Melissa Albert

'Magical, mesmerising and inventive' Karen McManus 'The Hazel Wood kept me up all night . . . Dark and beautiful' Jennifer Niven 'A terrifying twist on classic bedtime stories, you'll not sleep a wink' - Heat Magazine 'Simultaneously enticing and fearsome' - Guardian Melissa Albert dives back into the menacing and mesmerizing world that captivated readers of The Hazel Wood. For Alice Prosperine and Ellery Finch, the Hazel Wood was just the beginning of worlds beyond. Worlds where stories and real life convene, where the light is always followed by the dark and where something - or someone - is coming for them . . . Can they escape The Night Country?

A Hazel Wood Novel

The Night Country

"The highly anticipated sequel to Melissa Albert's beloved, New York Times bestselling debut The Hazel Wood! In The Night Country, Alice Proserpine dives back into a menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors. Follow her and Ellery Finch as they learn The Hazel Wood was just the beginning, and that worlds die not with a whimper, but a bang. With Finch's help, Alice escaped the Hinterland and her reclusive grandmother's dark legacy. Now she and the rest of the dregs of the fairy tale world have washed up in New York City, where Alice is trying to make a new, unmagical life. But something is stalking the Hinterland's survivors-and she suspects their deaths may have a darker purpose. Meanwhile, in the winking out world of the Hinterland, Finch seeks his own adventure, and-if he can find it-a way back home.."--

regina 

I'll weave one for you, my love. If you will it, I'll give you anything you want.

being with humans, was something she'd try on like clothes. They'd never fit her right.

Why now are you pretending to be a mouse?

My head was full of formless balck thoughts.

"Forget that boy. That was your first kiss."

The New York Times bestselling sequel to Melissa Albert’s beloved The Hazel Wood! In The Night Country, Alice Proserpine dives back into a menacing, mesmerizing world of dark fairy tales and hidden doors of The Hazel Wood. Follow her and Ellery Finch as they learn The Hazel Wood was just the beginning, and that worlds die not with a whimper, but a bang. With Finch’s help, Alice escaped the Hinterland and her reclusive grandmother’s dark legacy. Now she and the rest of the dregs of the fairy tale world have washed up in New York City, where Alice is trying to make a new, unmagical life. But something is stalking the Hinterland’s survivors—and she suspects their deaths may have a darker purpose. Meanwhile, in the winking out world of the Hinterland, Finch seeks his own adventure, and—if he can find it—a way back home... Don’t miss Tales from the Hinterland, coming January 12, 2021!

Eftyhia Hazel Malloch

Hannah Williams

Lane Hokanson

Strong second book to this series! Carried on the dark magic and was interesting and satisfying.

fizzy

WHATEVER YOURE DOING, STOP IT, GO GET THE HAZEL WOOD AND THE NIGHT COUNTRY AND READ.

Rachel Kanyid

I really enjoyed this, almost more than the first book.

A story to remind you that we are all stories. We are all the villain, monster, lover, hero, and creator of our own lore. Worlds live inside and around us, doors waiting to be explored if we only dare to look a little closer at the kaleidoscope fragments of the universe

Kate B-L

l.h.

Sydney Tipton

Stayed up until 1 am to finish this haha, Melissa is an instant buy for me

Milo Jean

I don’t know this one just dragged for me. I felt like nothing important happened for majority of the book.

mary

3.5 stars! It was good, but not as good as book 1!

cossette

i think - and judging by my live texts to my best friend - i spent the first maybe thirty chapters going "what the ****" is going on?" it felt like a really slow build, or just confusing, and i can't remember if that's how the first book felt, just so fairytale like and easy to get lost in while not really understanding what's going on, waiting for the pieces to fit together. i think part of my confusion lies in the fact that i read the hazel wood over a year ago, and so my memory of the characters were a little hazy. i was so sure that it wouldn't be resolved by the end, but it did and i enjoyed the resolution.

Addicting. I was hoping for them to reunite since finishing the Hazel Wood. Definitely one of my favourite book series.

Story Eater

I don’t know why I got myself into this. Again. I barely liked the first book, The Hazel Wood , though the premise was intriguing (it is a more “adult” version of Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart  trilogy). 
 
 I’m not even sure why this series is classified as YA fiction (it’s labeled as 12 to 18 for the age range), as it has a plethora of not-appropriate for a 12-year-old stuff in it, including drug and alcohol use, sexual assault, adult language (multiple uses of the f-bomb included), pornography, and more—all before readers even get into the first 15% of the book. The book is incredibly violent; I have a couple of ideas why it is YA and not adult, but I’ll keep them to myself so I don’t trigger trolls.

 I will say, because book reviews should be fair and unbiased, that the story is great at the basic level. Worlds within worlds stories are some of my favorite, and this one ticks all the boxes for a good one. Albert also has a way with words that is lulling, like the Spinner in her stories—when the words are tied to things that have positive signifieds attached to them. These stories would make great fodder in a narratology course.

Because the content is inappropriate for the age range it is advertised, I can’t give it any higher. The language and content are like Game of Thrones, which makes it not for kids. And 12 and 13-year-olds are kids.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

danielle bush

** spoiler alert **
           I love the covers for this series they are just beautiful.. 
So this one went the same as the first book for me, I felt like I should have absolutely loved it but it was mostly ok... I did really enjoy the ending when Finch and Alice finally find each other again.. This one did feel a little darker a little grittier and I loved that part of it..

Mags

Even better than the first! Love the way it continued. Really a great book

Jelke Lenaerts

I was really excited for this book as I was expecting Ellery would be the main focus of it and I loved him in the Hazel Wood. However, this book mainly followed Alice again and for some reason I don't find her an interesting protagonist. We did get Ellery's perspective in this book and I enjoyed that more than Alice's. I just think it was more interesting as it expanded on the world a lot more and more just happened in them. That's my main problem with this book, not a whole lot happens in it. For most of the book I just felt a bit bored. I also just didn't really feel gripped into the story. Basically I had the same problems with this book as with the first one. I kind of feel bad about not loving these books because I genuilly want to. I think the idea behind this book was very interesting and what did happen in this book I really liked but there were just so many dull moments and the interesting parts just didn't make up for it.

Nicole Lucy O'Loughlin

It's hard to rate this book for much the same reasons I had a hard time with the first book. Honestly, I didn't feel like The Hazel Wood needed a sequel but when I heard of The Night Country, I was intrigued. Melissa Albert is a good writer. Her prose is lyrical and twisted with such poetic beauty that every sentence is like beholding something beautiful. But both of the books I have read from her struggle with the issue of pacing. The first three quarters of so reads like a neatly woven, slow burn, fantasy that is well thought and teasing in the way it dangles mysteries in front of you. But then the last quarter, so much happens and not all of it feels built up enough that it leaves a kind of brain fatigue. This book was a solid four stars for the first thirty chapters but the last twelve kind of blew it apart. I have so much hope for Melissa Albert's future books though because she really can write.

Emily

um. did i even read this book? this is gonna be a super informal review because despite the fact that i read this whole thing i don't think i can tell you anything that happened. like. it really just did not engage me at all, but at the same time did nothing wrong.

i rly liked the first ⅔ of The Hazel Wood (the first book in this series), but i didn't particularly love the direction it went in the end, and, unfortunately, it only went farther into that direction in this book. 

this installment felt so- linear?- like there was nothing that interested me, it all just felt like watching things happen but having no stake in the events, no reason to care.

it's a shame because I really did love the first book, but it's okay because i'll try to keep my positive memories of that one separate from the sequel. 

i don't think i'm interested in reading Tales From the Hinterland anymore, but i'll keep my eye out for reviews when it comes out in case people say it's amazing. i do definitely still want to read more from this author, though.

overall, if you liked the ending of The Hazel Wood more than the beginning, i would definitely recommend this book, but if you liked the beginning better, i honestly think you should just end the story with the first one.

Renee Delcourt

I'm surprised that my cawpile rating is so high to be honest. Without cawpile I probably would have rated this a 3 star. I enjoyed it but I think the first book was far better. I'm left with a lot of questions now that I've finished Night Country and I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a third book to tie up loose ends or if this will be left as a duology. I'm just slightly confused. I think this is a very plot driven story, more so than the first book. The writing is still very dark and dreamy at the same time. Very very atmospheric. I don't like the loose ends surrounding Daphne's influence around the Hazelwood stories and the way they sacraficed themselves for her cause. I don't get what will come of the "plague situation" caused by the night country. I'm confused about so much right now even if I liked it and enjoyed it. I'm kind of hoping that there will be another book to explain where are the rest of the stories went. The first book felt like it could have stood on its own with out a sequel. This one is definitely not the same.

Laura Springall

The Hazel Wood: ★★★.5
The Night Country: ★★★.5

If you haven't read The Hazel Wood yet, probably don't read this review??

Well, I didn't get my wish that Alice wouldn't be the main focus of this book and it would instead be about all the other, much more interesting stories as they figure out life after the Hinterland. But oh well, I still enjoyed this one, although not as much as The Hazel Wood.

So what's going on here?
After the death of the Hinterland, all the stories and wanderers within have to deal with life in our world, without magic and all the things that made them them. For many, this is as good as a death sentence. For others, it literally is. Someone is murdering the Hinterlanders, someone with ice in their hands that leaves everyone believing it's Alice herself. So Alice leaves it up to herself to clear her name and solve the mystery before anyone else gets hurt, but things are a lot more complicated than she ever thought possible. In another world, Ellery Finch is on another journey, with the hope that it might lead him back home and back to the girl he left behind.

What I loved
As with my review of The Hazel Wood, my absolute favourite thing about this series is the world. I am in love with both portal fantasy and fairytales, and this series gives me both of those deliciously served up on a silver platter. While the world building in The Night Country wasn't as good as it was in the first book, as this was more focused on plot and characters, it still was enough to hold my interest because, and I'll talk about this more in the next section, I'm really only into this series for the world and not at all for the characters and plot. Melissa Albert has created such a wonderful world that I wish I could dive into and live in.


What I didn't love
Again, same as my review for the first book, I really don't care about the characters and the plot very much. The side characters that I loved in the first book weren't in this one unfortunately, and the new characters that were introduced didn't feel fully developed to me. I had a hard time connecting with anyone, or caring whatsoever about any of the stuff happening to them. I enjoyed the parts with Finch world hopping with that one girl who's name I completely forgot (and who was pretty much completely irrelevant?? What even happened to her after that thing at the end? I literally have no idea where she went omg I don't remember), but that wasn't a huge part of the book. I really wish this book had more focus on Finch, he is way more interesting, ESPECIALLY THAT WORLD WITH THE BOOKS TO OTHER WORLDS?? WHAT???? PLEASE GIVE ME A WHOLE BOOK OF THAT!! Anyways. That about sums it up

Overall thoughts
I did still really like this series, it just wasn't what I hoped it would be. There is a whole lot of room for spinoffs though that could potentially give me what I wanted. So hopefully one day Melissa Albert will write those, even just a book of short stories would be cool. I know the Tales From the Hinterland is going to be released at some point and I'm hyped for that, so maybe she'll do a book of Finch's stories too. I can only dream!!

Wiktoria Cembala

everlinet

Surprisingly, I liked this more than the first book in the duology. It was atmospheric, full of beautiful passages, dark and full of twists.
But more or less predictable for me, and even though I loved the first half of the book and could not put it down, the end felt rushed and a bit weird to me. Too flat. The atmosphere went "poof" and was gone, even though the book was really good at the beginning! I was so surprised how much I enjoyed that first half. Sadly the last bit was confusing and strange.
Overall, this book series has strong potential. Maybe I cannot appreciate it enough as I am not into urban/modern fantasy things anymore. It was not the issue though, I would not mind the setting much, it was interesting nonetheless. But some parts were just meh, or a bit too rushed. And the main character just feels flat to me, without real personality. But that is the real issue of most YA books.

I give this 3*+- because I adored the atmosphere and the idea behind this book, I enjoy dark fantasy books and I am still glad I read it. I liked it, but it just was not spectacular. I still do recommend reading it, especially in gloomy autumn. It feels so nice and makes the atmosphere really cozy.

Alicia Haws

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4 STARS

Wow. Such a unique story. I liked this one even more than the first book. Very dark, eerie and mysterious. I felt the beginning was a tad bit slow, but from about 20% in, the story picked up and I couldn’t put it down.

Very well-written. Great world-building, and I loved the different POV in this sequel. I liked Alice a lot more in this book. She knew herself better, and was much more confident in who she was and her decisions. I loved this ending WAY more than the first book. Overall very well written and both books flowed together well. Highly recommend. 


  *Much thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.*



  


 Follow Me!

 
  IG
 | 
  Alicia Reads It - Blog
 | 
  Twitter

Kaeli Wolf 

** spoiler alert **
           As ever it is enchanting and exactly what I needed in an ending for this duology. I will forever pick up anything written by Melissa Albert because she is a Spinner herself, but in a rather more pleasant way than the stories'.

A little disappointed in this book. I loved The Hazel Woods and was really excited for The Night Country. It was a bit too slow for me. It did pick up about pg. 200 though. As always though the stories were interesting and the cover art was beautiful!

Kimi 

This was definitely darker with some horror and creepiness than the first book. The mystery behind the events happening in the book was intriguing however, I think I would have like more FInch's POV in the book to tie it more together. Toward 75% in the book you start to get Finich's side and alternating chapters with Alice's side. I was a bit thrown off since this wasn't how the book started out but was happy to finally get Finch in the story. Overall, really good dark tale with a touch of horror and an ending I was satisfied with.

The Night Country A Hazel Wood Novel

Reviews

Highlights