Member Review

Thank you to NetGalley, C.G. Drews, and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for a review copy of this book.

Content Warnings: Gore, Gaslighting, Medical Trauma, Death of Parents, Death, Murder, Mentions of Suicide, Mentions of Car Crash, Drowning, Buried Alive, Body Horror, Forced Institutionalization, Blood, Poison, Mental Illness, Physical Illness, Family Abuse, Abuse, Child Abuse, Family Trauma, Murder, Sacrificial Acts, Cannibalism, and Homophobia.

“Hazelthorn” by C.G. Drews was a difficult book for me to get through. Not because of the massive amounts of gore or twisting narrative, but rather, because it was very, very slow. While the prose was written in beautiful, gothic detail, the pacing left something to be desired. Many of the character motives were unclear and remained unclear, even after I had finished the novel.

Evander is a young man left in the care of an older, rich gentleman after his parents are killed in a car accident. He is a sickly child, needing medication daily to keep himself calm and from falling into what he calls ‘episodes.’ He never leaves his bedroom. Food is brought to him. If he is lucky, his guardian will visit him to play chess or, if he is unlucky, perform surgery in order to keep his illness at bay.

Along with Evander, there is another boy who lives in the mansion known as Hazelthorn–Laurie Lennox-Hall, the grandson of the billionaire who takes care of Evander. The two have a history all twisted up in each other, born of equal parts hatred and longing. Desire and hate blooms fresh every time they see one another, sweet poison on their tongues.

Then, suddenly, Evander’s guardian is murdered–and he wills the entirety of Hazelthorn to Evander.
Hazelthorn has secrets, however, as thorny as its namesake. The garden yearns for Evander. It will do whatever it can to claim him as its own.

I really wanted to enjoy “Hazelthorn.” Honestly, the prose itself is gorgeous, delicately laced with gothic imagery and a dream-like, spinning narrative that lies to the reader oh-so sweetly. The plot was lacking in my opinion, though. A lot of the novel is just Evander questioning himself and everything around him. It did not serve to further the plot. Rather, it turns Evander into an unreliable narrator, into someone without agency in his own story. “Hazelthorn” starts as a murder mystery with supernatural elements. About halfway through, it seems to forget this, turning instead into a body horror filled, melancholic study of what it is to be human. The mystery is solved in the end, sort of tacked on as an ‘oh, yeah, this happened’ confession.

Some of the characters were very well fleshed out, while others felt tacked on simply for the sake of having a slightly larger cast. Some of the antagonists were comically evil, on the level of sneering and twisting their mustaches while plotting the death of the main character.

Another thing that bothered me was that the novel takes place in modern times. A lot of the prose felt like it was written from a point in history further back than what we received–especially in the beginning, “Hazelthorn” read like a period piece from the early 1900’s. When a character discussed a laptop and, later, a smartphone, it really took me out of the story.

Though I have my issues with the book, I would recommend “Hazelthorn” by C.G. Drews. It was enjoyable with lyrical prose and a mostly interesting premise. Just don’t expect to be swept off of your feet.