Entering the Creepilicious Hazel Wood

I mentioned last week that I had a few ARC reviews coming and in case you didn’t know, I loved them all. However, even though I gave the other two all the bananas, this book was basically a glorious banana cake of awesome (that’s monkey speak for “I saved the best till last!”). Now, when I first saw this book it was pretty much love at first sight- because just look at that cover!!! And most of the reviews were super positive as well… and then came all the negative reviews. I have to say they dampened my enthusiasm somewhat- and THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT. My expectations being much lower ended up making this all the more rewarding. Then again, nothing about this book is to be expected.

I will admit straightaway that I get why people some people don’t like this– the way the story’s told, the style and the structure are bound to be hit or miss. BUT one thing I’ve learnt over the years is that the most divisive books are usually the most brilliant. They’re the books that, when they work for me, make the biggest impact- and boy did this book work for me.

From the my first tentative steps into the world of this novel, I knew I was in for quite the journey. The writing made me shivery with glee. It’s probably a good thing that this was an ARC because otherwise I’d have clogged up this review with quotes- heck, judging by how highlighted my kindle version is, I’d basically be uploading the entire book. I wrote tons of notes as well, which can all be summarised: wow, this lady can write! I was endlessly impressed with the unsettling tone, the trickery of the luxurious language and the underlying genius of the ideas.

put your hands together.gifOne thing I noticed, quite quickly, was that Hazel Wood is a bit of a genre straddler. I wouldn’t personally classify this as magical realism (though I’ve heard a few people labelling it as such)- to do so would be to miss the large signposts to all the great gothic and fairy tale traditions at every terrific twist and turn. Now, a lot of people know that gothic books and fairy tales are two of my *absolute favourite* genres. Since this book *put those hands together* (so to speak) I couldn’t have been a happier monkey to find how well this worked. It reminded me so much of the finest works in both genres. Rather wonderfully, this tied in with its theme of falling in love with a story. I couldn’t help but be reminded of personal favourites- especially as they were referenced so well. To say this was rooted in literary references would be an understatement. It tunnelled down into the collective psyche of some of the world’s oldest stories.

The basic plot was simple and yet highly effective: it is a story of taking a trip into the woods, losing yourself and then having to discover a way out. I love tramping through Mirkwood-esque settings and uncovering uncanny secrets- and Hazel Wood was remarkably good at capturing that unsettling feeling that more was going on under the surface. Indeed, there were hints at psychological themes lurking. With a steady build up, the narrative crept towards a crescendo where everything began to make sense (and also raised tons of questions 😉 ).

The world of the book felt like a dreamscape and much of the messaging felt like an allegory for mental health and real world trauma. And that right there was another of the reasons I was often jumping up and down saying This. Is. Such. A. Good. Book. Because, much like the grandmother in the story, who is the author of a fairy tale collection, is described as being like a “war reporter”, this narrative brought brutal truths. The harshness of the main character’s life delivered a slice of reality to go with the story’s unreality; the unnerving creations had me wondering what was real in the book at all. Much of the messaging felt like a code for something deeper. Like I said, this was no ordinary book.

A significant way the book achieves a sense of raw realism was through the family relationships. They’re not cookie cutter and they’re not always monstrous- they felt grounded in genuine experience. I appreciated the slow build of connections and the fact that they didn’t always turn out how you might want. But then, this is not a book of wish fulfilment and that aspect worked for me. I also loved the prickly edges to the main character and found myself relating to her– even if she could be practically the embodiment of irritation at times- though I understand why a lot of other readers couldn’t get behind her.

By the end, the storytelling aspect took a meta turn and all the threads came together. I don’t want to spoil anything, yet I don’t know if I could- for Hazel Wood refuses to be pinned down. All I will say is that there are layers of mystery to this book and it will certainly make you think… and then think again. It is most definitely, my kind of book.

Still, I do have a bone to pick with the author: this book was *too* damn good. It was more exciting than I anticipated and I had wayyy too much trouble putting it down. So, thanks for contributing to my insomnia and preventing me from getting work done, because, while I was reading this all I could think was “ach forget it, I need to get back to the Hinterland!” I was simply swept away by the magic of this book and hope you will be too.

Rating: 5/5 bananas

small bananasmall bananasmall bananasmall bananasmall banana 

One supremely satisfied monkey…

A story so deeply interwoven with the fairy tale world, Alice Crewe has always found bad luck following her and her mum. It beautifully interweaves the real world with the fairy tale world Hinterland. Hinterland isn’t your happily ever after world though, the complete opposite. It’s a bit creepy, I found myself reading in the dark a bit nervous. The Hazel Wood is magically scary and complex with some bright memorable characters, both good and evil. Albert has written an incredible story, it felt to me like two different stories finding each other, blending and working together. I devoured it
This novel has sucked me into the world of fairy tales and their power and I want to go back to my childhood and reread some of the classics.. I loved Alice’s character, pre Hinterland and after. I loved Finch, his attitude and rich lifestyle and how desperately normal and real he was despite it.

Overall opinion of the book:

I was looking forward to reading this book for many months before it was released. It was hyped quite a lot on NetGalley and throughout the book blogging community. Now, I'm not one to just merely jump onto a hype for the sake of it, but when I read the synopses of The Hazel Wood, I was genuinely intrigued. It sounded quite dark and right up my street. At first, I was declined a review copy on NetGalley as I'm from the U.K. and not the U.S., but when it finally came onto the U.K. site I was approved and was so excited!

I couldn't wait to read it, but when I did I couldn't help but be disappointed. While I know a lot of fellow bloggers who throughly enjoyed this book, unfortunately it definitely wasn't a book for me. With a book, I need to connect with the main character in some way and in this instance I just grew slightly annoyed with Alice, rather than finding her an interesting character. This was my main fault with the book as it did affect how I felt towards the rest of the book. I grew annoyed by her treatment of other characters, especially Ellery, and couldn't help but feel that she was a little spoilt and ungrateful of his help. Some of the things she said about and to Ellery made me feel a little uncomfortable.

Another slight issue I had with this book was regarding how kidnapping is portrayed. When I was around halfway through the book I read my friend Dani's review of it. She delved into this factor and I had the same problems with this aspect of the novel as she did. You can view her review here: https://theintrovertedbooknerd.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/the-hazel-wood-by-melissa-albert-spoiler-free-review/

The basis of the story is definitely an interesting one, and I thoroughly enjoyed Albert's takes on fairytales. I enjoyed that they were quite dark and not your stereotypical happy go lucky endings. I did feel as though the book took too long to delve into this however. The first two thirds of the book seemed to be quite slow and then the last third of the book seemed to cram too much into it and it felt slightly rushed.

Although I didn't enjoy the first person aspect of hearing Alice's thoughts, a lot of the language Albert used in the tales were beautiful and lyrical to read. If you're someone who enjoys a different take of fairytales and enjoys dark books then this will probably be a book for you.

Final thoughts:

Although this wasn't the book for me, don't let this put you off reading the book. If you're a lover of Dark YA Fantasy, then you'll probably enjoy this book.

As this book is the first in the series, this book is simply a taster of what's to come. I personally I don't think I'll be reading the rest of the series as I just couldn't bring myself to click with the main character and her personality, which did disappoint me slightly as I was eager to read this book.

Not my usual genre of book but I fancied a change.  The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert is a dark and winding adult fairytale. Alice and her mother spend years on the road moving from one disaster to another,  Alice never knowing why such awful things should always happen to them,  When she hears that her grandmother has died she is dragged willingly into another world.  I was kept interested to the end wanting to find out what happened next!

I suspect that this is a Marmite kind of book - either you'll love it or you'll hate it. Personally, I really loved it.

Alice's grandmother is the author of a collection of dark fairy stories. Her mother, Ella, doesn't want to talk about them, and they ricochet from one man to another as Ella tries to keep Alice away from her heritage. However, when Alice starts digging into her family history, she discovers that there are more than a few skeletons in the closet.

Atmospheric and compelling, The Hazel Wood sucks you into its world and then spits you out, taking you on a gothic journey of discovery and Otherworldliness. When you sit back and examine it, not an awful lot happens, but that's not important. This really is one of those books where it's not the destination, it's the journey that's important.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert.
Here is a book in which worlds collide, like that time when you wake and fall into a half sleep, when the real and the unreal merge.
Alice and her Mother’s life at the start of the story have recently become more settled, after years of moving around, bad luck dogging their footsteps. Ella, her mother, is the daughter of a famous author who has written a book of dark fairy tales that has achieved cult status.  Alice has never met her grandmother, but her mother cautions her not to read fairy tales, most especially those written by her Grandmother and anxiously urges her to forget about her grandmother.  
Suddenly Alice’s mother disappears in strange circumstances and Alice scared and alone, realises this is has to do with the elusive book her Grandmother has written, and begins to search for the Hazel Wood, with the help of Ellery Finch, a schoolmate, and fan of her Grandmothers book.  
This is when the book gets even stranger, nightmarish characters start to pop up on the streets of the city, Ellery and Alice find their way to the Hazel wood despite them, and once there weird gets weirder, as Alice finds herself in a dark and strange land where the characters from stories live out their lives over and over again, recreating the stories written for them, by the Story Spinner.  Alice meets many strange and curious beings, but realises she is trapped in this place and will be forced to retell her own tale over and over again, unless she can break the story, and stop the Story Spinner telling her story forever.
 Eerie and hypnotic, where the real meets the unreal, you are drawn into this dark and creepy novel, by the fantastic prose, and astonishing storytelling. But be warned this is not a fairytale for children, think Angela Carter.

Imagine growing up with fairy tales woven so neatly into your background that they have almost become a part of you. 
Alice and her mother have the legacy of Althea Perspone forever in their wake, no matter where they go. After writing one phenomenally successful book, 'Tales from the Hinterland' Alice's grandmother retreated into obscurity and 17 years on, Alice has still never met her, even though her stories have become as much of a part of her as her own skin, though how true that is, Alice has no idea until her mother is kidnapped and she has to enlist a school friend who happens to be an Althea Perspone fanatic with microscopic knowledge of her book, to help find her.
This is an intricately woven fantasy tale which is extremely cleverly written and just a fantastic concept. Watch out for this author! 4.5 stars.

Hmmmm I didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d hoped. I found it a little disjointed and confusing in places. (Am I a story, are you a story, an ex-story, a finished story?!). I liked it when I started but the nearer I got to the [Hazel] woods the more I lost interest. Admittedly it’s not my usual [twisty/psycho/nail-biting/thriller] genre of choice but I do step outside of my comfort zone every so often & usually enjoy the ride. Unfortunately this trip left me a little underwhelmed.

I don't read that much fantasy outside of Harry Potter and anything VE Schwab writes, but this title really appealed to me and has been getting a lot of buzz and I'm indeed glad that I read it now.

The Hazel Wood is a fantastic mix of fairytale and legend, with some horror and contemporary elements thrown in for good measure.

Melissa Albert captures a dreamy atmosphere from the start, where everything feels a little off. Alice's transient life sounds exciting, but bad luck follows her and her mother everywhere. Alice seems to be constantly feeling something in her surroundings without ever being able to place it.

Within this real world setting, there is a book of infamous fairytales written by Alice's grandmother, Tales of the Hinterland, a book that has taken on a mythic quality of its own.

Once Alice finds her mother missing in their latest hometown of New York city, she teams up with the superfan Finch. From there, the descent begins into a unique kind of rabbit-hole. The story is clearly and unashamedly inspired by classic fantasy such as The Wizard of Oz and of course, Alice's adventures in Wonderland. But The Hazel Wood and its Hinterland feel fresh and unsettling. There are surreal passages where the reader becomes as discombobulated as Alice, but it's a thrill ride from the Hazel Wood to the actual Hinterland as Alice finds herself in the midst of a fairy tale that appears to have no lesson of morality, no happy ending.

There's a sense of real danger from the various fantastical characters with their macabre methods of manipulation, to the unknown endings to these characters' stories. Alice must discover these endings herself as she lives the fairytales.

The Hazel Wood is a bold and startling foray into a timeless fantasy world, packed with imagination and wonder, but in parts terrifying and creepy.

A suspenseful setting with hints of dark magic, I was so excited about this book and really really tried but maybe I was expecting  Herbertesque style fairy horror, I’m not sure but it just didn’t have me on the edge of my seat sorry!

Slow moving in parts, if you like fantasy this is a good read. The ending felt a little rushed, and I did not like the protagonist but I was definitely entertained by this novel, and so was my teen son.

The world building aspect of this book was very interesting, and the writting was good. Overall, I enjoyed being transported into a reality where fairy tale elements exist in a modern day society.
The only issue for me was the main character, which I didn't care for at all.
Still an enjoyable read.

It took me a while to get a handle on where this would fall exactly in terms of genre and audience; part of it really strongly reminded me of Joanne Harris’ Chocolat, though I think it’s more intended for the YA market than that book was. Once I got into it, I really enjoyed it: some lovely writing, some very creepy scenes, and lovely use of fairytale tropes — the original sort of brutal, horrible fairytales, not the sanitised versions. I think the pacing was a bit jerky at times. Given the fairytale setting, I don’t think I can really complain about some of the rules not seeming clear/consistent at times… Fairytales are like that, and it spills into the book as a whole.

I enjoyed the fact that the ending didn’t go with anything too easy… though I’ve learnt that this is a series, or at least that there’s going to be another book. I’m somewhat reluctant to read it, actually, in case it changes Finch’s ending — that just seemed so apropos after what we see through the rest of the book.

The Hazel Wood is modern fantasy which takes the original elements of classic fairy tales and weaves them into the story. Starting in modern day New York, Alice has spent her life on the run with her mother Ella, seemingly cursed to move from one place to another within a couple of months. Following the death of her grandmother, a recluse writer of a solitary out of print book of fairy tales, Alice’s life takes an even worse turn as elements from the land of Hinterland bleed into her world.
Definitely recommended if you like your fantasy a little dark.

Not for me I'm afraid, I could not even finish this book!

I DNFed this book at 30%.

If you like Alice in Wonderland, you’ll probably like this book. But it was too zany, inane and nonsensical for me.

The 30% that I read was incredibly slow. Most of it consisted of the background of the main character, her mother and her grandmother, who she didn’t know that well. The main character herself, Alice of course, is seriously unlikable and doesn’t compel  you to continue reading.

The Plot...

The story is focused on Alice and her journey in finding her mother who is taken away, and doesn't have anyone else to help her but Finch, the cute kid at school who is obsessed with her gran's stories. The funny thing, it's not even a spoiler as it is given away in the book description. The plot takes a very long time to pick up and unfortunately I saw the plot twist at the end midway (which was a total bummer), but I was still hooked and enjoyed it. I felt that it was quite simplistic and relied too much on the whimsical writing and Alice's obsession to find her mother which felt sometimes like dust in my eyes. The ending left me quite unsatisfied as well; I loved the fact that she managed to break the wheel, but was deflated about some other choices. 

What this story did very well, was the suspense of Alice finding her mother. The mystery aspect of the novel kept me turning the pages until I finished reading it, so well done there!

Characters...

Alice, the main character, is a 17 years old girl followed by bad luck as bad things continue to happen to her and her mother. I initially liked Alice as a character, but as I progressed I started to like her less and less until I wanted to smack her in the head. I do not understand why she was so hung up on other people being rich. It really annoyed me that she thought that her mother's husband was not good enough for her because from what I read, he did not do anything to Ella. Same with her step-sister who wasn't actually mean to her, she was just rich and could afford to do eccentric things like rich people do. That's it. Does that make her bad? No! Alice hated on because she was rich, like rich people do not have feelings or a brain.

But she did not stop here, she acted like a turtle with Finch who was there for her every step of the way. It was not his fault that his dad had money, he was actually a decent, smart guy who was better off without her. Why did she have to be like this? Being rich doesn't mean you're bad or not good enough, so talk to the hand! (and no, I am not rich) I know, I know, it makes sense when you read the ending, but what bothered me was that it was never challenged, like Finch never turned around to say 'Hey, that shit is not ok!' I actually really liked Finch and I wish he would've been treated a bit better as he was key for her journey and deserved a lot more credit. 

Alice is looking to find her mother Ella, but I struggled to understand her obsession, it felt really unhealthy and unbalanced. Ella became less than a person, became an idea that Alice was chasing, memories strung together by flowery writing. It also annoyed me to no end that right at the beginning of the book, Alice acted with so much jealousy towards her mother because she married and was convinced that Ella needed to leave him because he was not good enough for her. Ella, giving their past experiences and her ability to manipulate situations and people to get what she wanted, was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Somehow Alice made everyone seem less for almost all of the book. 

Writing style...

The Hazel Wood is slow paced and whimsical, wanting to read like a fairytale and building a dreamlike (or nightmarish) quality to it, but that's ok, I can like that. What I do not like, is weird descriptions like "dead coffee" or "furious glitter". Like what's that supposed to mean? Why do I feel like it was meant to pull wool over my eyes...?

World Building...

Again, it felt that the world building was not as good as it could've been and for at least 70% I had no idea what the rules of the game were as a lot of the things happened because Alice had lots and lots of hunches...

Enjoyment....

The Hazel Wood, regardless of my picks on the characters, plot and writing style, it was extremely entertaining and kept me hooked. I read 50 pages on Tuesday night, and finished it off yesterday, in one sitting. I was hooked and I could not put it down until I finished it!

I will give it 3.5 stars because although I had some issues with it and wanted more from the plot and the characters, it kept me really entertained.

I wasn't expecting an alternative fairytale when I first picked up this book.  It had a lot of parallels to Alice in Wonderland, but a lot darker and with none of the whimsy.  The biggest issue with my enjoyment of The Hazel Wood is that The Hinterland was the most interesting part of the novel, and it was the part that we got the least information on.  Alice was not an interesting or strong enough character to carry the plot.  We had to go through chapters and chapters of boring exposition before we got to anything of interest, and when the novel finally did pick up it felt rushed.

I had low expectations for the book however i was pleasantly surprised which made me like the novel all the more. There were some cringe and long winded moments however overall i really enjoyed the concept of the story and the plot especially the snippets of the stories told and visually told.