3 Stars - I might recommend if you enjoy fantasy novels.

Every ten years the Dragon, a wizard, takes a young girl from the village to live with him as payment for his protection from the invasive wood bordering the valley. No one knows what happens to the girls, but once they leave his tower they rarely stay in their home village. When Agniezka is unexpectly chosen, she finds that the tower, and the dragon are not what she expected. As the threat of the wood grows stronger, Agniezka will discover there is more to herself, and the world than she imagined.

This is the type of book I was hoping for when I picked up The Hazel Wood at the beginning of the year. I started out feeling very compelled by the world and the story, I liked the classic fantasy setting, and somewhat familiar story formula. I thought that the magic system was interesting, if not vague, and that the dual magic had a subtle sexiness to it. The first part of the book was compelling, but once Agniezka went to see the king it wasn't very interesting for me. Overall, that part dragged, and in the end the book felt much longer than it needed to. Once things synced back up it was more intriguing, and the ending was satisfying as well. I like where it ended up, and how it all came together. It does feel a bit like other stories in the end, but I'm not sure which ones... I didn't love it as much as I expected to, but that's ok.