Tales from the Hinterland by Melissa Albert

A gorgeously illustrated collection of twelve “lush and deliciously sinister fairy tales” (Kelly Link) by the New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood and The Night Country!
Before The Hazel Wood, there was Althea Proserpine’s Tales from the Hinterland...Journey into the Hinterland, a brutal and beautiful world where a young woman spends a night with Death, brides are wed to a mysterious house in the trees, and an enchantress is killed twice—and still lives.
Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans alike, Melissa Albert's Tales from the Hinterland features full-page illustrations by Jim Tierney, foil stamping, two-color interior printing, and printed endpapers.

CW: Violence, Death

Tales from the Hinterland is the book of fairy tales that is featured in The Hazel Wood and The Night Country. Weirdly enough, I could never seem to get into either The Hazel Wood or The Night Country. Perhaps I just needed to read the fairy tales the fueled the story.

I love fairy tales – the darker the better. I’m a huge fan of the original Grimm’s fairy tales. Yes, I do like the Disney versions as well, but in Grimm’s fairy tales, you don’t always have a happy ending. So it is with Tales from the Hinterland. These tales are dark, grim, and don’t necessarily have happy endings – although I suppose it does depend upon your point of view.

The tales themselves are interesting – although one of them I recognized and I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve read a similar tale or because it might have been featured in the part of The Hazel Wood I did get to read. In either case, the book was filled with deliciously creepy fairy tales. These fairy tales would honestly be a good read around Halloween.

One of the touches I particularly liked was the tie-in with The Hazel Wood. Not only is this the fairy tale book that is featured in series, but there is a title page that marks the tales as being written by Althea Prosperpine and collected by Melissa Albert. I love that touch – it makes it feel like this book really is the extremely rare book of fairy tales.

I gave this four stars because, like I said, I’m not sure that all of the tales were completely original. Again, the tale I recognized may have been told in The Hazel Wood, which is why I recognized it, but I feel like I actually read it in my book of Grimm’s fairy tales.

If you have read The Hazel Wood, I recommend you read this to see what the big deal about this book is.