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Monday, November 13, 2017

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert




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.


I received a copy of this novel from netgalley in return for an honest review


This book was fucking brilliant and amazing. I loved everything about it. I thought the characters were flawed but relate-able and they learned lessons and grew.

The world building was creepy, dark and flawless. The plot line drew me in and didn't want to let me go. I found myself thinking about this book for days after reading it and have already recommended it to friends.

As much as I enjoyed this book I enjoyed the book inside the book more. What I wouldn't give for the author to published Tales from the Hinterland and all the awful fairy tales inside like Alice-three-times-three or Twice Dead Katherine.

There's no love story in this book except for the love shown between mother and daughter; which was cruel and touching.

I am so glad I was able to get an ARC copy of this, as it doesn't come out till 2018 and now I will have to buy a physical version.