Book Review :: The Hazel Wood, by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
on February 8th 2018
Genres: Fairy Tale, Horror, Supernatural, Young Adult
Pages: 359
Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind:
STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD.

To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began . . .

Last updated on 14 October 2023

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My thoughts on The Hazel Wood

So I thought I was going to love The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert. I had only heard amazing things about it, but unfortunately, it fell shy for me. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. I’m not saying it was bad, I’m just saying I didn’t think it was that great. Perhaps the hype was too much, and it set a higher expectation for me than necessary.

The description from Goodreads sounds amazing, right? Right. Expect I think it was way too extreme for me. I’m all for the supernatural and different worlds and fairy tales (in fact, I love me some fairy tales!) but for some reason, this just wasn’t sitting right with me. Perhaps it was too similar, in my mind, to Alice in Wonderland – similar in that there was a place called the Hinterland where strange and marvellous people and creatures roam, where things happened that didn’t really make sense etc etc.

“Look until the leaves turn red, sew the worlds up with thread. If your journey’s left undone, fear the rising of the sun.”

It was also incredibly slow-going. It takes a long time for our hero Alice and her tag-a-long I’ll-help-you-get-to-the-creepy-as-possibly-imaginary-mansion-in-the-Hinterland Ellery Finch to actually get to the place where the fairy tales happen. They are sort of mixed in here and there during the first part, but it doesn’t get to the “good stuff” until much later. And even then, I’m not sure it really was the “good stuff”.

The more I write this, the more I realise that actually, I think it needs another half a star knocked off. As I began this review, I was sitting at 2.5 stars, but I think I’m dropping that to a 2. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my cup of tea, and I’m actually really sad about that. It sounded wonderful but didn’t live up to the hype.

If you love a good Grimm-like story though, with a little Alice-in-Wonderland feeling, then, by all means, pick up this book. It’s dark and creepy, and somewhat whimsical, and that might just be your kind of thing.

Have you read The Hazel Wood? What did you think?