Reviews with content warning for Death - The Hazel Wood

Representation: N/A
Score: Five points out of ten.

One year ago, I mistakenly read The Hazel Wood's sequel, The Night Country, which I initially enjoyed but later repulsed. One year later, it was time to read The Hazel Wood, which initially looked promising until I checked the ratings and reviews, thus lowering my expectations. However, nothing could prepare me for how disappointing it was. Did I mention The Hazel Wood was also on the BookTok shelf?

It starts with the first character I see, Alice Proserpine, or Alice for short, forced to move to The Hazel Wood estate after her grandmother dies. I would classify this novel as a contemporary urban YA fantasy, which appeals to me since I like fantasy stories, but unfortunately, it didn't work out. The Hazel Wood's most prominent flaws lie in its pacing, worldbuilding and characters. For starters, the pacing is too monotonous and not engaging enough to keep me reading. It makes The Hazel Wood less like under 400 pages and more like 500 pages. All the characters are two-dimensional, and Alice is the most infuriating because how she talks to people comes off as irritating at best and frustrating at worst. The worldbuilding is nonexistent. There's no reason why everything is the way they are. I'm done with this author.

Content Warnings

hellsploss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

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

0.25

The Hinterland is so elusive it took the author 200 pages to get there only to rush into an unsatisfying conclusion before we've barely even scratched the surface of a new world. Spent so much time trying to make you interested in the main characters only to have them be the two most insufferable pair in the book you'll wish the Jersey-Shore girl was the main character instead at least she was funny.

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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

A wild ride of a book about the sometimes dangerously blurry line between the "real" world and the world of stories. If you like your fairy tales on the creepy side, this one's for you.

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