Monday, September 11, 2017

Book Review: THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert

The Hazel WoodThe Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


With the extensive pre-publication marketing for this title (which is due to release January 2018), my expectations were high.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert grabbed me from page one and kept me coming back for more. I absolutely loved the first half of the book and found myself thinking about the story when I wasn’t reading it. I craved it, wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Things slowed down at the halfway point, and I found myself tiring of all the similes and metaphors. As I became hyperaware of every time the word “like” was used, I also started to notice every time the word “felt” was used. According to my Kindle, the word “like” was used over 500 times in the book. (The Kindle stopped counting at 500.) Granted, some of those “likes” were in dialogue, but most were similes. The word “felt” was used 120 times in the story.

Additionally, some of the metaphors seemed quite mixed to me, and I didn’t understand them. For example, “I felt stunned and flayed, a nerve ending exposed to cold sun.” (location 1299 in Kindle)

There were also descriptions I absolutely loved. Here are a few of my favorites:

“His tie was a loud yellow, his suit an exhausted brown.” (location 1307 in Kindle)

“A boy whose eyes were the alert, shiny color of sunlight through Coke …” (location 1086 in Kindle)

“A the moment she let go her last breath, the white light shuddered and went green. The green of infected wounds, of nightmares, of the rind of mold that crawled over week-old bread.” (location 1836 in Kindle)

“… a gray sky pressed against winter-crisped grass.” (location 2565 in Kindle)

The Hazel Wood is an adventure-filled story with constant unanswered story questions that will keep readers turning the pages to discover how the story will end.

I look forward to Melissa Albert’s next book.

{I received an advance reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley, which in no way influenced by review of the book.}


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