Review – The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, Book 1) by Melissa Albert (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: January 30, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1250147905
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Hazel Wood series
Source: Owlcrate
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic 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 Hinterland, 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.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother’s tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.”

This is the first book in the Hazel Wood series and ended up being quite different than I thought it would be. It was okay but a bit slow and, while I thought it was decent, I didn’t love it.

Alice spends a lot of time running from place to place with her mother. Alice is never quite sure what they are running from. When Alice’s gma dies, Alice’s mother decides they can finally stop running and ends up marrying a rich man. However, then things start to get weird and Alice’s mother goes missing. Alice ends up joining up with Ellery Finch, a boy from school, to try and figure out what is going on.

It takes a very long time to get into Fae (or the Hinterland) in this story. The pacing is a bit off throughout; the beginning moves too slow and the end moves too fast. The story also ends up being a bit convoluted and hard to follow at the end. The writing style was okay, not the easiest to read but it flowed pretty well.

I did like the dark fairy tale themes and some of the interesting imagery throughout. I enjoyed the characters as well. The writing is darkly atmospheric in a YA kind of way. At times this book reminded me a bit of Elizabeth Hand’s books from the mid 90’s (Waking the Moon, Blacklight, etc).

Overall this book had both good and bad points, it’s decent but not spectacular. I don’t plan on continuing the series, the books end in a fine spot and I didn’t love it enough to want to read more about this world and characters.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge