The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert: A Book Review
Genre: Fantasy
Albert’s story is definitely a mix of surreal fantasy and horror making the reader what to put the book down at the end and ask, “what did I just read”. The work is catching through as it draws the person in so they can find out what happens next. The only bad part of it is that it is highly predictable.
With a flair of fairy tale and the idea that there are other worlds out there completely different from ours, The Hazel Wood tells the story of a family who made the worlds crash, affecting both. The main character, Alice, and her mom are completely on the run until they think that they are safe. Unfortunately, they are not. Shocking, right? When Alice’s mom disappears, Alice races to find her only to be betrayed, hurt, and ultimately saved. Through it all, though, Alice finds out who she really is and who she wants to be. A coming-of-age story in a sense, but surreal with the art of magic realism embedded throughout, the reader feels for Alice as she struggles with her mission and the pain of her world crashing down.
Alice is the only dynamic character. She is what holds the story together. With her pain and determination, she is able to bring some life to the other characters, but not enough that the others have substantial backgrounds and personalities by themselves.
Albert continues the story in the second book, The Night Country, that came out January of this year (2020). While The Hazel Wood clearly ties loose ends and completes the story, I am curious of how Albert thinks to continue the story especially since the tagline “Can you ever truly escape the Hazel Wood?” implies that the ending isn’t at all what it seemed which would honestly make sense with the magic realism aspect. Just gives me another book to put on the list.
Anyone who enjoys twisted fairy tales would enjoy this book as well as anyone who enjoys surreal works. When I first started reading it, I was cautious towards advertising the book for early teens, as I was scared I was going to have nightmares, but once I got to the end, I think all teens have the capability of reading this story.
I would suggest to Albert to actually write Tales from the Hinderland. I think they have the potential to be the next Grimm Fairy tales.
Other books like the one reviewed: If you like this, I would suggest you check out the Grimm Brothers’ tales.
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 08/10
Writing: 09/10
Editor: 08/10 (kind of a hard read with all the errors)
Total: 35/40
Title: The Hazel Wood: a novel
Author: Melissa Albert
Edition: First
Published: March 26, 2019
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ISBN: 9781250147936
If you want to get it: Amazon, Barnes&Noble
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