This is probably even darker than the first book. I really like reworked fairy tales, and I think the characters in this series are more like the characters that the Brothers Grimm had in mind before they were told to rewrite them less scary (I still want to get my hands on the originals - they sound deliciously dark, like this book).

This is a great continuation of the first novel. It looks at how Alice and the other Hinterlanders settle in to life in New York, and Finch’s continuing adventures in The Hinterland. I can’t say much more than this without giving the story away, but needless to say, if you enjoyed the first book, you’ll love this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for my copy to read and honestly review!

This is a book I was waiting for. I devoured The Hazelwood. Melissa Albert's writing is so immersive, you forget that what you are reading hasn't actually happened. Being back with Alice and Ellery was incredible. Seeing them try and pick up their lives following the collapse of The Hinterland felt like the world trying to pick their lives back up in Avengers Endgame. The story built so gradually, with the sinister characters revealing themselves in such a satisfying way, that you didn't realize that their plot was already in motion.

I thought The Hazel Wood was original, dark, brilliantly created and fabulously written. And The Night Country is no different. Except everything is escalated and the stakes are even higher. I did find this novel less cohesive than the last and occasionally felt that magic was used to fill a plot hole or push the narrative forward conveniently. However, the prose is excellent and at times astonishing. I will definitely read any further Hinterland novels or anything else from this author.

First things first, and perhaps the most important if you're an avid reader and (like me) you tend to want to just dive into things. Can you read this book without (re)reading The Hazel Wood? In typical 'me' fashion I dove in, I would say it was 80% ok, but I had a fairly good memory of what happened in the book before. I think it's one of those stories where you can read it on its own, but it will be easier to get into if you have a working memory of the events of the previous book. I also think that reading The Hazel Wood is a worthwhile experience, so bookmark this review, go and read that and see what you think and then come back. 

Back?

Ok, The Night Country. I flip flop between preferring this book to book one and thinking the complete opposite. I think The Hazel Wood is the more cohesive book of the two, whereas this book tries to take on a number of different threads to differing levels of success. That being said, I think The Night Country captured my imagination in so many different ways that I enjoyed the composite parts of it more than I enjoyed The Hazel Wood as a whole. What I'm trying to say is that both of these books are good (and less good) for different reasons. 

Alice is a character to whom readers might relate, or they might find her a bit of a pain, she's a bit marmite. I came down on the side of 'this is a depiction of a character in a bad mental state and sometimes that makes a character feel unlikable' - more a me problem than a book problem. Essentially, Alice makes some self-destructive choices and while I know those are a part of storytelling they still hurt me whenever I read them. For the most part, it's clear why Alice is making those choices, but when it is less clear it's hard to feel sorry for her.

The prose in this book is absolutely beautiful. I know it won't be for everyone, but the way that Melissa Albert constructs imagery always manages to get me. She somehow captures every single one of my senses, I really get the sense of the world and settings these characters inhabit. In a book like this, where there are a whole variety of different locations, that distinction of place is incredibly important and Melissa Albert pulls it off. 

The plot may have been a little hard to follow at times, but that (as ever) could just mean I was a little scatterbrained while reading. I think I might have liked a little bit more cohesion between the disparate aspects of the plot, which could have made the tieing together of the ending a little more satisfying - perhaps this is a book to re-read for better comprehension?

Overall, I had a good time reading this book, much like The Hazel Wood the general impression I had while reading was one of wonder, Melissa Albert can craft a setting so incredibly well that I can forgive some other slips in execution. 

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a free digital copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Though I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Hazel Wood, I was curious enough to want to try the sequel. And though I liked The Night Country slightly more, I still had the exact same problems I had with the first book. Loved the concept, not so much the execution. I still like the dark, creepy, almost horror-esque tone and love the tales within the story, but I was left disappointed and sometimes confused with the main plot. Also, two books in and I’m still not sure if I like Alice or hate her.

Even though this series will never become one of my favorites, I’ll sure check out Tales from the Hinterland when it comes out as they are still the thing I enjoy the most from these books.

[ I received an arc on Netgalley in return for an honest review. ]

'The Night Country' is the second book in the Hazel wood series and follows the main character, Alice, as she tries to live a normal life, having escaped the horrors of the Hinterland. This, however, proves difficult- especially when her fellow survivors and friends start getting brutally murdered around her..
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I. ABSOLUTELY. LOVED. THIS. BOOK!!!
It was so thrilling and addictive that I just couldn't stop reading it! I wanted to know why these things were happening just as bad as Alice, I was confused with her, and I could feel her emotions in every word. It was everything I had wanted in the first book and more!

I loved the setting in New York and seeing these characters from the Hinterland in a modern day world. I thought it was such an interesting concept and I feel like it emphasised their identities as ex-stories even more than it did back in the Hinterland.

Whilst reading the book, you could definitely see that Melissa Albert's writing style had grown and evolved since The Hazel Wood and i loved how poetical this book ended up being. Even though the ending made me feel a little bittersweet, i still thought it was a perfect and fitting end to the story.

I can't wait for more people to read this book following the publication date! Would definitely recommend this series!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

The Night Country is more magical and darker than The Hazel Wood. I really liked the worlds author created and i wanted more. It was a really good portal book with a dark fairytales. I can't wait to read all the stories about Hinterland.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed this book more so then the first book, it took me a while and a couple of rereads to get into hazel wood but I finally got into and enjoyed it but this book I was into straight away which I am so glad about. This is a good second book to the hazel wood and I can’t wait to read more. I highly recommend the hazel wood and this book. I gave this book 4 stars.

This book is the second in the Hazel Wood series and takes readers back to the magical world of the Hinterland.
Unfortunately for me this book fell a bit flat. I enjoyed the first book, but wasn’t blown away by it, and this second instalment just didn’t hold my interest. By 20% in I was just not gripped or caught up in the premise of the story and struggled to read on. In honesty I ended up skimming through the rest. I believe younger readers or hardcore Hazelwood fans may enjoy this more than I. The writing was good and flowed well, but unfortunately it was just not for me.

Having struggled a little with the ending of the previous book, THE HAZEL WOOD, I went into this with some trepidation, which can't have helped. Still, I hoped that a second book would kindle my love for this series so many of my friends adore. However, I didn't.

If you like twisted fairytales that give our world an off-kilter feel, then this is a book for you. However, it was too off-kilter for me.

It felt very chaotic and scattered, slightly odd. I didn't care for the main character as she seemed so aimless, with no quality I recognised as any part of me. It meant there was nothing to latch onto and her relationship with her mother still felt strange - I wasn't sure if it was a friendship, a partnership of parental.

The new character Sophia was the first character introduced, then disappeared for a while. Next Ellery is referred to frequently, but I couldn't tell how she felt about him until she started getting messages from him - and suddenly felt obsessed. His POV chapters were a surprised, but I liked them as they provided a relief from Alice's story line.

Thank you to Netgalley, Melissa Albert and Penguin Random House for my arc of The Night Country in exchange for an honest review.

Beware of spoilers for The Hazel Wood.

Synopsis: Alice is back in the real world after her escape from The Hinterland in the nail biting events of The Hazel Wood. But despite appearances she's struggling to adjust to life on the outside. Part of that is because mostly everyone else from The Hinterland is now on the outside too, and they didn't have Alice's advantage of having grown up in this world. Alice does her best to keep her distance but when Hinterlander's start turning up dead, missing certain body parts, she feels duty bound to get involved, especially when she discovers the method of death.

I really enjoyed The Hazel Wood and I was far from disappointed with the sequel! The Night Country felt even more dark and edgily dangerous than The Hazel Wood. The idea of the 'stories' leaking out into 'our' world, most still with their powers, the danger and ominous threat that lurked around every corner. It was fantastic! I enjoyed it even more than the first one.

Following on from the events of The Hazel Wood, The Night Country follows Alice as she struggles to find her place in our world, now that she has been freed from her story. Before you read this book, I highly recommend reading the wonderful Hazel Wood if you have not already done so, as I think this book would not work without some background knowledge of the previous book. Once again the book is a blend of dark fairy tale fantasy and murder mystery in modern day New York City. Like many of the other survivors of the Hinterland and the Spinner, Alice is struggling to make a life for herself , living with her mother and trying to stay out of trouble, but not all of the escaped Hinterlanders feel the same way, especially those who cannot so easily pass for human . When someone begins hunting down and killing the survivors, Alice finds herself under suspicion .
This is a darkly layered fantasy, rich and dense in its plotting and prose and I enjoyed every page. I thought The Hazel Wood was one of the most original books I had ever read, and this is definitely a worthy sequel I also liked how Alice and Finch's relationship was brought into play, and how that aspect of the story developed over the course of the book.. I did struggle a little with the pacing of the book , I found the beginning a little slow but was willing to stick with it because of how much I enjoyed the previous book, and in then end I am happy I did.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own

I love love loved this book - just as much (maybe even more) than the first one!

Albert continues to develop the incredible world of the hinterland, the characters and their story’s become richer and even more fascinating, and she weaves beautifully written words with the essence of the fantasy story.
Absolutely, 100 percent would recommend this book. I just can’t wait until enough time has passed that I can read the two books all over again!

Okay so I read and loved the first one because of all the fairytale elements and I will say that this one is good but for me I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first.

The pacing of this one felt odd in places. I also missed the dark fairytale element that the first one had.
Overall the plot was intriguing and i did get drawn into Alices story and the Murders. I also still liked Finch. He’s adorable and a nerd which makes me love him even more.

The relationship felt a touch forced and I didn’t think it was needed.

Overall I did like this book but I have to say I probably won’t be rereading it again.

I should start by saying that I adored the first book “Hazel Wood” and I would strongly recommend reading that first, as, without the knowledge of that book and characters, you may find this at times confusing.

It’s a dark, fantasy mystery that moves at great pace and for those of us (like me) who loved the first book, there are sufficient links and characters to please. However, for me, this was lacking something and I did struggle with it at times.

Overall, a decent read and I’m very grateful to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

Plunged back into the world of The Hazel Wood, it was a real experience to follow Alice once she’s been saved from her story.
The characters who’ve escaped from the Hinterland are all marked in some way, and they can see when they look at each other some of these marks. It could, theoretically, be possible for these ex-stories to live on earth peacefully. Unfortunately, someone has other ideas.
In the opening chapter Alice talks about their changed circumstances when she refers to them being prey rather than predators. Their vulnerability is evident, and when ex-Hinterlanders start appearing with body parts missing it is evident that someone is trying to recreate their own story.
Alongside this focus on Alice and just who/what she is, we also get to see Finch travelling through worlds to try and salvage his own story.
The stories are interleaved and I was left guessing exactly how they’d link until quite late on. My sympathy for Alice definitely grew as the book progressed and I loved the ending.
Though I’ve pre-ordered my copy - and can’t wait to read it again - I’m grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

The night country, sequel of The hazel wood, is a perfect ending for this captivating, wonderful and thrilling story. It's a mix of fantasy, thriller, murder investigation, dark fairy tales and it's absolutely enthralling.
It starts a year after the events of the first book. Alice is free from her own story, away from the Hinterland, helped by Ellery Finch and saved by her own stubborness; at the end of the first book she found herself on Earth, after being disappeared two years. At the beginning of The night country, Alice is trying to live a normal life. She wants to live like an ordinary girl, studying, getting a diploma, working, living with Ella, her mother. But her escape from the Hinterland prompted other Stories to do the same and the Hinterland is dying, without its stories.
Alice is divided between two worlds in this book. Hinterlanders live in the city, people from Earth who choose to live in the Hinterland and came back, all of them meet regularly to try to adjust to their new life. But the presence of Dafne, an agitator, an ex Story, forced Alice to choose between her two worlds. And she chooses her mother's.
A series of Hinterlanders murders, killed with ice, pushed the others to suspect Alice and mysterious letters from a person she thought she lost forever turned her life upside down another time.
This book has two POVs, Alice's and Ellery's and they narrated the story from two different timelines and worlds. Alice, on Earth, investigates the murders, trying to unsmear her own name.
Ellery Finch was in the Hinterland and saw the world dying, his decision of breaking free Alice having created an avalanche of Stories running away. When a mysterious traveler, Iolanthe, offered him a way out and the choice to travel through other worlds, he accepted.
The Night Country story, told separately by Ella to Alice and Iolanthe to Ellery is from a children's picture book, a real story and world that connected Alice and Ellery, during the book.
During all the book Alice's and Ellery's stories run on different tracks, parallel ones, connecting each other only through magical letters and coincidences, bewteen worlds and times. Like The Hazel wood, The Night country contains fairy tales, creepy ones, like Ilsa's story, Alice's best friend called Sophia on Earth and like The night country, stories full of blood and sacrifices and, like the first book, Alice found herself in a world where there's no difference between fantasy and reality. And the stories, and Stories, have teeth.
It's an wonderfully complex book, like a peculiar mosaic, where things are seen from two point of views until you can get the whole image. It's formed by tracks, parallel ones, worlds, deaths, blood and stories. It's the ideal conclusion for this story.
Both the main characters are grown, are changed. Alice is more adult, more aware of the world around her and the Hinterland and, as before, she's driven by her love for Ella, choosing to be away to protect her. Her relationship with Finch is a peculiar one and more present this time. Ellery's letters find her and from different times and worlds they miss each other, they want to get back and give each other another chance, to have more time to be together.
Ellery's need and want to travel prompted him to live in the Hinterland, to trust a stranger, to find a library full of doors for another world, to become something else, risking everything to save his own world.
I love how everything connected, how the ending wasn't a sad or an happy one, but an hopeful ending/beginning.
Amazing, brilliant. This book is another ode to stories, reading and traveling. Like Alice's and Ellery's journey, it is almost a push to search, to discover, a celebration of fantasy, imagination and love.


“I want to hold your hand. I wonder if I'd be brave enough to say this to your face.”
[...]I want to write to you again, but what I want even more is to watch your face when you look up from a book one day and see mine. One day soon. I'm gonna be so shy when I see you again. It's just, by now, I've said as much to you in letters than I did in life. Be patient with me, okay? When I see you and my tongue tangles up. Be patient. I'll see you after the Night Country.”


“Stay. Stay where you are. Let me find you.” […] I want to find you. I want to walk between worlds with you. I wouldn't mess it up this time, I wouldn't hide inside my own head. I wouldn't let you hide inside yours.”


We’re something formidable now. I’m an ex- Story, the girl who got away. He’s a Spin-ner who survived the rise and fall of his world. We’re both survivors, the two of us. We’re wanderers. We could make a home in any world.

The Night Country is the perfect conclusion of The hazel wood saga and this world, these worlds, will stay with me with their characters for a long time.

I was utterly beguiled by the dark, unpredictable tangles of The Hazel Wood and so was eager to see what the sequel brought us and although The Night Country isn't quite as dazzlingly original as The Hazel Wood (and as a sequel it would be difficult to be) it didn't disappoint, continuing Alice and Ellery's stories whilst introducing the spinner's own tale.

Two years after the events of The Hazel Wood, Alice is back in New York, graduating High School living with her mother, whilst Ellery has stayed behind in the Hinterland. New York is full of Hinterlanders, unable to return home even if they wish to, cut adrift from their tales and able to make their own fates. But not all want to, or are able to, too wild and feral for New York and human kind. Alice has chosen not to associate with them, aware they disapprove of her attempts to pass as human, until news of gruesome hinterland deaths reach her, along with the sensation she's being watched. Terrified of bringing evil to her mother's life again Alice flees, only to find herself under suspicion from her fellow stories.

Meanwhile Ellery has been a tourist in the Hinterland until he gets a chance to do what he's always dreamed of, travel through other worlds. But his actions in the Hinterland have consequences, consequences that are spilling through into New York.

The Night Country is as dark and deep as the Hazel Wood, highly descriptive (sometimes a little over so) and mesmerising. I've seen a lot of negativity over Alice's character, but I love the fact that she's true to herself and her story and I don't believe protagonists have to always be likeable anyway! I hope this isn't our last visit to the Hazel Wood. If you liked The Hazel Wood, you are going to enjoy The Night Country.

** spoiler alert ** I think I might have enjoyed this more had I reread the first book... so much of it was confusing as I tried to remember what and where and who of the first book.
It's still clever,and magical and a lot darker I think than the first book... and has you rooting for Finch and Alice all over again.
Fast paced,entertaining and creepy,but for me,not the winner the first book was.