The Hazel Wood (Hazel Wood, #1)

by Melissa Albert

[sa090]

I find this book difficult to talk about, while it’s got some issues, there was something about it that made it hard not to be enamored by it. Sucks to be busy with work when I just want to curl up and read :/

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Recently, I’m finding that books that contain a long journey are books I really enjoy reading. I enjoyed Beneath the Darkest Stars, I enjoyed Unearthed and I enjoyed this once again in the Hazel Wood. The difference between each and every one of them is that each journey obviously happens in a different setting, that right there is the beauty of this experience to me. I like it when an author takes me through their world, even if it’s mostly set in real life like the Hazel Wood, there’s bound to be something to gain from journeying through it with them. In this book it got me to know about the characters more so than anything else, specifically Alice, tbh I couldn’t care less about Finch because I feel like I’ve seen way too many characters like him that it doesn’t really excites me or anything anymore. Alice isn’t that largely different than most of the characters I read about either, but there was still something incredibly intriguing about her and her personality that just made me want to follow her so I can find out.

I think if I really have to praise two aspects of it that remained the case for the majority of the book, the first would be how creepy Melissa Albert made this feel. The characters aren’t like the stupid ones in horror movies who at a certain part of the movie when they die you go “You deserved it you idiot”, they’re actually trying their best to make sense of the situation and it just adds this eerie feel to the book that makes it difficult to stop reading at times. The few stories of the Hinterland that she added in the story increased that feeling because of how dark these fairytales are, despite one of them feeling somewhat out of place. It made me super excited to read the Tales from the Hinterland itself for sure but for the story here, it wouldn’t have changed a thing if it wasn’t there.

The second aspect would be how I couldn’t pin down how it would end, I’m very good at predicting things, but in the Hazel Wood, although I had multiple scenarios, I couldn’t pin it down at all. It’s exciting when you really don’t know how it’ll end. There’s a “secret’ in the book that’s easily solvable thanks to how Melissa Albert goes by it, but the ending itself was difficult to pin down. This book also reminded me of Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, the blend of fairytales with real life is an awesome mix that I like a little too much. This book is not about that in the same extent or even the same context but there is a certain thing to it that reminds me of the before mentioned, it’s probably why I ended up liking this book that much subconsciously.

So, what is wrong here? Well, for instance the book has some ideas that I find kind of weird with how “Okay” they are being treated which boils down to an individual’s beliefs if you will so it might be just me. More importantly though, the book had this big sense of “Convenience” that I didn’t enjoy much at some points, felt like it made things way too easy after all of that journeying. After I finished reading it though and took a day to think harder about it, the whole “Convenience” vibe I got from the book felt like this incredibly clever idea that I’m starting to think it might’ve been an intentional one. I may be thinking a little too hard about this, but at the moment it kind of feels like it was.

The instance with the three things the red-haired guy gave her? That felt like it’s a sort of a foreshadow to what Alice really is, she’s a literal story so it’s not strange that characters get these special items to use in their quest, isn’t it? While it delivers that feeling of convenience given that I was thinking of her as a normal individual till she entered the Hinterland, I sat here thinking that maybe, just maybe Melissa Albert might’ve added that in to stay true to Alice’s real origins as a story. Which again is something I find to be really clever, if it was true anyway lol

She’s signed a deal for a sequel and for a full copy of “Tales From the Hinterland” which I’m excited to read about, I’m not sure where we’re going from here since this felt fitting as a standalone but I’m looking forward to it regardless.

Final rating: 4/5