Plot:
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, by a figure who claims to come from the cruel supernatural world from her grandmother's stories.

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 . . .

Thoughts:
People were selling this too much. I get that it's one of a kind but the thing about unique books with a first of its kind plots is whether they live up to the premise they talk about. Sadly, I think that it felt short here.

There are good parts, of course. The introduction to the stories and the characters were splendid and it left me feeling wistful. It's a tragedy, and when you think it gets to a happier note, we are succumbed again to this bleakness.

For a story revovling around Fairy Tales, it's not that I'm disappointed that there wasn't a shred of innocence shown that would be easily associated to fairy tales, it's that it was too focused on the horrors of it. Does this show balance? I don't know. It felt a little hopeless and heavy.

A great world-building? I still can't tell. Unforgettable characters, yes. It's the plot lines I'm trying to make amends to. I still think it's a good read. It would be great for specific readers, I think.

Quotes:

"My love he wooed me. My love he slew me. My love he buried my bones. His love he married. His love I buried. My love now wanders alone."

Rating:
3.5 stars