haybat 's review for:

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

3.0

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5 star beginning, 3 star middle, 2 star end. I loved this book right from the start--loved the fresh, creative prose, related to Alice, laughed aloud at pretty much everything Finch said, and really enjoyed the interaction between Finch and Alice. Sometimes pop culture references feel pandery, but here they work, and there was a nice mix of fandom and literature references. The book has a great sense of humor, in dialogue and descriptions. I laughed out loud a lot during the first half and was excited to watch Alice and Finch untangle the mystery of the strange events surrounding Alice's life and her grandmother's elusive book of fairy tales.

The twist was great, but at a certain point it seemed like the whole beginning of the book was forgotten and shoved aside for a completely different story. I am not a huge fan of kaleidoscopey dreamlike symbolic sequences, and the Hinterland part, where everything just kind of clicked into place, seemed too easy. The twist was very interesting, but the conclusion left me with a vague, disappointed "that's it?" kind of feeling.

Spoiler

I am annoyed that Finch ditched Alice for another girl/other worlds. It feels like a betrayal. I wanted them to end up together. I also would have liked to see them work together to figure things out, instead of having separate adventures, briefly meeting up, and then parting ways.

Maybe this is because there's a book two planned? I will definitely read it.