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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
I truly love this series, but this book was partly a huge disappointment.
I have really appreciated earlier in the series that you can clearly tell the books are written out of Lucy's pov. Every description of a place or a person is filled with emotion and her perspective. So when I started with this book I was rather shocked at the way Lucy's story line was progressing. All of a sudden she has started to idolize Lockwood like crazy, and, even worse, she for no reason is a complete bitch to Holly. And this. This right here stirred a full on rage within me. Media often wants us to believe girls do not like other girls, especially a "girly"girl. A girly girl is often portrayed as dumb, weak and annoying. This narrative is so misogynistic, and only serves to make men (and sadly also some women) disrespect and not take girls seriously.
As a young teen myself I was very much a Lucy. I resented girly things and wanted to be a tough "cool" girl. I thought fashion and make up was silly and resented femininity. I slowly grew out of this, because the world kept showing me this is not the case at all. Girls lift each other up. Girls are nice to each other. Weather it be a random girl hyping up your outfit at a club or getting help in an all women's Facebook group, girls are always there for each other. As I've grown older I have now reclaimed my femininity, and I'm so very sad that I was fooled into thinking feminine things was ever weak or stupid.
Knowing that these books are directed at young kids, I hate even more that this narrative is pushed for Lucy. There could have been a clash between Lucy and Holly being built up instead from them having different personalities. The fight at the end could have had some good lessons about Lucy and Holly accepting each others differences or something. Instead Lucy feels threatened that the boys like Holly more than her, and is so incredibly mean to her because of it. WHY?? We don't see George being mean and jealous to Lockwood when all the girls clearly fancies Lockwood more than him. And the fight at the end seems pointless? Lucy does not admit she has been mean to Holly this whole time, when Holly says she has genuinely been hurt by Lucy, Lucy just presses on being even more mean. I hate it so much. Not taking girls emotions seriously has real life consequences, like girls with endometriosis being told they just imagine they are in pain by doctors. And here Lucy does the same thing to Holly, tells her she does not believe her emotions at all and instead laughs in her face.
The other thing I find so stupid is the way Lucy starts to think so obsessively over Lockwood. Sure he can be charming as said so many times, but I don't see the love between them at all. They are always incredibly awkward together when we get non work related conversations between the two. Holly and Lockwood on the other hand always seem to get on really well... Honestly I think it seems more reasonable that Lockwood fancies Holly, and she him, from the interactions described in this book.
Since the book is written out of Lucy's pov I feel like we as readers are forced to also obsess over Lockwood and... that was definitely not why I loved this series.
It just disappoints me so much to have a male author, write a book with a female lead, and then completely manage to shift the focus away from Lucy's personality and instead make her obsess over Lockwood and nothing else. To also have the only two females fight each other only to get Lockwood's attention... Just shows men clearly do not understand women at all. We do not in fact spend all our time obsessing over men and fighting off other girls to get their attention. I'm not against Lucy falling in love with Lockwood, it could have been a nice twist. But it shouldn't have been the main plot of this whole book and suddenly Lucy's only personality trait.
I have really appreciated earlier in the series that you can clearly tell the books are written out of Lucy's pov. Every description of a place or a person is filled with emotion and her perspective. So when I started with this book I was rather shocked at the way Lucy's story line was progressing. All of a sudden she has started to idolize Lockwood like crazy, and, even worse, she for no reason is a complete bitch to Holly. And this. This right here stirred a full on rage within me. Media often wants us to believe girls do not like other girls, especially a "girly"girl. A girly girl is often portrayed as dumb, weak and annoying. This narrative is so misogynistic, and only serves to make men (and sadly also some women) disrespect and not take girls seriously.
As a young teen myself I was very much a Lucy. I resented girly things and wanted to be a tough "cool" girl. I thought fashion and make up was silly and resented femininity. I slowly grew out of this, because the world kept showing me this is not the case at all. Girls lift each other up. Girls are nice to each other. Weather it be a random girl hyping up your outfit at a club or getting help in an all women's Facebook group, girls are always there for each other. As I've grown older I have now reclaimed my femininity, and I'm so very sad that I was fooled into thinking feminine things was ever weak or stupid.
Knowing that these books are directed at young kids, I hate even more that this narrative is pushed for Lucy. There could have been a clash between Lucy and Holly being built up instead from them having different personalities. The fight at the end could have had some good lessons about Lucy and Holly accepting each others differences or something. Instead Lucy feels threatened that the boys like Holly more than her, and is so incredibly mean to her because of it. WHY?? We don't see George being mean and jealous to Lockwood when all the girls clearly fancies Lockwood more than him. And the fight at the end seems pointless? Lucy does not admit she has been mean to Holly this whole time, when Holly says she has genuinely been hurt by Lucy, Lucy just presses on being even more mean. I hate it so much. Not taking girls emotions seriously has real life consequences, like girls with endometriosis being told they just imagine they are in pain by doctors. And here Lucy does the same thing to Holly, tells her she does not believe her emotions at all and instead laughs in her face.
The other thing I find so stupid is the way Lucy starts to think so obsessively over Lockwood. Sure he can be charming as said so many times, but I don't see the love between them at all. They are always incredibly awkward together when we get non work related conversations between the two. Holly and Lockwood on the other hand always seem to get on really well... Honestly I think it seems more reasonable that Lockwood fancies Holly, and she him, from the interactions described in this book.
Since the book is written out of Lucy's pov I feel like we as readers are forced to also obsess over Lockwood and... that was definitely not why I loved this series.
It just disappoints me so much to have a male author, write a book with a female lead, and then completely manage to shift the focus away from Lucy's personality and instead make her obsess over Lockwood and nothing else. To also have the only two females fight each other only to get Lockwood's attention... Just shows men clearly do not understand women at all. We do not in fact spend all our time obsessing over men and fighting off other girls to get their attention. I'm not against Lucy falling in love with Lockwood, it could have been a nice twist. But it shouldn't have been the main plot of this whole book and suddenly Lucy's only personality trait.
Although I enjoyed The Hollow Boy, I feel disappointed about some of the character development of Lucy. She was a smart, great character and we see pieces of this in the book, but her internalized misogyny was super annoying. I felt like it was dragged on and on, and I am sick of it. They barely even solved their issues at the end. Why can’t women be friends? Because of jealousy over a boy, even though Holly seems uninterested in Lockwood. It was the typical “she wears short skirts, i wear t shirts” vibes and it made Lucy a pretty annoying protagonist at some points. The Bechdel test will NEVER be passed in this series, apparently.
The best parts of the book were the action scenes/ghost hunting scenes. I liked the story, but the plot seemed scattered and there were so many things happening that I had trouble differentiating different ghost hunts and the stories behind each. I loved the opening scene and the one in the mall, they was so entertaining.
The best parts of the book were the action scenes/ghost hunting scenes. I liked the story, but the plot seemed scattered and there were so many things happening that I had trouble differentiating different ghost hunts and the stories behind each. I loved the opening scene and the one in the mall, they was so entertaining.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My fave of the series so far, it would have been even better if there was no girls hating on girls!!!!
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Continues to be a great series! So sad the Netflix series was cancelled.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really good YA horror. The atmosphere is really tense and characters are really well crafted. Would be 5 stars but I did not like a lot of competitiveness between two main characters. It was done better than in other YA books I have read but still not my cup of tea.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
⭐4.2/5
Hmmm apa ya, mulai muncul drama anak remaja? Alias suka-sukaan mulai gamblang ditampakkan di sini.
Konflik utama di sini kalo dikaitkan sama sub-judulnya lumayan jauh. Kayak, pembahasan ttg hollow boy nya terlalu bentar. Aku justru lebih didominasi dengan perasaan kesel sebel ke ekspresi2 random dari perspektif Lucy. Aku emang gak suka sifat dia, jadinya pas ngebacain gimana perasaan dia selama sepanjang cerita dengan memusuhi satu orang tuh bikin konflik batin banget. Aku cuma dikasi tau pandangan Lucy doang, padahal kan belum tentu aslinya sesuai yang dia pikirin hshshsh.
Trus juga spotlight George dikit di sini:( meski dia berperan penting dalam memecahkan masalah, tapi aku rinduu celetukan2 gak mutunya dia. Jokes bikin darting di antara mereka bertiga ditambah tengkorak:(
Dan kemunculan tokoh baru ini justru menurutku lebih cocok untuk dipakai di sub-judul. Bener-bener sepanjang cerita buku ketiga ini permasalahan yang menonjol ya tentang dia dan Lucy. Jujur aja aku gak happy bacanya. Tetep asik karena suka ngecengin Lucy kebakaran jenggot, tapi kalo jadi berpengaruh ke kinerja trio favoritku ya aku jadi males jugaa.
Trus astaga aku benci banget sama epilognya? Kayak ngawur banget anjir. Dengan berat hati aku ngasi bintang 4 gitu :\
Tetep tinggi karena meskipun konfliknya bikin kesel, narasinya tetep lucu, deskripsi latar tetep jelas, dan aku makin ngerti jalan universe dari buku ini.
Aku udah lanjut buku keempat, tapi udah bab 4 gini tetep berat banget bacanya karena gak selancar buku-buku sebelumnya. Semoga semakin ke belakang George semakin terlihat
Hmmm apa ya, mulai muncul drama anak remaja? Alias suka-sukaan mulai gamblang ditampakkan di sini.
Konflik utama di sini kalo dikaitkan sama sub-judulnya lumayan jauh. Kayak, pembahasan ttg hollow boy nya terlalu bentar. Aku justru lebih didominasi dengan perasaan kesel sebel ke ekspresi2 random dari perspektif Lucy. Aku emang gak suka sifat dia, jadinya pas ngebacain gimana perasaan dia selama sepanjang cerita dengan memusuhi satu orang tuh bikin konflik batin banget. Aku cuma dikasi tau pandangan Lucy doang, padahal kan belum tentu aslinya sesuai yang dia pikirin hshshsh.
Trus juga spotlight George dikit di sini:( meski dia berperan penting dalam memecahkan masalah, tapi aku rinduu celetukan2 gak mutunya dia. Jokes bikin darting di antara mereka bertiga ditambah tengkorak:(
Dan kemunculan tokoh baru ini justru menurutku lebih cocok untuk dipakai di sub-judul. Bener-bener sepanjang cerita buku ketiga ini permasalahan yang menonjol ya tentang dia dan Lucy. Jujur aja aku gak happy bacanya. Tetep asik karena suka ngecengin Lucy kebakaran jenggot, tapi kalo jadi berpengaruh ke kinerja trio favoritku ya aku jadi males jugaa.
Trus astaga aku benci banget sama epilognya? Kayak ngawur banget anjir. Dengan berat hati aku ngasi bintang 4 gitu :\
Tetep tinggi karena meskipun konfliknya bikin kesel, narasinya tetep lucu, deskripsi latar tetep jelas, dan aku makin ngerti jalan universe dari buku ini.
Aku udah lanjut buku keempat, tapi udah bab 4 gini tetep berat banget bacanya karena gak selancar buku-buku sebelumnya. Semoga semakin ke belakang George semakin terlihat