This one was good but like with the first, it had one half of the book that shined brighter than the other. I will recommend that we purchase it.

The Night Country did not disappoint! Alice finds herself living in NY with her mother, finding a job in a book store, and missing Finch, but not Hinterland, until...
What is a Night Country, you may ask? “A world built on carnage and sacrifice, made to order”
Highly recommend! Must read The Hazel Wood first!! PG13 rating for language
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!!

The Night Country is a satisfying conclusion to Albert’s The Hazelwood. Readers get to discover new worlds and revisit the same world that captivated in the first text. The Hinterland may be dissolving, but the Hinterlanders are finding new ways to adjust or not in The Night Country. Readers get to follow Alice, Ella, and yes, Ellery Finch, along with some old favorites from Book 1 (Janet and Ingrid) through New York and the Hinterland for one last spell-binding, Spinner-weaving moment of life, love, and humanity.

4.5 Stars

Following up the perfection of the first book would seem near impossible, but Melissa Albert delivers a dark and magical stunner yet again. Hinterland is the type of magic that the world deserves and it delivers as the magical cast-offs infiltrate and our favorite characters struggle to stay ahead of all the twists.

The plot of this sequel is still fluid and twisty and travels in unexpected directions but there were times I was completely clueless about the goings-on. The Hinterland is mysterious and hard to pin down but all the vagueness felt super vague to me, mostly in the middle of the story. I put the book down for a bit and finished it later. The last fifty pages pulled me back into the story and the ending was perfect for me.

Fans of The Hazel Wood and it’s strange darkness will delight in this book as well. I liked Alice better as a character in this one and loved Finch even more. Albert is an interesting writer and I will read whatever she writes next especially if the book cover gods are as generous to her. This book is gorgeous.

Incredibly satisfy sequel. As unnerving and creepy as the first ... Could not put down.. Can't wait for book 2.5 and I hope there's a third because there was definitely some characters I'd like to see more of!

The sequel to The Hazel Wood didn't disappoint! I liked it a little bit better actually. The lush, descriptive writing created an awesome dark tale. Couldn't put this one down and was bummed when I completed it. Definitely will be rereading this one and buying a copy to add to my bookshelf. A gem of a book!!!!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC of The Night Country that I was given in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was so incredibly excited to get the ARC of this book. I was in love with The Hazel Wood and have been counting down to the release of book 2. I absolutely couldn’t wait to see what would happen next in the lives of Ellery and Alice.

I am relieved to report that book two did not disappoint. The use of fairytale to build a new storyline was even more richly developed. The tension between Alice and her mother, Ella, was even more complicated and explored in more depth. It was honestly just more of everything good in book one. I cannot praise this book highly enough. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Flatiron books for the opportunity to read and review The Night Country.
I was amazed that The Night Country was just as unique a gem as The Hazel Wood. It is hard to write a second book that is equal to or better than the first in a series, but The Night Country is a dark gem. Alice is back in the real world attempting to adjust into a "normal life", but finds that nothing can truly escape magic. A beautiful fantasy novel that makes you fall in love with fairytales all over again.
#TheNightCountry

I'm not sure I've ever been as fond of a world as I am Albert's. What would read as a sort of magical realism is twisted and made sinister with a fairytale lens, and I can't get enough of it.

I enjoyed The Hazel Wood, along with many of my high school readers. I was excited to see this title available on NetGalley. I felt like the book moved pretty quickly and expanded well on the characters and storylines in The Hazel Wood. Nice combination of real-world/fantasy. A lot of my students loved Finch's character and they will not be disappointed with this sequel.

Fans of The Hazel Wood will not be disappointed by the sequel. Alice is graduating high school and has every intention of living a normal life, however, her Hinterland past does not make that easy. There have been murders which are working ever closer to Alice herself. Then it seems like the Hinterland blinks out entirely, leaving all of the former stories searching for answers. Answers come to Alice in the form of letters from Finch that find her mysteriously wherever she is. Finch is living his own dark adventure as the Hinterland dies and he escapes to new worlds. Many questions are answered in this volume, which does feel final for the characters. The writing is not as lyric and beautiful, but the plot is fast and the action is dark. Several new stories are introduced, which will make readers eager for the forthcoming Tales From the Hinterland collection. A must for all fans of the original.

I absolutely loved the story. My only wish is that I had re-read The Hazel Wood beforehand as I had forgotten a lot of the details of the story. However, The Night County picks up momentum so quickly that you can recall enough to not feel as if you’ve missed anything without a ton of annoying flash back sequences. There isn’t any wasted space in this book. Nothing drags on. I really hope Melissa Albert writes another book in this series, but the ending left me satisfied with the storyline. I’d highly recommend this book if you like gritty fairy tales and imagined worlds.

Albert's world of unforgiving fairy tales swells to the perfect crescendo in this sequel to The Hazel Wood. Alice, an ex-Story, is trying her best to re-assimilate to a world that no longer feels familiar, while Ellery Finch is off exploring lands unknown. Alice may have left the Hinterlands behind, but the Hinterlands isn't done with her, and as other ex-Stories are picked off one by one, Alice will have to find the end of her tale, come ice, feather, or bone. The Night Country is a star-spun world of horror and wonder you'll want to live in forever.

Melissa Albert has written a great sequel. I was excited to read the Night Country and it’s everything I hoped and more.

Melissa Albert's sequel drops us right back in her meticulously crafted, raw, scary world. Despite Alice's best efforts to try to live like a normal girl after Finch's heroics sealed her outside the Hazel Wood, she finds herself drawn into the land's warped band of refugees. When she is blamed for a string of gruesome murders, she is forced to prove that she is no longer the monster she was in her old fairy tale. Top notch!

Melissa Albert continues to be the queen of fairy tales as she spins another unbelievable one. The Night Country didn't sweep me up quite like the Hazel Wood did but it felt great returning to Alice and Ellery Finch. Melissa Albert's writing feels like coming back home and I'd devour anything she wrote.

I think having reread The Hazelwood before reading the Night Country would have helped me put the pieces together a little quicker in this one. The characterization and setting continue to be Albert's strong suit, however, the side plot with Ellery didn't feel as developed as the rest of her work throughout the Hazel Wood and the Night Country. I just couldn't see where it fit into the bigger narrative nor did it give me the feeling that the rest of the plot gave me.

Overall, the Night Country sweeps you up into the world of fairy tales where nothing is what it seems.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Flatiron Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

I was so excited to see this book up for review on NetGalley and started reading it immediately. For anyone who was concerned about opening things up again after the relatively perfect end of the first book, don't worry. "The Night Country" serves as coda and sequel, as well as leaving the door open for future stories.

"The Night Country" follows from the ending of "The Hazelwood". Alice has been living in New York City with Ella, trying to build a life as a normal teenager, despite still having connections to the world of the Hinterland (most notably through her sharp edged best friend Sophia). As the story goes on she is slowly drawn back into the world of stories. Finch, meanwhile, has been living in and exploring the Hinterland. He has friends there, and he doesn't really have many regrets, until the day that his actions in "The Hazelwood" start to unravel the rest of the Hinterland piece by piece.

I won't say much more about the story or characters just because I think the book is best experienced without knowing too much. This is a wonderful expansion of the world and characters from "The Hazelwood", and like that book it is full of bits and pieces of stories. The tales of the Hinterland are as much horror as fairy tales (not that there's always a difference), and they are no different here. There are a lot of things here that we don't get clear answers for, but this actually adds to the overall atmosphere, filling the book with the jagged edged pieces of stories cutting across Alice and Finch's personal quests. I was uncertain what to expect from a sequel to "The Hazelwood", but I adored this book and I hope that in the future we get more of Melissa Albert's dark and dangerous take on fairy tales.

I really liked the first book so i was very excited about the sequel. I really enjoyed this book and I was very entertained throughout. I will be recommending this series to my library patrons and my friends. Great book!

This book was received as an ARC from Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a fan of fairy tale books and traveling throughout each story just like the Book Jumper, Inkheart, and Jumanji and this book definitely fit in as well. A lot of our patron did love The Hazel Wood and enjoyed every page and I know they will not be disappointed with The Night Country. This book was filled with action, drama, conflict and excitement that will leave you at the edge of your seat and wanting to jump into the book and take the journey with Finch and Alice in searching for a way back home. Our teen book club will love this book and will read it in one sitting cover to cover.

We will consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.