Picked up this extremely hyped up book recently and wow, what an experience.
“Life was a big thing to live without a map.”
Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood
Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother are continuously on the run, because bad luck always catch up eventually. 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 that life as she knows it, is not completely true. Her mother is stolen away―by a figure from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is her mother message: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”
“Look until the leaves turn red, sew the worlds up with thread. If your journey’s left undone, fear the rising of the sun.”
Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood
Alice has always avoided her grandmother’s cultist fans but now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then back to the place where it seemingly all began..
“She talked like a woman who knew more books than people.”
Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert knows how to write a build up. I was so into it from the beginning, freaking out as much as the characters, nearly falling out of bed at times. So good. With such a build up, I am quite interested to see what the sequel has instore for us.
Okay so spoiler alert, she turns out to be Alice three times. Okay, Awesome she is in fact story and managed to live outside of Hinterland. I was expecting an epic battle scene, an unexpected romance. Something.
I was a bit disappointed. I do not regret reading it, but I am definitely still on the fence with regards to the sequel. I do however know quite a few people who enjoyed this very much.
I would not recommend giving this to someone prone to nightmares – there are a few characters that could quite literally hide under your bed.
Reading Caffeinated 