The Hazel Wood
2018 • 368 pages

Ratings96

Average rating3.6

15

This was a really unique take on fae and a version of their world. It's based more on the classic fairy tale format than most urban fantasy I've read. I'm not sure why there are so many 3 or less star reviews of this as I really enjoyed it. The most YA book genre I've read is probably faerie-based dark fantasy (as well as Alice in Wonderland being my favourite book), so maybe it's just more in my wheelhouse than a lot of other readers'.
I didn't find the writing poor or the plot hard to follow and while I didn't come to particularly care about any of the characters, the action kept me reading and I moved through the book fairly quickly.
The book starts out like a lot of urban fantasy where Alice (kind of on the nose but better than the usual eyeroll-inducing YA fantasy names) is being followed by some shady characters and more and more of the elements of her grandmother's hard-to-find-yet-famous published fairy tale collection bleed into her assumed-normal existence. However, once things kick off and she ends up going into the Hinterland (the world all the books' tales take place in) it's very similar to Alice in Wonderland but much more dark.
I definitely look forward to a sequel and seeing more into the Hinterland.

February 14, 2018Report this review