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A review by ihateprozac
The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
4.0
The Hazel Wood tells the story of Alice, a girl who has spent her life running away from bad luck with her mother. Aforementioned bad luck is mysteriously tied up in the life and death of her enigmatic author grandmother, who penned a mysterious book and never left her titular estate, The Hazel Wood. Alice’s grandmother’s death seems to catalyse the bad luck that has plagued Alice all her life, and she’s forced to team up with one of her grandmother’s intense fans to solve the mystery of the Hazel Wood.
This was cool as FUCK.
The Hazel Wood is like an even darker, more twisted, cultish version of Grimm meets Gaiman. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Other Mother from Coraline and you’ve nailed it on the head!It’s so dark, scary and creepy with a strong current of mystery running through it - and I was living for it. The writing was so atmospheric and gave me goosebumps; I truly felt immersed in this dark fairytale land Melissa Albert created.
It's hard to shed much more light than that as the story has such a strong current of mystery running through it, but trust me, this book is cool as HELL. It'll appeal to portal fantasy fans, it'll appeal to horror fans, and it'll appeal to fairytale fans. It's so unique and so intense!
Unfortunately I did have to dock points for the ending, as I felt Albert wrapped up the story too quickly and conveniently for my liking - so much time was spent building the mystery and fear in the first two acts, while the third act whizzed by in the blink of an eye. I wanted more background and world building
Overall: In spite of the flimsy ending, I’m intrigued to see what the next book holds! is wrapped up relatively neatly in this book, so I’m curious as to whether the next book is a direct continuation of their story or perhaps a companion novel following the adventures of ? Either way, I can’t wait to dive into more of Melissa Albert’s delicious writing and lose myself in this mysterious creepy cultish world again!
This was cool as FUCK.
The Hazel Wood is like an even darker, more twisted, cultish version of Grimm meets Gaiman. Think Alice in Wonderland meets the Other Mother from Coraline and you’ve nailed it on the head!It’s so dark, scary and creepy with a strong current of mystery running through it - and I was living for it. The writing was so atmospheric and gave me goosebumps; I truly felt immersed in this dark fairytale land Melissa Albert created.
It's hard to shed much more light than that as the story has such a strong current of mystery running through it, but trust me, this book is cool as HELL. It'll appeal to portal fantasy fans, it'll appeal to horror fans, and it'll appeal to fairytale fans. It's so unique and so intense!
Unfortunately I did have to dock points for the ending, as I felt Albert wrapped up the story too quickly and conveniently for my liking - so much time was spent building the mystery and fear in the first two acts, while the third act whizzed by in the blink of an eye. I wanted more background and world building
Spoiler
in the Hazel Wood, I wanted to learn more about the refugees and the stories, I wanted to learn more about the Hazel Wood versus the Halfway Wood, and I thought it was all too easy for Alice to break her story.Overall: In spite of the flimsy ending, I’m intrigued to see what the next book holds!