Book Review: The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Alice is used to life on the road, never settling in one place and trying to outrun the bad luck that seems to follow her and her mother around. But when Alice's grandmother dies at her home in the Hazel Woods, forcing the pair to return to the estate, Aluce soon finds that her bad luck is about to get a whole lot worse.

This is incredibly slow paced, and I also found the story itself incredibly misleading. I thought this was going to be a YA fantasy but most of the first half of the book is actually more of a contemporary setting with hardly any fantasy elements. It's also rather dull, and I couldn't even tell you what actually happens up till Alice enters the Hazel Wood other than endless travelling. By the time the fantasy aspects come into play, about half way through, I found I just didn't care anymore.

The writing itself also seems to play on pretty over substance. Most of it doesn't make sense and it's overly descriptive in a way that benefits no one other than to further confuse the reader. I repeatedly wished that the writing would just say it how it was, instread of taking me on elaborate and flowery prose of endless rambling.

The characters are hard to connect with, especially Alice who seems particularly unlikeable. She's selfish and stand offish, and I couldn't warm to her at all. She's also really mean to Finch, her supposed friend and companion - constantly disregarding his opinions and feelings for her own gain while being incredibly critical of every character she meets.  It left a bad taste, and I genuinely hoped at one point she'd get lost in the Hazel Wood and we could continue with just Finch. At least then he'd have gotten a chance to speak instead of being Alice's punchbag, and might have developed a proper personality. The other characters, the residents of the Hintermost, are irritating and unlikeable. All appear 'mysterious' or deliberately obstructive just because they can be. Not helpful.

The only aspects I liked, unfortunately, were the few and far between fairy tales told by Althea, Alice's grandmother. They were interesting enough to keep me going, but barely. Disappointing, and I felt that if this had been marketed better (i.e. Without the heavy fantasy push but rather an adult urban fantasy/contemporary) it would have found its preferred audience.

The Hazel Wood is available to purchase now from: Amazon

2 STARS