Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

4 reviews

whatkatyread87's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was an amazing Grimm type fairytale story. Loved the stories included. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

mky's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I do love the dark fairytale and the mystery of this book. I also enjoyed the fairytales that were interspersed throughout the book and how they tied into the story. This book is a great and fast paced young adult read. However, I felt the book was a little predictable and tended to be written for a young adult audience. Overall, I rated it a 3 because the story concept was fascinating and interesting, but I was clearly not the target audience for this writing style. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

jblovegood's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It's an interesting concept, though some of the story beats didn't fully make sense to me and the character development didn't feel very compelling. I still enjoyed it, but think it could have been done better. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sssssoup's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it for the first time a few years ago, and I’m so glad I decided the read it again for spooky season this year.

I’m a huge fan of the dark fairy tale aspect of the story. It’s very well developed and interesting, and I love how the author incorporated a story within a story; it’s not something you see very often.

The characters are what really sell it for me. Alice is a very well rounded and complex protagonist; she may not be the most likable character, but her story is engaging and I love how well developed her backstory is. Her memories from her childhood really help to develop her personality for the audience and a lot of depth to her. Finch is one of my favorite characters from recent YA because he’s entertaining and deep at the same time. Like Alice, his trauma and backstory are very well written and really help show his depth.

The writing style is fantastic as well and it’s beautiful to read. It feels very poetic and deep yet realistic at the same time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Mental illness, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Stalking, and Car accident