Reviews
One of the worst books I’ve read. The writing style was way too descriptive to the point where I didn’t want to read anymore. Completely unnecessary filler words everywhere! It was very easy to see how the ending would play out, and I found the plot to be extremely messy. Not a fan at all.
eh. i enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second half. i wasn’t able to keep up with what happened anymore and the ending was garbage. i was invested in every character, but alice, and you’re stuck with her the whole time. i am unsure if i will continue the series. the concept should have been killer for me, but it ended up just being meh.
Hazel Wood was an interesting take on fairytales and what it means when they come to life. Alice was a flawed main character, and while I mostly enjoyed following her story - some of the plot points were rushed and confused. The twist in the middle of the book did not get the proper time dedicated to it and then from there the characters were thrown aside and not really ever explained again. I liked the world-building but I think it could have used a bit more exploration. It was a pretty short book, so adding additional chapters to build up the plot, especially in the second half of the book. So, 3/5 and I would probably pick up the sequel in the future in hopes of getting the exploration I wanted from this book.
2.5 stars
While I love the premise of this book, its one that I think would make for an interesting read the writing for me really fell short while the chapters that retold the stories for the hinterland were amazing the rest of the storyline fell flat. Alice's story on earth really was one that I felt was not well written and needed more development. I personally only finished this because I am a completionist and wanted to know how the story ended. But as for me, I don't think I will be continuing on if this becomes a series.
Once more I wish I could give half-star ratings on Goodreads. Because this book doesn't quite feel like a 3-star book, but I also don't think it should get 2 stars. I didn't like this book too much, and I think that if I had been reading it physically, I probably would have either put it down or DNF-ed it. I didn't like Alice as the main character, but I did like Finch a lot. It also just felt way too whimsical for me, which is something I just don't like at all. I do own the sequel, but I don't know if I'm going to read it (maybe if the audiobook is on Scribd).
This is not really YA fantasy- this is middle grade fantasy. If it had been marketed as middle grade i would have skipped it and saved the disappointment.
I have been dreading reading this book but I put myself on a book buying ban until I’ve finished some off my TBR. I was literally so confused the entire book. From beginning to end. I will say the storyline of the book was good. I liked the idea of seeing the tale stories unravel but it was done in such a confusing way it was so hard to keep me engaged. I read this book in two days so I could get it done and I was struggling.
Technically 4.5 stars. The beginning and the end were very slow but the middle was addicting. I never wanted to put it down because it was so creepy and imaginative. I am a little disappointed that she's writing a sequel because I think it ended fine. Unless she's going to follow a different character...
Warning: highly addictive i love love love this book omg
Mesmo não gostando muito do fechamento leva 5! Afinal de contas Hazel Wood é um conto de fadas um tanto quanto peculiar!
Interesting for sure. I think because a lot of the reviewers said the second half was not that good I was expecting the worst but it wasn’t as bad as all that. The writing however definitely had some moments that made me feel like the author did not know how people actually speak to one another. Some of the word choices left me feeling like the author had just discovered a thesaurus for the first time and not in a good way? On the whole though I thought the concept was fun and I was entertained!
3.25 stars |
The book was okay. Didn’t love it but didn’t hate it either.
Stealing a child out of a fairyland may have unintended consequences. Alice and her mother have always been moving. Bad luck seems to dog them. And it's all tied to a mysterious book of stories (Tales From the Hinterland) written by Alice's grandmother. Because Alice's grandmother stole those stories from Hinterland. I generally approve of stories that show that Faery/Fairyland/Elfland (it goes by different names with different authors) to be not just some slightly alternate earth populated by pointy-eared pretty people. In my world (LOL), the best depictions show that world as a strange, strange place. Beautiful, maybe, but also perilous and more dangerous than you might think. Susanna Clarke in her Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell does this really, REALLY well. This book handles it well enough. Hinterland isn't quite an Elfland. It's more of a land of stories, or rather, Stories. And the stories are embodied in people. Alice's mother, Ella, disappears under mysterious circumstances. Alice feels like she HAS to find here. This is the unfolding of that story. I liked the writing pretty well. I wasn't quite as drawn in by the story as I thought I would be, though I'm not sure I can say exactly why. Maybe I just didn't feel as involved with Alice as I wanted to be. But it's a good book, I think. Just wish it had sucked me in a bit more.
Great read, although I feel that there could have been more suspense and action. It honestly lacked that extra bit of depth that would have put it at a 5-star rating. Some of the minor plots of the story seemed to be loosely-woven and the resolve seemed sort of hap-hazard.
I really enjoyed the first part of this book, it was so disturbing and weird! But about half way through I lost track of the story... For me, it was hard to follow it with all the weird scenes going on.
Original Review: http://www.literarychaos.com/ I really expected to love this book. I really wanted to love this book. I was so excited by the synopsis. I love retellings and fairytale based stories, and this one sounded like the kind of book I could lose myself in. Between the synopsis and all the hype in the bookish community, I had high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. That is to say, I found the story enjoyable, but I did not love it in the way that I had hoped I would. I felt like this story could have had better pacing. I really wanted more fantasy and fairytale elements. I really enjoyed the sections of the book that were set in the Hinterland, such as the fairytale chapters dispersed throughout the book, if there had been more of the story set in the Hinterland, I feel like I would have liked the story much more, but instead, the majority of the book was a road trip that I at least found rather boring. It also did not help that Alice is one of the least likable characters I have ever read. She was so rude, selfish, and ill-tempered. She constantly talked about her anger issues, and it often felt to me like she was making excuses for her behavior instead of trying to learn from her behavior and fixing it. I understand that her behavior is an important aspect of the story, but it did not make her character any more bearable. Then there was the way that she treated Finch. She was so rude to him, it really irritated me. This person is helping her, and yet she was so ungrateful. I felt like she so stuck in her own pity party that she didn't notice or understand her privilege and the inequality around her. What was worse for me there seemed to be very little growth in this aspect. I wanted a good redemption arc, I wanted realization of her privilege and her selfishness. Unfortunately, I did not get that. I feel like this is one of those polarizing books that people either really love or really dislike. I personally fell in the middle I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. I felt like it this was over-hyped, at least for my reading tastes. This book does have good aspects to it and I can see why some people really loved this story. It just wasn't for me.
This fulfilled my Sugarpop 2020 prompt for: A book with a three word title. I really feel like this deserves 4.5 stars but I didn't think it was good enough to warrant the full 5 stars for me so I rounded down. It's a great book. It's like Inkheart, in a way, if one needed to make comparisons to other books, but much darker and more mature. I loved the way the author described things in the story and how the magic is almost a living thing on it's own, like a living tide that the characters have to fight or accept to get through the story. It was really fascinating to me. The plot was good. Amazing? No, I don't think so, but it made for a great story. It really is structured a bit like a fairy tale, which is awesome. But it's also tremendously modern. (I am, admittedly, a massive sucker for urban fantasy type stuff.) This also has elements of horror to it, which I absolutely adored. While the main character spends a lot of time being angry, stemming from a long childhood with few meaningful connections, I actually didn't mind her much. Alice's anger was sometimes misplaced, but she accepted it. I also love the Finch became his own person. I'd love to see more of him in later books since this appears to be a series now. I would very much like to learn more of the other stories. You get segments of one story and one other story in full when you're told that there are twelve. I'd love to get more information on all these other storybook characters that came after Alice. I also think that they could have cut down on the middle to save more room for the end of the story. I know half the point of the story in a fairy tale is the journey, but there was almost too much journey in parts. I also have a million more questions, most of which are spoilers so I won't detail them here. At the end of the day, I can happily say that I was definitely recommending this to others as I read it. I feel comfortable saying that I will continue to recommend this book to others in the future. I will, however, have to gauge my audience since not everyone is into dark fairy tales and these are definitely on the darker side of Grimm.
I have been steeped in lore and poured into another realm by this book.
Beautifully composed and rendered in prose, I loved every moment of reading this. It does remind me quite a bit of Inkheart (a childhood favourite of mine) which I think may have also swayed my opinion of it.
3.5 - I liked the plot, I wouldn’t consider this one of my favorites though. To be the first book by Melissa Albert, I think she did pretty good. It was a bit confusing at times but she was able to grasp my attention as I flipped the pages. It’s creepy, brother’s grimmish, not what I expected but I don’t think it was a bad book. She kept it intriguing but it was a little bit all over the place at times.
This book...hmm. The first half was SO much better than I expected, and unputdownable. It was dark, mysterious, magical, and just kept me glued to it. I borrowed this from a friend, and I had already decided that I needed my own copy, because I’d definitely want to re-read it! But... then things shifted, and it just became this confusing jumble of fairy tale bits, somewhat obscure metaphors, and dull storytelling, all rounded up with unconvincing world building. It made me long for the end of the book, and made me miss the beginning 😕 So no, I probably won’t be buying my own copy (even though both editions are beautiful!) because I found it a bit of a chore to finish it in the first place.
I don’t know what it was about reading this story that made me feel like a little kid again. Maybe it reminded me of the Sisters Grimm books. I really enjoyed reading it, though, and I know that any fairy tale lover will enjoy it too.
A dark ode to a love of fairy tales.