Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Night Country: A Hazel Wood Novel

The Night Country was the dark fairytale I needed in my life right now. I’m a big fan of fairytale retellings, but Melissa Albert’s Hazel Wood universe is beyond a retelling. It’s her own collection of original Brother’s Grimm-worthy twisted fairytales and it is so good. It’s been a few years since I read The Hazel Wood and I had forgotten the chills from her world and the beauty of her writing and this novel was such a treat.

Although The Night Country is advertised as a companion novel and not a sequel, it still features Alice as our protagonist. Albert’s book-within-a-book, Tales of the Hinterland, is widely relevant in The Night Country and readers like myself who are thirsty for a return to that world will not be disappointed. Creepy, ill-intending characters shine just as brightly in New York as they ever did in the Hinterland and Alice Proserpine remains the trouble, torn young woman we met in the last book.

I won’t say The Night Country is refreshing, because it has many many disturbing images and promises of darkness. There are moments in the plot that disappointed me, but not for lack of good writing. There were many directions this story could have gone, and while I think the ending was just fine, I’m such a fan of this world that I wanted more of it. The Night Country doesn’t tie everything up with a bow – if Albert wanted to revisit these characters and the world she built – there are (in a sense) still opportunities to expand on the lore and create new tales. I think I could devour these stories forever and I wish more authors wrote similar creepy original fairytales. Then again, her originality within a tired YA tradition may be what makes The Hazel Wood and The Night Country so appealing.

Even if the storyline of this book doesn’t appeal, Albert’s writing is phenomenal. She has a way of sewing together metaphors with images I wouldn’t dream of, but are perfect. Was The Hazel Wood this good? Or has Albert’s writing improved? One way or the other, there were moments when a particularly good image stood out to me so strongly that I had to pause and appreciate it.

Something to remember if you are reading this (or The Hazel Wood). Alice is a villain. She was written as a problematic, violent characters within the world-within-a-world-within-a-world and that still stands true when she steps into New York, despite any desire she may have to be otherwise. She easy falls back into her nature and doesn’t apologize for it. If you pick up this duology, it’s important to remember that not all protagonists are heroes. Alice is deeply flawed.

For myself, I absolutely loved this. I loved the dual storylines and shadows between all the worlds we visit. I think Melissa Albert has an incredibly creative mind and her details are extraordinary. The Night Country was the mix of twisted and magical I needed at the moment, and I easily recommend this. I will read it again. Also, I do believe folks who have not read The Hazel Wood could probably jump into this one, because there’s enough backstory. I’d still recommend reading The Hazel Wood first because it will be a richer experience, but if you stumble across The Night Country, I believe there’s enough here to enjoy the story without the other book.

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emilyreadsthings's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

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laylagrace's review

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3.0

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caytlynn's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

I honestly enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. I was sad that Finch didn’t show up right away considering how much I loved him but the story that was building took over that want to see him. I’m glad we got his perspective eventually. I honestly loved hearing what was going on after he stayed behind. Plus his silly little letters I just loved the concept of that. I have so many questions related to the sleeping area they left but at the same time I’m kind of glad we didn’t get an explanation I feel like I wouldn’t of really liked any answer provided. Plus I am slightly curious about the other ex stories but not enough to want another book in the series by any means. I feel like this was overall a pretty good ending for this series.

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karapillar's review

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

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queer_bookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

4 ⭐ CW: fairytale violence, self harm, swearing, descriptions of blood and gore, death of children

The Night Country by Melissa Albert is the second book in the Hazel Wood Duology. This book was just as creepy and lyrical as the first book. We get more emotionality from Alice this time instead of just rage, and we also get more insight into Ellery Finch.

We pick up with Alice three years after Ellery Finch rescued her from her own story in the Hinterland, Alice-Three-Times. When Finch broke her story, he set in motion the demise of the Hinterland itself. Other Stories are becoming ex-stories and leaving the Hinterland for the human world where they hold weekly support group meetings.

We see Alice grapple with the conflicting desires to embrace the part of herself from the Hinterland and not lie about who or what she is, and just being a regular girl and leave the Hinterland, and its inhabitants, behind. Alice gets pulled back into the group when ex-stories start turning up dead missing pieces from their bodies.

We get to see Finch on his own adventure in the Hinterland until a mysterious door appears and a girl comes through it and tells him she can get him back to the girl he's looking for. They travel between worlds through a door created by reading aloud from books, because a book is always a door.

We get some great world building and definitely spooky/dark fairytale vibe. I love the way Finch and Alice are still looking for each other and thinking about each other. The romance felt earned, since they went through some shit together last book. I love Ellery so much more in this book, we get way more of him, and he was a fuller character. I also found the idea of the Night Country, a world that is built on top of an existing world where you can create whatever world you wish, but it kills the host world.

We get a message about how just because you create a world or characters, doesn't mean they are limited to just that. The stories in the Hinterland have to live the same stories over and over again with no hope for something different. They get to look like a human, but never get to experience the good parts of it. It's definitely an allegory about free will and overcoming the the narrow track your past has out you on.

All in all an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to reading about these stories in Tales from the Hinterland.

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