The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert – Audiobook Review

Published: January 30, 2018

Publisher: MacMillan Audio

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Hazel Wood #1

Length: 10 hr 30 min

My Rating: 5.0/5.0

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. 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 how bad her luck can really get: her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother’s cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland 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 into the world where her grandmother’s tales began―and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong.

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Somehow I just knew this was going to be an outstanding book. Maybe it was the cover. Or maybe it was the synopsis. Or maybe it was just my book-dar picking up a winner. Whatever it was, when I got a surprise audiobook download from MacMillan in the mail I knew I was in for a treat. They also sent me an awesome gold sharpie so I can vandalize things in glam metallics… or you know, color the promo poster they sent.

The Hazel Wood may be one of the best creepy, dark fairytales ever. From the very beginning and the mentions of the persistent bad luck, leaving in the middle of the night, and Alice’s odd kidnapping that this isn’t going to be a Disney fairytale, but rather something more akin to the originals told by the brothers Grimm. Alice has lived an unusual life, with virtually no connections aside from her mother, and a secret obsession for the grandmother she’s never met. Althea Proserpine was an author of a book of dark fairy tale stories called Tales from the Hinterland, which is rare, scary, and maybe based on a place Althea actually disappeared to for two years.

Alice is showcased as a girl alone amongst her peers who also has anger management struggles. She often snaps at people and frequently uses her mother’s zen breathing techniques to not throat punch people who irritate her. When they most recently settle in New York City she does her usual not making friends thing until one Ellery Finch waits out storm Alice and sort of becomes a friend. Ellery’s major drawback is that he is a huge fan of Tales from the Hinterland and Alice has always tried to avoid fans… that is, until her mother goes missing and she needs someone that has actually read the book her grandmother wrote. Ellery plays that role and the two set off on a journey to find the Hazel Wood and hopefully Alice’s mother.

The whole story was a disturbing delight to read and I will absolutely be keeping an eye out for more books by Melissa Albert. Not everything was as it seemed, many secrets were unveiled, and there was a fair bit of trauma to be had. The Hazel Wood sated my hunger for a slightly twisted tale and has left me with a desire to find more stories of this sort (recommendations are welcome). I would definitely recommend this for fans of fairy tale retellings, dark, whimsical stories, and solidly strong female characters who break the mold.