A review by tuckeralmengor
The Night Country by Melissa Albert

3.0

Many thanks to Flatiron Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

There'd been four deaths now.
One was a warning,
Two a coincidence,
And three completely the fairy-tale set.
But four.
Four was a door.
An invitation to something more.

Okay....

So...

I am, to put it simply, disappointed. But unfortunately, my thoughts and emotions are never simple so let me explain why I am disappointed.

I read The Hazel Wood around one and a half years ago and I absolutely adored it. It's on my all-time favorites shelf. I absolutely adored it. But this book.... it just didn't meet my expectations.

I think the first issue with The Night Country is that it followed an amazing book. It's really hard to live up to a book as great as The Hazel Wood.

Another thing that took away from my enjoyment was Alice, the main character. For some reason, she annoyed me a lot more in this book than in the first one so either I have faulty memory or I was more patient when I read The Hazel Wood.

Also, whereas the first book had a rather urgent, dark, and mysterious tone, The Night Country had a very grim, almost depressing tone. At least, that's what I picked up. I could be totally off base.

But, of course, there were quite a few things I did love so let's end on a high note.

This book, in my opinion, was a hecka lot creepier than the first one. There were quite a few scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.

Also, I really loved the world-building that took place throughout the novel. If you thought that there was nothing else about this world to be explored, you'd wrong. This fascinating world was dived (doven? dove) into even more than in the first book.

There were also some pretty cool twists at the end!

Overall, on it's own this book was okay. The problem comes when I think about it's stupendous predecessor. Compared to which, it falls short.

Bottom Line:
3.5 stars
Age Rating - [ R ]
Content Screening (Mild Spoilers):
Educational Value (0/0)
Positive Messages (0/0)
Violence (5/5) - [Body horror, Stabs, Fights, Blood, Death]
Sex (1/5) - [Innuendos and brief sexual themes]
Language (4/5) - [F**k, sh*t, d*mn]
Drinking/Drugs (4/5) - [Medicinal and Recreational Drug use, Alcohol consumption]
Trigger and Content Warnings - Body horror, Gore, Darkness, Spiders & other bugs, Murder, Dismemberment
Publication Date: January 7th, 2020
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

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review to come

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OMG IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL

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edit: A COVER! WE HAVE A COVER THIS IS NOT A DRILLLL!!!
OMMMGGGG!!!! A TITLE!!! DFDHEDGAJNSIFNE


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