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ninjabunneh's review
3.0
Ellis has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, his marriage is in shambles, and life is quite disheartening. All isn't lost, however. Ellis has discovered the secret of time travel, built a time travel machine in his garage, and plans to take off into the future. His hope is that someone has discovered a cure for his disease. He divulges his secret only to childhood pal, Warren.
Ellis straps himself into his homemade machine and off he goes. Where he lands isn't like the Earth he once knew.
Ellis is now in Hollow World, a place far into the future. The surface of Earth is left alone and people now primarily live underground. There is no war, no murder, no stealing. People don't tell one another what to do, it's one big harmonious community. Humans don't even look the same as they had when Ellis left home. Not even close.
Ellis's arrival in the future sets off a whole chain of events for Hollow World. I don't mean the good kind. It also brings a rather surprising plot twist that I didn't predict. Well played.
I did lose the love a bit when it came to Ellis himself. He's an older man, which by itself is perfectly fine. Age 58, I believe. However, part of his description notes that he has saggy skin. Once I read that, it's all I saw of him in my mind. This is not the mental image I want.
Of course, I picture him like this.
I don't want to imagine the men in my books as saggy. When a bit of romance was hinted at, all I could picture was bad Grandpa. It completely turned me off to that aspect of the story, and it was a good plot point.
Give me an older male protagonist any day. I just need an image more like this:
Call me shallow, call me a bitch. I won't deny either.
3 Ninja-Bunnehs-Wearing-Bowler-Hats
(Arc received in exchange for an honest review.)
Ellis straps himself into his homemade machine and off he goes. Where he lands isn't like the Earth he once knew.
Ellis is now in Hollow World, a place far into the future. The surface of Earth is left alone and people now primarily live underground. There is no war, no murder, no stealing. People don't tell one another what to do, it's one big harmonious community. Humans don't even look the same as they had when Ellis left home. Not even close.
Ellis's arrival in the future sets off a whole chain of events for Hollow World. I don't mean the good kind. It also brings a rather surprising plot twist that I didn't predict. Well played.
I did lose the love a bit when it came to Ellis himself. He's an older man, which by itself is perfectly fine. Age 58, I believe. However, part of his description notes that he has saggy skin. Once I read that, it's all I saw of him in my mind. This is not the mental image I want.
Of course, I picture him like this.
I don't want to imagine the men in my books as saggy. When a bit of romance was hinted at, all I could picture was bad Grandpa. It completely turned me off to that aspect of the story, and it was a good plot point.
Give me an older male protagonist any day. I just need an image more like this:
Call me shallow, call me a bitch. I won't deny either.
3 Ninja-Bunnehs-Wearing-Bowler-Hats
(Arc received in exchange for an honest review.)
jernsaxe's review against another edition
5.0
This book is hard for me to review. It isn't the best Sci-fi I've ever read and I usually HATE! timetravel ... but .. and this is a good but, I really loved this book.
It is strange, more philosophy then Sci-fi in my opinion, but for me atleast it just works. It is very pleasent and I ended up feeling good after reading it in a way that few books manage (other books that give me a similar feeling are Discworld and most Neil Gaiman).
Michael is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and I look forward to see where his talent leads him.
It is strange, more philosophy then Sci-fi in my opinion, but for me atleast it just works. It is very pleasent and I ended up feeling good after reading it in a way that few books manage (other books that give me a similar feeling are Discworld and most Neil Gaiman).
Michael is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors and I look forward to see where his talent leads him.
theobviousmystery's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kayzie7's review against another edition
5.0
That was an absolutely fantastic book! So imaginative and so different to anything I have read! Highly recommend to anyone who likes a tale that's a little bit different!
jmoses's review against another edition
3.0
The premise was really interesting, and the execution was decent, but I can't help but feel like this had the potential to be amazing, and missed it. Which is disappointing. There's so much more of the world/society that could have been explored, but it comes across as something that was quickly written to be quickly read. It's not half-assed or full of typos or anything, just kinda shallow.
odmay's review against another edition
4.0
Hollow World is about an ordinary man who travels to the future after he finds out he has an incurable illness. This book was a pleasant surprise for me as it was my first book with elements of SF and Fantasy that I have read for some time. I liked the style of writing which seemed to kept my interest throughout and found it hard to put down. Also, it kept my mind turning over as there were so many themes in the plot and just so much to think about and discuss. I will be looking to read more books by this author.
corita's review against another edition
4.0
An Intriguing World:
In Michael J. Sullivan’s book Hollow World, he tells us what the world might look like in 4013.
Living in modern day Detroit, Ellis Rogers builds a time machine, finds out he has cancer, and takes off to the future to find a cure and escape domestic troubles and a boring life.
Ellis intends to go 200 years forward, but he’s catapulted 2000 years into the future, a slight miscalculation. After two millennia, things have changed, a slight understatement. I don’t want to give away too much because I found this world fascinating and think a reader should discover this “brave new world” for herself.
The kicker is that Ellis stumbles upon someone being murdered in a society that has eliminated murder. So much for getting rid of that pesky Y chromosome!
He meets Pax, who arrives with the doctors and seems to be some kind of counselor or arbitrator. When everyone else believes that Ellis has murdered this Hollow World inhabitant, Pax believes Ellis is innocent. They team up and set out to solve the murder mystery and stumble upon a conspiracy.
Things I Liked:
I haven’t read Sullivan’s other books, although after reading this, I’ll check them out. The pacing in the book was slow, but it felt right. The pace fits and mirrors the society and allows the reader to enjoy this new society. A high adventure, breakneck pace wouldn’t have worked as well.
1. The “old time science fiction” feel to the story. It has echoes of H. G. Wells’The Time Machine.
2. Hollow World raises a number of interesting questions, which stay with reader after the book is finished. I enjoy books that invite readers to think. Hollow World comes close to slipping into preachy a few times but nothing too drastic.
3. The world Sullivan creates is fun to experience and a delight to the five senses.
Things That Went Bump
There are couple of things that were pretty big issues for me because I had trouble suspending my disbelief and several times had to reinsert myself back into the story. Be warned spoilers ahead.
Spoiler
1. I bought into the makeshift time machine when Ellis used it, but when his friend Warren, an uneducated neanderthal type, duplicates the machine and ends up in the same time period, I had trouble accepting this possibility. Even with the explanation that he had help building the machine, my disbelief continued to rear its head. Warren’s appearance seems like a clunky plot device to add conflict to a non-violence society.
2. From the moment Warren shows up in Hollow World, a reader knows from dialogue and actions that he’d had a mental breakdown and has shifted further right than he was before he left our world. He was turned into the worst sort of human we can imagine.
Ellis, an intelligent college educated man, turns completely stupid when interacting with Warren. He questions nothing, even blatant abusive behavior. I had to go to great lengths to overlook this flaw. Being told that Ellis grew up with Warren and that in high school Warren saved Ellis from being beaten up wasn’t enough to make me believe Ellis could be so naive about his friend, especially since Ellis knows Warren betrayed him before their time travel adventures. Ellis seems to have left his brain in his time machine.
Even with Flaws, It Was Engaging
In spite of the two flaws, Hollow World is an engaging story.
I think many readers would be more accepting of the two areas that gave me trouble. I’m more of a stickler for logic and reason in science fiction stories than in fantasy stories. If this book were fantasy instead of science fiction, Ellis could have had a spell put on him to trust his friend in spite of the flagrant clues that Warren is a whack job.
I’m giving Hollow World 4 stars, but I if could I’d give it 3.5 because the two flaws were difficult for me to overcome.
hindessm's review against another edition
5.0
Somewhat sad but ultimately positive story. A bit like a modern Stranger in a Strange Land. The future where love is unshackled from misguided and outdated "moral" principles can't come soon enough.
nenacall's review against another edition
4.0
The future is almost all of our dreams come true with a few twist. Loved Pax and could relate to Ellis. Would like to see more Michael.