The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood (Hazel Wood, #1)

by Melissa Albert

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One of The Observer's Best Children's Books of 2018!

Fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and The Children of Blood and Bone have been getting lost in The Hazel Wood...

"The Hazel Wood kept me up all night. I had every light burning and the covers pulled tight around me as I fell completely into the dark and beautiful world within its pages. Terrifying, magical, and surprisingly funny, it's one of the very best books I've read in years". -Jennifer Niven, author of All The Bright Places

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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, by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world from her grandmother's stories.

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 . . .

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"This book will be your next obsession. Welcome to the Hazel Wood, where bad luck is a living thing, princesses are doomed, and every page contains a wondrously terrible adventure - it's not safe inside these pages, but once you enter, you may never want to leave." - Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

"Realism and fantasy blue in this strange and bewitching tale" The Observer

Melissa Albert has created a world as dark, twisted and magical as Alice in Wonderland or Harry Potter. Will you escape the Hazel Wood?

Reviewed by Mackenzie on

2 of 5 stars

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Maybe more like 2 or 2 1/2. indecisive at this point. Not the best way to start the new year unfortunately. I honestly couldn't care less about the characters - there was absolutely nothing drawing me to them. They just felt *there*. It was really only the fairytale stories that kept me going and my interest in Althea's story (I guess like the cult following of her book). However, even that began to wane. It wasn't until the last 80 pages or so that I became invested again. Despite this, I doubt I'll continue the series. I will say that I felt that the plot was unique and the Hinterland story/background incredibly intriguing. Also, the author is a good writer, if sometimes a bit too whimsical for me. I'm usually one for dark fairytales, but this one definitely missed the mark.

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  • Started reading
  • 3 January, 2020: Finished reading
  • 3 January, 2020: Reviewed