The Hazel Wood

by Melissa Albert

Alice has grown up running to keep ahead of the bad luck that seems to follow her and her mother but sometimes not very successfully.  Then one day her mom tells her their luck just took a turn for the better, Alice’s grandmother has died.  You see, Ella’s mother happens to be the famous reclusive author Althea Prosperpine.  Alice found a copy of her grandmother’s book of dark fairy tales once.   Ella ripped it from her hands, demanding she never read them.  Like any teen, Alice promptly began the search for a copy of the collection.  The only thing she could ever find was an article about her grandmother in an old copy of Vanity Fair. 

Having always tread a wide path around her grandmother’s fans, when Alice’s mother is stolen from their apartment, leaving behind a horrid stench and a note from Althea’s book addressed to Alice on her pillow she knows she must find Ella.  How is she to find her when Ella’s instructions strictly forbade her to go to the Hazel Wood and she has never read her grandmother’s stories.  Looks like she is going to have to recruit Finch, a huge fan and the closest thing to a friend that Alice has ever had. 

This book will have many devoted fans just as Althea’s book.  Albert moves her characters flawlessly through the many varied and veiled woods.  Be wary as you traverse her netherworlds, they are heavily atmospheric and authentic.  Her writing imparts you with the heavy, foggy sense of loss that is the mystique of the Hinterland, Half Wood and Hazel Wood.  After finishing this plum of a novel, you will look over your shoulder often, questioning whether character in the shadows is human or from the Hinterland.  This will be a hit with readers of all ages.  I hope Albert likes to travel and talk to people.  She is about to experience a lot of both.

I wish to thank the publisher for generously providing an Advanced Reader’s Copy through NetGalley for my honest review.

Pub:  Flatiron/Macmillan

Pub Date:  January 30, 2018

ISBN:  9781250147905

Genre:  Contemporary/Urban Fantasy