Author: Ella

The Hazel Wood is about a mix of fairytales and how they came to be, but they’re not your typical fairytales. There’s Twice-Killed-Katherine who kills men to keep herself alive. There’s also The Door That Wasn’t There, which is about two young girls who are abused by their stepmother and eventually locked in a room, left to rot. The older of the two ends up killing her sister in an attempt to get out and then ends up terrorizing her father who was the one that let all those terrible things happen to her. Our story sets off with seventeen-year old Alice Proserpine who lives with her single mother. Alice and her mother, Ella, have traveled all over attempting to escape the bad luck that seems to follow them everywhere. But when they recieve a letter that Alice’s grandmother, Althea Proserpine, is dead, Ella is relieved. Ella believes that the bad luck will simply just disappear. Alice, however, is curious about her grandmother. Alice has never met her grandmother, a reclusive author that lived in the Hazel Woods, and wrote a set of fairytales. These fairytales are ones that Alice’s mother forbid her from reading. When Ella is kidnapped, Alice goes to the one person who she thinks may be able to help her, a boy her age named Ellery Finch. Ellery Finch once possessed the very book that Alice wasn’t allowed to read and he believes that the Hinterland from the stories has Alice’s mother. Alice and Ellery set out to find her mother but along the way they stumble acrossed characters from the Hinterland, like Twice-Killed-Katherine. The Hinterland is hurding Alice somewhere, but she has no clue where or why. As she travels to find her mother in the Hazel Woods, the Hinterland pushes her closer and closer until she is accepted into the Halfway Woods. From there, she is tormented by creatures of all kinds and she must journey further to find her mother and perhaps even the story behind her family.

I really loved this book. I have always been a fan of fairytales and fairytalesque writing. This was similar to that kind of writing but it had a twist to it where the fairytales weren’t your typical Disney stories. These fairytales were new and something dangerous that really hooked me and pushed me to read it quickly. There was a lot of death in this book, but none that was graphic enough to turn anyone away from it. The fairytales also felt a lot more grown up and mature. Melissa Albert wrote The Hazel Woods in a way that showed you small details about Alice’s past without giving away how it totally matched up to the present. This made the book really suspenseful for me. I thought each character was written nicely. They each had their own story line and their own motives for why they did what they did in the book. I also enjoyed the pacing of the book. It didn’t feel like it moved too quickly so that the story was rushed but it also didn’t drag on and feel like it wasn’t going anywhere.

I would recommend this book to both people who like fairytales but also those who don’t. Those who like fairytales get to read about new ones that are more mature and at a better age level for them. For those that aren’t a fan of fairytales, the ones in The Hazel Wood are new but also aren’t the cheesey stereotypical ones. I think anyone who leans towards works of fiction would really enjoy this book.

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard is a supernatural fantasyesque story about a sixteen year old girl named Wednesday Winona Wednesday who prefers to go by Winnie. Winnie lives in Hemlock Falls where she is a part of the Wednesday clan. Seven clans live together across seven different estates. These seven clans protect the outside from the nightmares within. Every day at sundown, a mist rises in the woods and nightmares are created. It’s up to the hunters of the clans to kill them and prevent them from escaping. Every sunrise, however, the mist rises again and the nightmares disappear. Nightmares are creatures sprung from the sleeping spirits that dwell beneath their home in Hemlock Falls.

Winnie desperately wishes to become a hunter but there are certain restrictions that have stopped her for four years. Four years ago, it was discovered that her father was a traitor to the clans and was secretly a Diana spy. The Diana were a group of people who used to be like the Luminaries but now wish to release the nightmares upon the rest of the world. After her father escaped, Winnie’s family was sentenced to 10 years of exile. No one else was even supposed to acknowledge their presence. But as Winnie is now 16, there are no rules stopping her from partaking in the hunter trials. While participating in the first trial, a quick whispering blob attacks her in the woods and kills the banshee she was tangling with. After the first trial, she lies about being the one to kill the banshee and suddenly everyone wants to speak to Winnie again. Winnie now has to prove herself to the Luminaries while also attempting to figue what that whisper thing in the woods actually was.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a really exciting book that was very quickly paced and it held my attention the entire time that I read it. I liked the characters’ personalities and I thought they each had well made storylines. Winnie had a small crush on one of the other characters, Jay. However, there is hardly any romance in this story. There are brief mentions of her getting nervous around him but nothing more than that. I really appreciated this. I don’t often like romances in these kinds of books because they are usually overdone and end up taking over the plot. Without any sort of romance, you are really able to learn about Winnie and see how she progresses without a romantic relationship.

I would recommend this to anyone who likes the supernatural and anyone who is not a fan of romance. The Luminaries is fantasyesque but it is not like your typical fantasy story. It isn’t set in a new realm or a kingdom, but actually takes place in our real world. It also isn’t about things like dragons or princesses but instead werewolves and badass fighting women.

Cassidy Proctor writes about queer representation in graphic novels and why it’s so important in her article “A New Hope: The Rise of Soft Queer Graphic Novels”. It puts a particular emphasis on those stories that have happy endings. In recent years more and more graphic novels have given queer people their happy endings and that has been a positive step forwards for all. Young people need to be shown that it is possible for them to have happy lives. Cassidy is fully in support of this statement. She believes that these books need to be written not only for queer youth but also for everyone to get a hold of and become better kinder people. She believes that these books could help show other people how to support their loved ones who are queer.

I fully support this as well. Not only for youth, but for any queer people, representation is important. There needs to be so much more, enough to normalize it being in the mainstream media. I have many loved ones that need this support as well as myself and it’s so incredibly important for us to be able to see that things are just as possible for us as anyone else. Most of the works written for/about queer people are often sad or don’t have happy and positive endings. Having stories that actually give us that give us hope of that for ourselves.

Proctor, Cassidy. “A New Hope: The Rise of Soft, Queer Graphic Novels.” Booklist, vol. 116, no. 21, 1 July 2020, p. S18. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632532987/ITOF?u=maine&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0a8d4e63. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.

The Wicked Remain by Laura Pohl is a fantasy fiction novel about 4 teenage girls. At Grimrose Academy, Ella, Nani, Yuki, and Rory have uncovered some dark secrets about the girls attending the academy. The girls who attend the academy are all somehow in a dark story book they uncovered. Each girl is from a different fairytale, but not a single one has a happy ending. Every girl dies at the end of their story. The stories reflect back on each girl’s life but they are not exact copies of fairy tales. The book is split between Ella, Nani, Yuki, Rory and their own stories. All four girls are very good friends but their mission to save the girls of Grimrose Academy may very well end those friendships. As Yuki uncovers more and more about the past, secrets surface and tensions rise. I thought this book was rather interesting. I love fairy tales and by extension, books based on fairy tales. However, the book switches between four points of view constantly and I sometimes found it hard to keep up with each girl’s story. I also felt that some parts moved much slower than they needed to. Characters danced around each other in ways that I thought were incredibly unnecessary. I didn’t understand the storyline of one of the side characters. It didn’t particularly add much to the story besides moving a romance along. I do like how Laura Pohl represented some of the fairy tales without doing so excessively. The character Ella has the story of Cinderella. The way the story is represented is that they gave her a stepmother and two stepsisters. The stepmother is abusive and controlling but the stepsisters aren’t. They actually also suffer at the hands of their mother, but much less than Ella does. They also don’t hate Ella like they do in the fairy tale. Almost each main character has their own romantic subplot that I thought were okay. I definetley thought that there was unneccessary dancing around each other and side characters that weren’t that good, in my opinion. Because of some of the topics touched on in the story, I would recommend this for older kids and up. Content wise, I would recommend this for anyone who really enjoys fairy tales and danger. The romance is okay, but I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone who is looking for who is looking for that in a book.

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi is a fantasy romance about an 18 year old girl named Alizeh. Alizeh is a servant, working in the house of a Duchess. She’s a snoda, the lowest class in the city. But she’s also a Jinn. But not only is she a Jinn, she is secretly the lost queen of the Jinn. In a city where peace between humans and Jinn is tumultuous, she must hide who she is. If she doesn’t, she could be killed. One day she makes a mistake. She makes her presence known to the prince of the kingdom, Kamran. He isn’t aware of her true identity yet, but some of her actions made him suspicious of who she was. He brought his suspicions to the king, his grandfather. Soon it becomes known to them who Alizeh truly is and that she needs to die for their peace to continue. Now Kamran has to decide whether he wants to side with his kingdom or the young lady that he has somehow become infatuated with. Alizeh is also now fighting for her life and to just skate by unnoticed by anyone else.

I really enjoyed this book. I think that the story that Tahereh Mafi created was really well written. The backstory and world building was complex and it all was connected. There were no plot holes that had loose ends that didn’t make sense. Her writing was very elegant and flowed very well. The two main characters each had their own complex thoughts and story lines. Their story lines crossed but they also weren’t entirely about romance and the relationship between the two of them. The story focused on much more than what the two thought of each other. I really liked the pacing of the book. It didn’t feel too slow nor did it feel rushed. The story had time to properly progress while also still being interesting.

I definitely think that this book is probably better for highschool students. Eighth graders might enjoy it, but I don’t know if their maturity level is at a good point for this book. I think this book is really good for anyone interested in fantasy with a bit of romance. The romance isn’t shoved into your face so anyone who likes romance but not a whole lot of it would really enjoy this book.