The Night Country, Melissa Albert | Book Review

I didn’t know about the second book in The Hazel Wood series until quite recently, at which point I was very excited to pick up a copy and see where this story went as I thought the first was a stand-alone.

The Night Country, Melissa Albert

Themes: Fantasy, Young Adult

Reading Format: Paperback

2 STARS

Thank you to Penguin for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

The Hazel Wood was an exciting book that posed the idea of a new world based on fairytales, it felt unique, different and magical. I rated this book four stars, so you can imagine I was excited for the sequel, The Night Country. But I was also surprised because I thought The Hazel Wood was a stand-alone book and unfortunately my mindset now is that maybe it should have been.

This plot felt so disjointed and all over the place, I felt like I’d picked up the third book in a series without reading the second. The thing I liked about the first book was the magic and the Alice in Wonderland vibes, which is managed to achieve really successfully. But the sequel made these writing techniques look too all over the place and more something perhaps suited to poetry. I no longer felt invested in the characters or the plot and could barely follow what was going on. When you lose the care for your characters, it doesn’t make you very interested to read on.

I can see Melissa Albert’s writing style was still superb and beautiful, which is what I love about her. But for me, the plot on this one just didn’t hold up sadly and I didn’t find myself liking any of the characters.