Read-Alikes for THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert

Can't get over Melissa Albert's recent contemporary YA fantasy? Here are some read-alikes for THE HAZEL WOOD to help you fill that fairy tale-shaped hole in your heart.

Annika Barranti Klein May 31, 2018

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Annika Barranti Klein

Staff Writer

Annika Barranti Klein likes books, obviously. Twitter: @noirbettie

View All posts by Annika Barranti Klein

The Hazel Wood is unlike any other book I’ve ever read, which of course means that it left me desperately craving more books just like it. I’m not sure there are any books just like it, but I’ve compiled this list of books that fulfill at least some aspect of that brief.

Readalikes for THE HAZEL WOOD by Melissa Albert | Bookriot.com

Books Melissa Albert Cites as Inspirations

The Complete Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

Albert has said that her favorite Grimm fairytale is “The Juniper Tree.” This tracks. It’s one of those stories that makes you wonder if our use of the word “grim” really is somehow related to the brothers (it is not), and also reminds you just how much history hates a stepmother.

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

While not the original portal fantasy, this may be the most well-known, tied of course with Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz.

The Magicians (series) by Lev Grossman

I couldn’t get into the first book, because Quentin is the most unlikeable narrator of all time, but I am absolutely bonkers for the portal fantasy–within-a–portal fantasy set-up, so I am going to give this series another go.

Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe novels (I recommend starting with The Big Sleep and then immediately reading The Long Goodbye.)

Although The Hazel Wood is not really anything like a Philip Marlowe novel, Albert has mentioned Chandler’s writing as a master class in craft, and I have to agree with her. The writing—and specifically Alice’s voice—is one of the best parts of The Hazel Wood, and it bears a strong resemblance to Chandler’s best writing.

Portal Fantasies

Every Heart A Doorway (series) by Seanan McGuire

What happens to children after they come back from a portal world? This ongoing series explores the trauma children would feel, well into adulthood, if they were unable to go back to their Narnia.

The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth (October 23)

Six years after they return from their portal world, one sister desperately wants to go back, and when she disappears, the sister who wanted to live in the real world has to figure out whether she found her way back.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson

This father-daughter Caribbean folktale portal fantasy sounds AMAZING.

Labyrinth Lost and Bruja Born (July 5) by Zoraida Cordova

In Labyrinth Lost, a young Bruja tries to rid herself of her powers but instead accidentally sends her family to Los Lagos and has to go rescue them. The upcoming second book in the series, Bruja Born, is not a portal fantasy but also sounds amazing.