The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert is probably going to end up being one of my favorite books this year. I would describe it as a little bit The Magicians, a bit Caraval meets Grimm’s Fairy Tales and it is all dark and delicious. My God, you have got to read this one.

Alice has grown up on the road. She and her mother have moved repeated over the course of her seventeen years in order to escape the bad luck that follows them no matter where they run. When Alice’s estranged grandmother, an author with a cult following, dies a recluse at her estate in the Hazel Wood, they falsely believe the bad luck died with her. They settle down in New York City. Alice goes to school, gets a job and her mother gets married. Then the unthinkable happens, Alice’s mother is kidnapped. Alice learns the kidnappers are from the Hinterland, the fictional place in her grandmother’s book of fairy tales.

Alice is desperate to find her mother. Alice enlists the help of Ellery Finch, a guy from school, who is part of her grandmother’s cult fan base. Despite her mother’s warning to stay away from the Hazel Wood, Alice and Ellery set out to find it. Alice is sure it will lead her to the Hinterland and her mother. In the quest to find her mother, Alice also finds answers to question she did not know she even needed ask. The answers are more than she bargained for. These answers will change her story.

The story is not only dark, but intriguing and imaginative. The prose was polished and picture-perfect. I loved the mix of the real world with that of fairy tale and it was done deftly and with precision. I crave books like this and hope to see more from Ms. Albert. I highly recommend The Hazel Wood for lovers of fantasy and fairy tales.

I need to give many thanks to Flatiron Books for sending me a batch of ARCs from BookCon.