This book is like a cup of dark roast coffee.

The Night Country was a memorizing book. I was unable to put it down and I was truly so involved with the plot that I was gasping almost every page. If you enjoyed The Hazel Wood, I truly believe you will like this companion/installment. It has such a dark fairy tale vibe to it that throws you into the world where nothing is truly what it seems.

I went in with some pretty low expectations, I had been seeing some mixed reviews around the place and that always makes me a tad cautious. This book blew those low expectations right out of the park. I was so shocked by the writing, the mystical style and the fact that this was actually an urban fantasy. I was expecting a high fantasy, but nope. I absolutely love urban fantasies too, so this made me happy beyond words.

Actually, my favorite thing was just the fairy tales. I absolutely loved the writing style of the few that were included. They left me itching for more and re-reading the pages to try and find hidden messages that would be added to the plot.

Overall, I loved The Night Country. It was such an interesting read that brought out the darkness involved in fairy tales and really highlighted it.

I have so many things to say. But I'll post my review as pub date gets closer. Thank you so much for the advanced E-copy of this amazing sequel.

First I want to say a huge Thank You to NetGalley and Flatiron for this opportunity! I loved Hazel Wood and when I saw that I was approved for an ARC for this I was so excited! I couldn't wait to dive in. I really enjoy the darkness and depth this tale has. I think that is what draws me to these books. It's not like something you read every day and it just draws you in. I love Melissa Albert's creativity with these stories. I will keep picking up her books as they are really enjoyable!

The Night Country tackles this issue of ex-stories making their way in Alice's world. It's a process full of grief, confusion, and growing pains. It encompasses our feelings of not fitting in, with our sharp edges and ghosts of power. How can they figure out a way to press themselves into the world? To soften their edges? Because at these moments, we have to decide if we are going to transform into something new entirely, or change the world.

After the revelations of The Hazel Wood, who is Alice now? Not even Alice knows how she is supposed to fit back in to life in New York City, not to mention with all these other ex-stories. Is she a monster? A mouse? Or something in between? How can Alice reconcile who she used to be in New York City before the Hinterland and this new Alice? The Night Country starts with Alice's introspection, which made it more difficult to get back into because there was a sense of listlessness. But it seems to mirror Alice's own confusion and inner state, struggling with her relationship with her mother, Alice is lost.

I love this spellbinding sequel to The Hazel Wood! I enjoyed this follow up a bit more than the first book, mainly because there was more original dark fairytales in this one. I’m a big fan of the darker, bloodier fairytales so this one was a hit with me. The plot did lag a bit in places but overall it was a book I will enjoy reading again and again.

Delightfully ominous, the prose creeps up on you until you aren't sure whether to be proud of Alice or scared for her. There is no build-up in this book. It is gory and dark, and the action begins right away. You can imagine all of the violence without effort, and it is gorily realistic in tone.
After The Hinterland becomes unbound, the ex-Stories are now refugees in New York. They range from weird and creepy to sociopaths. They don't know what to do with themselves. The kids are more on the odd side, and I am all in for fairy tale weirdness. It isn't a good time to be Alice at all, she doesn't have any real friends in this world, and she's being held responsible for everything that is coming apart. I can't wait to see where the next book brings them all.
I'd put this book at 14 and up- and this story won't be for everyone.
You'll need to have read and enjoyed The Hazel Wood before you pick up this treasure. I began reading this book and had to put it down until I had a chance to breeze through The Hazel Wood for a refresher on where we left off. It's not a stand-alone in any way. If you like Grimm's fairy tales and want a modern take on a dark gothic world- I will encourage you to jump right in.

When I began the first installment of this series, I wasn’t sure it was for me. Within pages, I was hooked. I could not wait to devour this continuation of the incredibly complex, beautiful yet dark and deadly world created by Albert. Within her first two novels, this author has produced something much more epic than any mere fairy tale. Melissa Albert has made her mark, and I am anxious to read more of her enthralling work.

A good follow up to the original story. A few pacing issues, but otherwise a great story that kept me engaged. Be sure to read the first book before jumping into this one.

I loved The Hazel Wood and was excited to get my hands on The Night Country. While this novel had Albert's gorgeous prose and excellent atmosphere and interesting characters, I thought it had a very different feel from the first book.

Where the first was more about discovery (who she was, where she came from, etc etc) and had more of a fairy-tale feel, this book was more of a mystery (who was killing all the Hinterlanders and why were they taking body parts) and a gritty, urban feel. This book was definitely darker than the first (in a good way). It started off a little slow and felt more like a character piece than the adventure that the first book was.

I love her twist on the darker side of fairy tales. I DO wish we would have seen a little more of Finch in this book, and I wish that there was more interaction between him and Alice so that I could figure out WHAT they were to each other.

While The Hazel Wood remains my favorite of the two, The Night Country tied up some loose ends from The Hazel Wood and gave us a new (gory and dark) gothic tale. I look forward to seeing what the author has next.

Alice Proserpine has escaped the fairy tale world, the Hinterland, where she was created. Now, she lives in New York with her mother and other escapees. Now, though, something is killing ex-Stories and taking their body parts. Worse, all evidence points to Alice. Desperate to find out what is happening, Alice decides to investigate, and finds that the deaths may serve a larger purpose. Meanwhile, Ellery Finch slips out of the fading Hinterland into worlds he’d only dreamed of all while hoping to find a way back home.
I highly enjoyed this book and tore through it with great enthusiasm. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more than The Hazel Wood. It moves quickly and dives right into the action. I liked Alice trying to first navigate the two worlds by being with the others from the Hinterland and our world, and then rejecting the her Hinterland heritage and past. Of course, that would never work and the Hinterland comes to her with a vengeance.

I liked the new characters, especially Sophia. I loved her back story and wish we could have gotten more of her. Daphne was another interesting character, but she was quite scary. I especially liked all the children characters, because they were creepy, like all good fairy tale children should be. The Trio was amazing.

I do feel it was a little rushed, even at it’s length. I would have liked to see more of Finch’s journey and get more of him. There’s something he does that’s really interesting, but I wish there had been more of it. There wasn’t enough. I also would have liked to see more of Alice’s life before it all started falling apart. It would have helped to see more of her normalcy. Or, maybe she never really had any.

Despite all that, I really did enjoy the book. I thought it was a strong follow up to The Hazel Wood.

Yay for the Hinterland - Melissa Albert does not disappoint in this follow up to The Hazel Wood! Alice, Ellery, and the Hinterland once again leap from the page under Albert's careful supervision. She's deftly talented at her craft, creating unusual and beautiful prose (with plenty of bite) as she once more weaves sentences designed to enchant and ensnare you, completely submerging you within the borders of her vision.

Beware: beautiful smiles hold pretty sharp teeth in her realm - so be prepared for plenty of atmospheric lusciousness infused with a rich dark cadence and a bold dollop of grit on top:

This time the "ex-stories" are less fairy tale princesses and princes and more like their fictional Fae counterparts: slightly sociopathic. There's a mystery with a killer on the loose knocking off the ex-stories in NYC (where they've come after the Hinterland became unbound and destroyed itself), and it appears they are framing Alice as the doer of these evil deeds. Meanwhile Ellery is world-skipping and realizing maybe its not all its cracked up to be and begins to fight for a way back to Alice. Add to that some mysteries of this strange universe being revealed and others just hinted at, AND an epic showdown with one deeply disturbed villain and you're in for a perfect ride only Albert could create. Cannot wait to see where she takes this series....

Blends a little bit of Urban Fantasy with Fairy Tale Fantasy, perfect for fans of Holly Black.or YA and adult readers looking for an elevated writing style and sophisticated dark fairy tale.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC of this book!

I couldn't remember the first book so I reread it before reading this one. I'm glad I did because it answered some of my problems with the first. Her mother stole a magical girl created in a story and never told the girl growing up. The mother knew that the girl was being chased but never told her who she really is. For an angry girl, Alice was never angry at her for doing this to her.

In this book, Alice is really starting to think about having left Hinterland must not mean she's normal. And can never be normal. She's being pulled in two places with the rest of the ex-stories and her mother. Then someone starts murdering the ex-stories and cutting off body parts. Alice has to find out what it all means.

Alice can't catch a break. People speak in riddles around her. Her mother demands her to forget who she really is. Her only friend is mean. The only person she truly wants is traveling different worlds.

It's a good book but there were times when I was emotionally exhausted.

This series is really interesting. The idea of creating your own fairy tales and using them together as the basis for a larger story is fairly epic. This author has an incredible imagination. This is the second installment in the series and I hope she keeps going. The story continues with the main characters from the first book. It's hard to describe this, both because it is so original and because it will lead to spoilers. Read this, but read the other one first, especially if you enjoy fairy tales. This is not a retelling. It is its own unique thing.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I read the Hazel wood and have been looking forward to reading the next book in this series. It didn’t disappoint. It is full of adventure and mystery as Alice learns more about herself and her story. She is haunted by her past, but she not only has to face it. She has to defeat it before everything she knows and loves is destroyed.

Series Info/Source: 2nd (and final) book in the Hazel Wood series. Received eGalley from NetGalley.

Characters (3/5): I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters. Alice is trying to live in the real world now, but her magical personality from the Hinterland keeps rearing its ugly head. I didn’t really enjoy Alice, she came off as very confused and fairly passive. Meanwhile Finch is off in the Hinterland. As the Hinterland collapses, he ends up journeying to other worlds. Finch comes across as fairly selfish, his need to explore overrides all other needs.

Story (3/5): The story was okay but felt kind of disorganized and disjointed. At times it’s a bit hard to understand what’s going on here. Basically there are a few mysteries that are being combined. Hinterlanders are being found murdered and the Hinterland itself is starting to disappear. The story goes back and forth between Alice and Finch; Alice gets involved in the mystery of the murdered Hinterlanders, while Finch is drawn into the disappearance of the Hinterland. This book does seem to wrap up the story pretty well, so I doubt we’ll see more books set in this world.

Setting (4/5): While Alice’s portion of the story takes place in the relatively boring modern world, Finch’s story was much more intriguing. I enjoyed the setting changes as Finch travels from world to world.

Writing Style (4/5): Although Albert’s writing style can be a bit ambiguous and hard to follow at times, she does a beautiful job with imagery. Her writing always comes across as very poetic. The whole story has a darkly beautiful tone to it that I really enjoyed.

Summary (3.5/5): Overall I had mixed feelings about this book (I felt similar about The Hazel Wood). Some things about Albert’s writing style are very unique and beautiful and her stories are very creative. Unfortunately, I also felt the story was a bit hard to follow and disorganized. I also never really engaged well with the characters. I probably won’t read any more of Albert’s books in the future.

It’s baffling to me that Melissa Albert’s outstanding The Hazel Wood didn’t garner more attention. I’m sure I’ll be baffled again if The Night Country also hums a bit under the radar upon its release.

Albert’s writing is exceptionally transporting, at once wispy and weighty. I’m also hard pressed to come up with anyone who does fantasy atmosphere better. Albert’s dark, dreamy OtherWorlds and her gritty, disarming New York are equally well-drawn and captivating, and Alice—already a fascinating heroine—becomes even more so in the second installment of the series.

The story in The Night Country is one of a slightly different flavor that of The Hazel Wood, yet they seem to fit together seamlessly to flesh out the tale of Alice and Ellery, of Ex-stories good and evil, of New York and that mysterious beyond that Albert so beautifully crafts into something filled with both sweet promise and bone-chilling menace.

Can’t wait for more.

** 4.5 stars **

There are sequels that fall short of the first book; that make you wish that you hadn't continue to follow along with the series, left you with mediocre feelings or wondering why you bothered to read the book in the first place because it was more of a place holder than anything. Well folks, I believe this book is NOT one of those. I actually think it may be better than the first. It gets into the darker aspect of the fairy tales that the first book was lacking.

The growth and complexity of Alice's as she interactions with this darker world really shows that teen angst vibe. She is an awkward teen girl who doesn't know her feelings about herself, the world, or others. The are moments when her self-esteem really pushes her difficult situations and she shines through it. But there are still those other times that as a reader, I forget and want to yell "Ugh, why?!?"

I am a little sad that there isn't as much about everyone's favorite, Finch in this book. He played such a minor role in the last book, but seemed to impact her so much. I had hoped he would play a more significant part. I won't run it for you. I'll let you decide.

Overall, it is a great addition to the series. I hope we more of Finch in the future.

***I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. ***

At the end of The Hazel Wood, Alice Crewe had escaped the bonds of her story, sacrificed much, and was able to look at a brave new future for herself. Melissa Albert’s follow up, The Night Country, shows us what happens in the fallout. When Alice broke out of her story, the rest of the world of Stories started to unravel. Now, the Hinterland is gone and the ex-Stories are now refugees in New York. Most of them are not happy about this. Without their stories to guide them, what do they all do with themselves now?

Alice is, understandably, in a bit of a funk at the beginning of The Night Country. While she has a job and a home with her mother, Alice misses Ellery Finch and the magic of life in the Hinterland. I think she might have eventually gotten out of this funk if it hadn’t been for the sinister Daphne and the murders. Daphne, an ex-Story, warns Alice away from her informal Hinterland support group. Then, months later, Daphne tells Alice that someone is killing ex-Stories with ice. Alice used to be known as Alice-Three-Times, who killed her murderous husband with a frozen kiss. Who else could the murderer be?

While Alice tries to clear her name and figure out who is hunting the Hinterland refugees, a clearly-not-dead Ellery Finch is trying to find his way back to Alice through a series of other worlds. I was enchanted by the places that Ellery visits; I really wanted to know more about the stories he brushes against. Albert has an astonishing and beautiful imagination and I just wanted more of it. But I understand that The Night Country had other things it had to accomplish other than being a tour of worlds and stories. (That said, I need more of these worlds, please, Ms. Albert!)

Once all of the plots get traction—Alice wrestling with a serial murderer and her own conflicted nature, Ellery trying to get home, who the hell is Daphne and what does he want—The Night Country starts to race. I couldn’t put the book down for the last third or so because of all the harrowing twists and turns. This is a fantastic sequel to The Hazel Wood. I would absolutely recommend this book to fans of The Chronicles of Narnia, the Wayward Children series, and other books in which characters tumble into a new, dangerous world and have to decide where (and who) home is.

No need to talk about the elephant in the room. It is so obvious that I didn’t enjoy the first book and I didn’t foresee my request would be accepted but one morning I checked my library and here we go I got this sequel and I firstly admit, WHAT AN ARTISTIC, AMAZING COVER reflects book’s darkness approach to the fairytales.

And you know what! I surprisingly enjoyed this one more. I still went back and forth between 3 and 4 stars but 3.5 rounded up again to 4. And another interesting fact during my read: I honestly wanted this book a little bit longer. Of course instead of getting lost at the horrifying labyrinth of Hazel Wood, focusing on dark fairytales was great move of the author.

CONS
I still have problems about Alice’s complex, unbalanced, weird character development and her indecisive relationship with Finch. (Actually at this book their relationship named to something but I don’t know if I like this definition or hate it.)

PROS
The author’s remarkable evil genius capacity to see the dark side of the stories and twist the entire fairy tales we’d been told when were children, are fantastic and too much creepy way of unique story-telling.

OVERALL
This is not my favorite series. I still have trouble for the direction of the story and progression of the characters’ stories. But I enjoyed the writing and the author’s creativity and braveness to bring out more darkness and wilder elements into equation and form a satisfying retelling of well-known fairy tales universe. And of course this book is sooo sooo and sooo much better than the first one. So this half cup of my Chardonnay and I know the author has full capacity pour more wine to my cup to fill it completely.

Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books to share this surprisingly dark and interesting ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review.

Alice's nightmares continue in The Night Country, the Once Upon a Time meets Doctor Sleep meets The Magician's Nephew sequel to The Hazel Wood. While The Hazel Wood was a gothic fairytale, The Night Country is a macabre thriller. A tale within a tale, like The Hazel Wood, The Night Country picks up its pace in the second half, but is even more mesmerizing and intoxicating!

As with Dan Torrance in Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, Alice's cannot stop her haunting past from following her, until she turns around and fights it back. She learns more about herself and comes into her own as she grows older and can make more of her own choices, and getting to learn more about her in turn was a treat. Although she is separated from old favourites like her savage stepsister and dear Ellery Finch, a new endearing character, Sophia is by her side. Thankfully, Ellery's journey is included in the story, which is honestly the bright spot.

Beyond the escapism the story provides, The Night Country continues The Hazel Wood's debate about belonging and origin, wrapped up with one timely word: refugee.

Like The Hazel Wood, The Night Country is a stunningly imaginative and creative novel that will hook readers.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!