I’m back! And I’m back with a vengeance, because this review has been a long time coming and I have a lot to say, and some of it may come across a little…erm…let’s say “strong-willed”. Much like the main character of this book, actually.
The Hazel Wood is a contemporary fantasy novel by Melissa Albert which centers on the main character of seventeen-year-old Alice. Alice has spent most of her life moving frequently with her mother, seemingly always on the run from “bad things” or bad luck, even if she didn’t always totally understand what the bad things were. At the time the novel takes place, she and her mother have finally slowed down a little bit and are living in a posh apartment with her mother’s new husband and his teenage daughter, Audrey.
But Alice knows their new slow, somewhat stable lifestyle won’t last, and she’s right: when she receives word that her famous grandmother, Althea Proserpine, has passed away at her estate (called, of course, The Hazel Wood), her life gets turned on its head once more and the “bad things” are about to catch up to her again—and get much closer than ever before. Althea was the author of a book of strange (and sometimes, in keeping with the true tradition of fairytales, gruesome) book of fairytales called Tales from the Hinterland. Like many obscure and rare things, Tales from the Hinterland has developed somewhat of a cult following, discussed and dissected by bloggers and fans who are just as much interested in the woman who created it as the stories contained within. But Alice has never read the Tales from the Hinterland (even though she suspects she may be named after one of the characters contained within) and her mother has always tried to keep her from the stories and her grandmother. When Alice’s mother is kidnapped and she leaves behind a warning to stay away from The Hazel Wood, Alice does what any good rebellious teenage girl would do—the exact opposite of what her mother said.
That’s right, she heads straight for The Hazel Wood, where she is about to participate in a head on collision of the “real” world—the world she has always known—and the world in which her grandmother’s stories take place, in a supernatural and whimsical mashup of existences that is at times both fascinating and ominous.
I received this book in my February OwlCrate in which the theme was “Hidden Worlds” and it could not have been more fitting. The meeting of the two worlds—the modern world and New York City as we know it vs. The Hinterland—immediately interested me. I was super intrigued from the get go as the blurb sounded like it would be a very compelling story, and also because I really love contemporary fantasy. I don’t know if that’s an unpopular opinion, as it seems like many of my peers prefer full-fledged high fantasy, but for me, contemporary fantasy is where it’s at. There are few things I like more than a good story where the characters discover magic or something more hiding just beyond the borders of our very own plane of existence…which is exactly what happens in The Hazel Wood.
But what got me even more excited for this book was reading the author’s comments about her own main character in a brief interview she did with OwlCrate:
“We often talk about badass women as being ‘unapologetic’, as if the feminine default is to apologize—and I kind of love that apology is anathema to Alice. She’s prickly and closed off for good reason, and even though she’s aware that her life would be easier if she were more amenable, she accepts the cost of who she is without resentment or regret.”
As I also mentioned in my Unpopular Opinions blog post, this description of Alice not only made me more interested in the book, but it actually made me pick up The Hazel Wood as the very next book I read. I was so excited to get to know this character and finally get into the nitty gritty with a female character who was a lot of badass and maybe a little bit bitchy.
And as it turns out, that was actually the reason a lot of people hated this book.
I don’t usually write my reviews as an argument against someone else’s opinion, but having heard so many people say that they disliked this book because they hated the character of Alice, I can’t help but be a tad on the defensive. But rather than try to argue (intentionally), let me just forewarn you that the first part of this review could appropriately be considered an Ode to Alice.
I absolutely loved her. Was she bitter? Was she mean? Was she a little brash? Yes. And that’s why I loved her. YES. As the author herself says, she’s closed off for good reason. She’s prickly for good reason. I think many readers may not understand the fact that a lot of people—characters or not—end up with this tough exterior that may make them seem a little rough around the edges as a result of the things that have happened to them in life. This is natural. This is normal. We are affected by the things that happen to us. The things we go through in life make us who we are. Everything Alice has gone through, and the way she was raised, and the life she and her mother, Ella, have been living has made her who she is. These things have caused her to interact with people the way she does.
And I’m not here for the argument that she “hates rich people”. If she hated rich people, she wouldn’t be friends with Finch. I think she just hates rich people who are jerks about it or look down on others. The banter between Alice, who has been poor all her life, and her stepsister Audrey, who has been rich all her life, is one of my favorite parts of the book and I think it highlights the fact that while Alice is hyper-aware of her situation and even resentful of it, she is still able to joke about it.
“Hey, sometimes we lived in shacks,” I said. “Or trailers. Once a garage.”
She considered me. “Once I waited so long for my truffle burger it was cold when it got there,” she said. “So I totally get it.”
“Once our car window got broken out, and Ella replaced it with duct tape and a sled.”
Audrey smiled faintly, her hand going still on her laptop. “Once my dad bought a boat and named it The Audrey, but he forgot to put a ballroom in, so I sunk it.”
If you don’t find that funny, I’m sorry. I’m genuinely, truly sorry.
Sometimes people reach a point where if they don’t laugh about their hardships, they’ll cry, and sometimes being tough means choosing to laugh. Alice is clearly schooled in this matter and though her humor may be acidic and a bit of an acquired taste, it is nonetheless hilarious.
“Oh, yeah, we’ll see each other all the time. I’ll come get bedbugs at your new apartment.”
“Can refrigerator boxes get bedbugs?”
I don’t think this reads as being self-pitying or anti-wealth. She’s just using what she knows people already think of her to feed into her humor. This is not unlike when people would criticize me for being a writing major in college and I assured them that I would put very nice curtains on my cardboard box someday. We use humor as a way of looking at the world. Alice just looks at the world in a very jaded and slightly dark way.
I love sarcastic characters with a bit of biting wit in books. So why is it that when we see this sarcastic, self-deprecating attitude from male characters, we’re all falling apart over how funny and sexy they are, but when a female character does it, she’s a bitch and UGH how can we possibly read about a character who isn’t nice to everyone all the time and making friends with all the squirrels in the forest who help her sew her dress for the ball?!?!!
Sorry, I just can’t help but think that if a male character said half the things Alice does in The Hazel Wood, he’d be a total recovering-from-his-bad-past James Dean type and we’d all make him our Book Boyfriend of the Month.
So, yeah. I loved Alice. She was easily the best part of the book and it would not have worked as well as it did with any other main character. I’m over “perfect” female main characters in fiction. We all have flaws, and I love flawed characters. I don’t think everyone needs to have sunshine and rainbows shooting out of their butts all the time. Not everyone is pleasant—but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still compelling characters. While I understand that everyone has a type of character they hate or who is simply unforgivable (trust me, I do, too. I have DNFed a particular YA novel because there was no way I could make myself care about the MC), for me, Alice was not that character. She was funny, she was real, and most of all, she was super relatable.
But maybe that just means I’m a bitch, too.
In addition to Alice, I felt there were a lot of other great characters in The Hazel Wood. Finch, Alice’s schoolmate and adopted companion for her adventure, was likable, funny, and very genuine. Like Alice, he was portrayed as a very real person, flaws and all, rather than a flat representation or a caricature of himself. While Audrey wasn’t in the book as much as I would have liked, I really enjoyed her, too. Despite her circumstances being so wildly different from Alice’s, I can’t help but think they aren’t so different at heart. Some of the characters from inside the Hinterland’s stories were cool, too, like Twice-Killed Katherine, who garners interest as soon as you hear her name, or Janet, who may not have been a resident “story”, but adapted into the environment in an intriguing way.
While I felt like this was a very character-driven story, the plot definitely held its own and I really enjoyed it. Without giving away too much or spoiling any of the big reveals, I really loved the way the supernatural/fantasy world mixed with the world Alice already knows. It drove forward easily and kept me reading. There was never a moment where I didn’t want to pick this book back up so that I could find out what happened next! It was mysterious and a little strange, and I liked that it was original and not something I’ve seen done over and over again in other books. Writing is rarely an act of reinventing the wheel so much as finding a new and original way to present the wheel, and I think Albert did an excellent job of presenting a mix of magic and fairy tales seeping into our lives into a unique and refreshing way. This concept paired perfectly with Melissa Albert’s writing, which was beautiful and enjoyable to read without being overly flowery, which is something I personally tend to dislike.
Overall, I would easily give this book five out of five stars.
This was one of my favorite reads of the year so far, and definitely one of my favorite books that I’ve received from OwlCrate. I think Korrina and the team did an excellent job choosing this one and I am so grateful to them for doing so and therefore introducing me to this book!
Additionally, though this doesn’t impact the actual story, I think visually this book is gorgeous. I love the green version of this book as well as the original black cover with the gold and silver foil, and I adore the little pictures at the beginning of each chapter. Aesthetically, the whole thing was really pleasing. Expect to see it pop up a lot on my bookstagram.
I would definitely recommend this book for fans of contemporary fantasy or urban fantasy. If you’re looking for straight up fantasy or high fantasy, this won’t whet your appetite, because that’s just not what it is. I would also recommend this for fans of imperfect/flawed/slightly bitchy main characters, and anyone who is just looking for something different and an author who is clearly capable of thinking outside the box. I know I’ll definitely be willing to pick up any other books released by Melissa Albert, and it appears there will be a sequel to The Hazel Wood, so that should be interesting, too.
So what did everyone else think? Did you love The Hazel Wood or hate it? Are you looking forward to reading more of Melissa Albert’s work? Let me know in the comments. You know I’d love to talk! <3