Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Hazel Wood

That said, this is a very enjoyable read, and oh my gosh... I am in LOVE with Melissa Albert's writing style, especially when we get to the Hinterlands. She paints a vivid picture of a strange, dreamlike world, both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time. I only hope I can write half this well someday.

Content Warnings

zimmerlemon's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

The writing style of this was really great early on, it really hooked me! Things unfolded in a really interesting way. My one qualm

is that I’m a little bit of a romance nut and I was bummed about Finch kind of going away on his own journey, but it makes enough sense for his character that I’m not tooooo mad about it. Just would’ve been really cute for them to have more afterwards bc of how loyal he was while she was in her story. But this sets other things up better so I’ll get over it lol

-
From the middle onwards might lose you unless you're ready to just vibe.

Content Warnings

paperquilt's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

saskiajva's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

The author has created an incredibly intriguing world full of mysteries and surprises. It starts pretty slow in my opinion but really ramps up by the last 100 pages! I will say, the treatment of the one BIPOC character felt gratuitously racist and disturbing at points.

particularly, at one point the main character does some things that put the side character in danger particularly due to his race, and when he calls her out on it she becomes so angry she literally attempts to crash her car with him in it in an attempt to threaten and intimidate him. Less than a chapter later the BIPOC character is murdered in a very senseless manner, and although he comes back to life later, the author never addresses her abuse and racism beyond “her magical curse makes her mean”.

Outside of that, I was surprised that the characters spent the majority of the book in New York trying to prove this world even existed. I almost stopped reading around page 200 when they hadn’t gotten to the actual fairy tale world yet, but around page 220 or so the book kicked into high gear and didn’t stop until the very end. I would’ve loved to have gotten to spend more time inside the magical Hinterland as it’s truly the intriguing writing. The set up did pay off in many ways, and maybe if I reread it I’d find more interest, but I just don’t think this book is for me.

Content Warnings

vplett4's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

3.75

Content Warnings

theastronautmp3's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

inkylabyrinth's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

More...