The Hollow Places is the type of book I want to read more of and yet almost never do. This was actually more fun than I had initially suspected. WhileThe Hollow Places is the type of book I want to read more of and yet almost never do. This was actually more fun than I had initially suspected. While the book was eerie in parts, it mostly made me feel really interested and invested in what was going on, why things were happening, versus being scared of what was actually happening. Which isn't bad in my books, but perhaps not what one is mostly looking for when reading horror.
The main character, Kara, is fresh from a divorce and happens to find herself bunking in her uncle's place--a museum filled with oddities and curiosities. Not to mention a ton of taxidermy. She finds a hole in the wall of the museum and, alongside the next door coffee shop's barista, Simon, sets off to explore the strange, willow and water filled space. It's... definitely not of this world, ha.
I liked the book a lot. Kara and Simon are really fun together, the horror and absurdity blend well, and the duo really pair off nicely as friends. Sometimes they're a little too... how to describe it. Almost trope-y? The fanfiction, the sassy gay friend, the bland ex-husband, the overbearing parent. Not quite on the edge of too much, but maybe it kept things from feeling even more spooky for me. It did introduce a nice bit of levity at parts (if sometimes too much, lol) and it was overall a really quick, fun read for me.
Pacing was good and you roll from beginning to middle to end pretty smoothly. The initial, oh, it's all done, to nope it's not done, folks! because you realize there's more of the book to go seemed almost an unnecessary break to me, but I guess it was necessary for the characters and plot. I didn't love some of the foreshadowing; while I get that you need the readers to know and understand where a plot point is coming from, sometimes the character gets beaten over the head with it to the point that the reader is silently grinding their teeth in frustrat--oh, just me? Not to mention how convenient Kara's uncle was gone from the museum the entire time (it's mean, but I almost want the uncle to have fallen through the hole with them because that would have been really interesting to see play out).
But, overall, I did enjoy reading it. It was fun, it answered (most of) my questions, it wasn't overly gory (tastefully done, a good amount in good spots haha), and I liked the characters a lot. 4 stars....more
Paradoxical
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