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A review by ceceewing_
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
4.0
As a person who spent their early years captivated by fairy tales - both the light of Disney and the dark of Grimm's - this book felt designed for me. It was eerie, magical, occasionally terrifying, and it brought new things to a world of work already so populated with stories. It was exceptional.
Alice, as a main character, is deeply unlikable. We should get that on the record, probably. She's quick to anger, resents listening to other's perspectives, and there is a certain kind of wall between her and the rest of the world. While this can obviously be a turn-off for some readers, I have always been fascinated by the darkness within a character and what that unlikability says about how they relate to the world. I mean, as a person who once planned to write their senior thesis on unlikable characters, Alice's rage is just another thing that made this book work for me incredibly well. While some YA books with unlikable MCs often end up coming off as unbelievable or eye-roll worthy, Alice is authentically awful at times in a way that pulls you into the darkness of the rest of the story.
(She does still have a couple eye-roll moments, but truly who among us can't look back on our teenage years and roll our own eyes at something we once said or did? If you feel you truly did nothing embarrassing as a teen.... I just... don't believe you.)
Beyond Alice, the other character we see the most of is Finch. His character is where one of my problems with this book comes in. Finch is biracial, and Alice really resists ever seeing things from his point of view. There is a particular scene in which the two of them are pulled over and Alice is her usual combative self with the police officer. When Finch tries to tell her afterwards how deeply uncomfortable he feels around police, especially when people are not being agreeable, Alice blows him off because he's rich and therefore privileged. I don't feel Finch's character was at all well-handled in this instance. If the scene had later been dealt with, and Alice could have grown enough to recognize that her growing up poor does not mean that anyone with money has unlimited privilege, that would have been one thing. But as it was, it was just something that was handled in a clunky manor, without as much care to the situation as I think was necessary.
Finch, though, was brilliantly complex and I loved him. He's easily fascinated, eager, intelligent, and so passionate. He also comes from a home where he goes unappreciated. Basically, he's the kind of character I adore in all things and I want to give him one million hugs.
There are a couple of quick side characters who I won't get into with much detail because a lot about them is full of spoilery stuff, but I will say that there is a sweet, older f/f couple that Alice encounters and I love them with all my heart.
Besides characters, I think The Hazel Wood also has a really solid plot, which I know is not the most popular of opinions. The book is slow. It does not spend a lot of time in a fantasy world, which I know upset many readers. However, I think it works for me more as a mystery than as a fantasy book. Finding clues, the winding journey of desperately trying to figure out what the hell is happening at a given time? I was drawn to it as a lover of the chase, a lover of mysteries. The fact that there was a fantasy element to this mystery only made it more interesting to me.
I also feel that this book held true to the darkness it promised. While I spent a lot of the book terrified that at the last minute it would hold back on me in the end, I think the even-handed ending was completely worthy of the scare factor and the darkness of the rest of the book. It was an ending well-earned, and I appreciated it capping off the journey the way it did.
Which is why I feel deeply unsure about a sequel, but we'll just leave those feelings aside for now.... except to say that books, especially fantasy books, should be ALLOWED to be stand alones. This worked brilliantly as its own story, and I am incredibly cautious moving forward into further installments.
The Hazel Wood was creepy, weird, and fantastic. It had excellent surprise elements and twists, a solid collection of side characters, and a winding mystery that kept me invested. All around, I can't believe I enjoyed this as much as I did, but I am so glad I got the chance to read it.
Alice, as a main character, is deeply unlikable. We should get that on the record, probably. She's quick to anger, resents listening to other's perspectives, and there is a certain kind of wall between her and the rest of the world. While this can obviously be a turn-off for some readers, I have always been fascinated by the darkness within a character and what that unlikability says about how they relate to the world. I mean, as a person who once planned to write their senior thesis on unlikable characters, Alice's rage is just another thing that made this book work for me incredibly well. While some YA books with unlikable MCs often end up coming off as unbelievable or eye-roll worthy, Alice is authentically awful at times in a way that pulls you into the darkness of the rest of the story.
(She does still have a couple eye-roll moments, but truly who among us can't look back on our teenage years and roll our own eyes at something we once said or did? If you feel you truly did nothing embarrassing as a teen.... I just... don't believe you.)
Beyond Alice, the other character we see the most of is Finch. His character is where one of my problems with this book comes in. Finch is biracial, and Alice really resists ever seeing things from his point of view. There is a particular scene in which the two of them are pulled over and Alice is her usual combative self with the police officer. When Finch tries to tell her afterwards how deeply uncomfortable he feels around police, especially when people are not being agreeable, Alice blows him off because he's rich and therefore privileged. I don't feel Finch's character was at all well-handled in this instance. If the scene had later been dealt with, and Alice could have grown enough to recognize that her growing up poor does not mean that anyone with money has unlimited privilege, that would have been one thing. But as it was, it was just something that was handled in a clunky manor, without as much care to the situation as I think was necessary.
Finch, though, was brilliantly complex and I loved him. He's easily fascinated, eager, intelligent, and so passionate. He also comes from a home where he goes unappreciated. Basically, he's the kind of character I adore in all things and I want to give him one million hugs.
There are a couple of quick side characters who I won't get into with much detail because a lot about them is full of spoilery stuff, but I will say that there is a sweet, older f/f couple that Alice encounters and I love them with all my heart.
Besides characters, I think The Hazel Wood also has a really solid plot, which I know is not the most popular of opinions. The book is slow. It does not spend a lot of time in a fantasy world, which I know upset many readers. However, I think it works for me more as a mystery than as a fantasy book. Finding clues, the winding journey of desperately trying to figure out what the hell is happening at a given time? I was drawn to it as a lover of the chase, a lover of mysteries. The fact that there was a fantasy element to this mystery only made it more interesting to me.
I also feel that this book held true to the darkness it promised. While I spent a lot of the book terrified that at the last minute it would hold back on me in the end, I think the even-handed ending was completely worthy of the scare factor and the darkness of the rest of the book. It was an ending well-earned, and I appreciated it capping off the journey the way it did.
Which is why I feel deeply unsure about a sequel, but we'll just leave those feelings aside for now.... except to say that books, especially fantasy books, should be ALLOWED to be stand alones. This worked brilliantly as its own story, and I am incredibly cautious moving forward into further installments.
The Hazel Wood was creepy, weird, and fantastic. It had excellent surprise elements and twists, a solid collection of side characters, and a winding mystery that kept me invested. All around, I can't believe I enjoyed this as much as I did, but I am so glad I got the chance to read it.