The Hazel Wood

'The Hazel Wood' is a young adult fairytale-based fantasy of the dark and twisted kind. These are the sort of fairytales which are filled with monsters, that revolve around blood and bone and Death with a capital D.

Alice and her mother, Ella, are constantly on the run from bad luck. Stick around in one place too long and bad things happen. Weird things. Brothers Grimm style fairytale things.

Alice's grandmother was the author of a cult book of fairytales that are suspiciously hard to get hold of and which have a decidedly freaky and obsessed bunch of fans. When she dies alone on her estate known as the Hazel Wood, Ella says they're free at last, but they're about to discover just how bad their luck can get.

I really enjoyed this. I think there are some interesting ideas and I liked the fact that our heroine was more of an anti-heroine. Truthfully, there are times when she isn't really all that nice and when you discover her backstory that makes complete sense.

I did think it ended rather abruptly. I have since discovered that there's a second book which might explain matters. But that slight issue with the pacing at the end would be my one major quibble.

A useful escape from the world's current madness, The Hazel Wood is a Hinterland full of malevolent fairy tale characters designed to entertain young adults.

amazing good for fans of horror and thriller

This book got a little bit boring when I was reading it. However , I think that it was quite an interesting tale that could become a good book.