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The Hazel Wood

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The Hazel Wood

By: Melissa Albert
Narrated by: Rebecca Soler
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, read by Rebecca Soler.

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the strange bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate - the Hazel Wood - Alice learns how bad her luck can really get. Her mother is stolen away - by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: STAY AWAY FROM THE HAZEL WOOD.

To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began . . .

Action & Adventure Literature & Fiction Mystery & Suspense Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Science Fiction & Fantasy Thrillers & Suspense Fantasy Fiction Paranormal

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Critic reviews

MAGICAL, MESMERISING AND INVENTIVE. (Karen McManus, bestselling author of One of Us is Lying)
The Hazel Wood kept me up all night. I had every light burning and the covers pulled tight around me as I fell completely into the dark and beautiful world within its pages. Terrifying, magical, and surprisingly funny, it's one of the very best books I've read in years. (Jennifer Niven)
Thoroughly, creepily captivating, with surprises I never saw coming! Such a refreshing and beautifully written inversion of the classic fairytale-inspired story. (Kristin Cashore, award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Graceling Realm series)
This book will be your next obsession. Welcome to the Hazel Wood, where bad luck is a living thing, princesses are doomed, and every page contains a wondrously terrible adventure - it's not safe inside these pages, but once you enter, you may never want to leave. (Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of CARAVAL)
A WINDING, CREEPY, INSIDIOUSLY DELICIOUS NOVEL. UTTERLY SPECTACULAR (Melinda Salisbury, bestselling author of The Sin Eater’s Daughter)
THIS BOOK NEEDS A WARNING LABEL. CAUTION: SINGLE-SITTING READ. Once you start, you cannot stop. (Alana, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars))
If you like DARKNESS and MURDER, strong family ties and light romance, you should probably get ready for this book to mess you up in the best way possible. (Gaby, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars))
IMAGINE BEING ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO READ HARRY POTTER . . . That's how it feels to read The Hazel Wood in manuscript form.It's Inception + The Magicians + Alice in Wonderland + Night Film, plus humor and warmth and heart. (Eb, Goodreads Reviewer (5 stars))
With dark fairy tale elements woven into a thrilling story, The Hazel Wood had me under its spell from beginning to end. Magic crackled on every page. (Kate Ormand, author of The Wanderers)
A beautiful, terrifying, astonishing and strange story that reads as though Angela Carter has been sucked into a Grimm fairy tale, this book is a wise and wonderful read for fairy tale fans. (Robin Stevens, author of the Murder Most Unladylike series)
All stars
Most relevant
I think I completely lost the plot trying to follow this fairytale within a fairytale. A modern day version of a Brothers Grimm-style folklore, the story follows Alice, who is trying to find her missing mother, and discovers that all is not what it seems.

The main thrust of the novel asks whether Alice is a character in a tale herself? And if she can escape her fate by running away from her story. And while I can appreciate the author's creativity, there's very little character development and there appears to be a fair few loose ends. The prose is heavy in metaphors to the point that the first half seemed far too long.

While many have described the book as a dark and creepy fantasy, I think it may have been a little overhyped - it's more of a weird version of Alice in Wonderland. Interesting, but not for me.

A little too over the top

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I loved this book so much. The narration of it was spectacular for the creepiness of the book while also portraying the magical elements as whimsical and flowing. I loved the book in general so so much. U need to read it or listen to it.

Loved It

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Really enjoyed this modern day fairy tale! I see there is another one so looking forward to that one next.

Loved this

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