REVIEW: The Hazel Wood (Melissa Albert)
Author: Melissa Albert
My rating: 3/5
Premise: 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. 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 book was a good, fast paced read. I'm a sucker for dark fairytales and this book was packed with them - I really want to read the Tales from the Hinterland now! At times, I got quite frustrated with how angry the main character could be - I know that's kind of the point of her character, but I did find myself thinking "why did you do that?!" when she got all fired up. The ending felt a tad rushed in my opinion, although I did like the bittersweet departure of one of the characters. I liked how none of the characters were clear cut as good or bad, they all had darker sides to them, which made them more interesting. It was quite clear that this is more a YA novel, but nonetheless, a good, magical romp that I enjoyed.