The Hazel Wood #1
by Melissa Albert
Nikki’s Rating: 4 out of 10
Summary: Bad luck seems to follow them wherever they go so Alice and her mom, Ella, are constantly on the move. When her grandmother, the famous author Althea Proserpine, dies, Alice thinks their curse may be broken. But then Alice begins to notice characters from Althea’s fairy tales all over New York and they are definitely up to no good. And when the kidnap Ella, Alice has no choice but to make her way to the Hazel Wood, her grandmother’s hidden estate and the one place Ella told Alice never to go to.
4 Honorable Things about THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert
(May Contain Spoilers)
1. Fairy Tales
The fairy tales within “The Hazel Wood” are not our known fairy tales. Instead, they are unique stories, with some of them actually being featured in “The Hazel Wood” novel. They also tend to be rather dark and twisted like many of our original fairy tales, not the Disney versions. For example, one fairy tale features a cold, spoiled princess who turns to ice and kills people or Twice-Killed Katherine who sucks the vitality and life out of others to remain young.
2. Mother & Daughter
While I am a HUGE fan of romance, it was a bit refreshing that “The Hazel Wood” was not focused on a couple. Rather it was a story about a mother and daughter. What made it even more special is that Alice finds out Ella is not her biological mother and yet realizes that blood doesn’t matter. Ella was a mother to Alice in every sense of the word and will remain in her life as her mother. Although, their dynamic was a bit strange in the sense that Alice would sometimes take on the role of parent to Ella and take care of her, which is not healthy for a child.
3. Fairy Tale Characters
One of my favorite things about “The Hazel Wood” is the concept of the fairy tale characters being “alive.” Obviously this means that bad characters such as Twice-Killed Katherine are alive and sucking the life out of people, which is bad. But overall it is a fun concept and I would have liked to see how different characters adjusted to being ex-Story and what they ended up choosing for their lives, fuck the Spinner.
4. The Night Country
The Hazel Wood series continues in Book 2, “The Night Country.”
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