that her mother has been keeping secrets about their family. Secrets that may even be dangerous.
I love a book that explores 5he darker side of fairy tales and all my favorite parts of this touched upon that. There are some excellent twists and turns and I enjoyed everything about the Hinterland and the dark fairy tales collection critical to the heart of the story.
But. The main character is nearly impossible to get on board with--even after you finally get some answers about why she is the way she is it's hard to forgive her. The one character who somehow rounds out her edges and feels a little more human gets done dirty in multiple ways. Someone has noted that they happen to also be the only Person of Color in the story, too--which is sadly true, and there's a conversation between the two characters which feels problematic and privileged on Alice's part, to say the least. It's not great.
I hear that the author will be coming out with a collection of the fairy tales referenced in the book, which I would 100% read--all the best parts of this have to do with those, but as for this one it may be too much of a mixed bag around fully recommend .
Alice has always felt like a young woman standing on the outside looking in. She has no real friends, no real connections. Her unconventional mother Ella has kept the two of them in the move for as long as Alice remembers, partly due to the fact that the two of them seem to be cursed. Uncanny bad luck seems to descend upon them every time they get anything close to settled. When the two learn they are the recipients of a mysterious inheritance, Alice discovers that her mother has been keeping secrets about their family. Secrets that may even be dangerous.
I love a book that explores 5he darker side of fairy tales and all my favorite parts of this touched upon that. There are some excellent twists and turns and I enjoyed everything about the Hinterland and the dark fairy tales collection critical to the heart of the story.
But. The main character is nearly impossible to get on board with--even after you finally get some answers about why she is the way she is it's hard to forgive her. The one character who somehow rounds out her edges and feels a little more human gets done dirty in multiple ways. Someone has noted that they happen to also be the only Person of Color in the story, too--which is sadly true, and there's a conversation between the two characters which feels problematic and privileged on Alice's part, to say the least. It's not great.
I hear that the author will be coming out with a collection of the fairy tales referenced in the book, which I would 100% read--all the best parts of this have to do with those, but as for this one it may be too much of a mixed bag around fully recommend .