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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
This was a fine read, but I'm not sure I'm invested enough to continue with the second book in the duology.
Black Hollow holds a secret and its inhabitants fear the return of the Dreamwalker and her revenge. We meet a girl touched by dreams, a boy possessed by a cruel spirit, and a doctor plagued by grief. What will happen when their paths intertwine to uncover the long-hidden secret of this small, suspicious town? Let’s find out!
Read if you like: contemporary fantasy, shifters, dream mysteries, forgotten history, fate and magic, slow burn, morally gray, greater purpose, gruff and mysterious MMC, always been different FMC.
Miya has always had a connection to the dreamworld, but when the telltale signs of the reappearance of the nefarious Dreamwalker draw near, she feels like she needs to find answers in the dark and dangerous woods. Kai struggles to maintain the balance between his two sides, especially since he is also inhabited by a malevolent being. With the history surround Black Hollow he should stay away from the town, but he keeps finding the same girl near his woods.
Mason is a young doctor trying to run from one wrong decision and finds himself in a small, superstitious town where he soon discovers a local legend that won’t let him go. In his search for truth, he begins to uncover more than the origins of the lore.
This book was a little dark, a little spicy, a little mysterious, and a lot of fun. I really liked Kai because it was fun to see all the parts of his character war with each other depending on the scenario. Miya is also a great leading lady with her edgy coolness and fringe encounters. She’s a great mix of kind and capable. The Mason storyline was an interesting addition of an outside perspective looking for truth in the middle of history and mayhem. We got a lot of background and lore surrounding the characters and their greater purpose within the legends and it’s easy to see that they will have another adventure dealing with the current repercussions of the past they’ve recently met.
What you don’t get is a lot of spice. From the cover I was expecting more, but it’s a slow burn, fade to black kind of romance. It was cute and sweet and I hope we get to see more of their relationship. My one big critique was that I wish there was a little more finesse in the composition. All the plot and lore and magic and the antagonist were all pretty solid, but the delivery was often on the nose. The book was, at times, quite lovely. I just wanted more of those lovely moments throughout the world building and storytelling.
Read if you like: contemporary fantasy, shifters, dream mysteries, forgotten history, fate and magic, slow burn, morally gray, greater purpose, gruff and mysterious MMC, always been different FMC.
Miya has always had a connection to the dreamworld, but when the telltale signs of the reappearance of the nefarious Dreamwalker draw near, she feels like she needs to find answers in the dark and dangerous woods. Kai struggles to maintain the balance between his two sides, especially since he is also inhabited by a malevolent being. With the history surround Black Hollow he should stay away from the town, but he keeps finding the same girl near his woods.
Mason is a young doctor trying to run from one wrong decision and finds himself in a small, superstitious town where he soon discovers a local legend that won’t let him go. In his search for truth, he begins to uncover more than the origins of the lore.
This book was a little dark, a little spicy, a little mysterious, and a lot of fun. I really liked Kai because it was fun to see all the parts of his character war with each other depending on the scenario. Miya is also a great leading lady with her edgy coolness and fringe encounters. She’s a great mix of kind and capable. The Mason storyline was an interesting addition of an outside perspective looking for truth in the middle of history and mayhem. We got a lot of background and lore surrounding the characters and their greater purpose within the legends and it’s easy to see that they will have another adventure dealing with the current repercussions of the past they’ve recently met.
What you don’t get is a lot of spice. From the cover I was expecting more, but it’s a slow burn, fade to black kind of romance. It was cute and sweet and I hope we get to see more of their relationship. My one big critique was that I wish there was a little more finesse in the composition. All the plot and lore and magic and the antagonist were all pretty solid, but the delivery was often on the nose. The book was, at times, quite lovely. I just wanted more of those lovely moments throughout the world building and storytelling.
I felt like this read was incredibly unique. I have never read something quite like this, and that was probably my favorite part about it. It deals with a lot of heavy themes while delivering an intriguing story that had me flipping through the pages as fast as I could.
I loved how relatable the FMC was. All three MCs were pretty relatable, but I just connected with Miya’s insecurities, fears, and anxiety in a way I haven’t felt in a while. I also really loved how wild Kai was. I felt like he had an interesting duality to him, but it was pretty cool how, even as a man, you could see how much more animal he truly was on the inside, while still being able to portray raw human emotion and feelings. And because these characters were so well written, you could feel the emotion on the page and understand the themes bleeding off the page—such as coping with loss and grief, anxiety, and identity crisis, among others—without having it spelt out for you and while being able to enjoy the mystery and eeriness of the folklore in this dark fantasy read.
I would definitely recommend this read to anyone looking for a dark fantasy with folklore and a side of (open-door) romance.
I loved how relatable the FMC was. All three MCs were pretty relatable, but I just connected with Miya’s insecurities, fears, and anxiety in a way I haven’t felt in a while. I also really loved how wild Kai was. I felt like he had an interesting duality to him, but it was pretty cool how, even as a man, you could see how much more animal he truly was on the inside, while still being able to portray raw human emotion and feelings. And because these characters were so well written, you could feel the emotion on the page and understand the themes bleeding off the page—such as coping with loss and grief, anxiety, and identity crisis, among others—without having it spelt out for you and while being able to enjoy the mystery and eeriness of the folklore in this dark fantasy read.
I would definitely recommend this read to anyone looking for a dark fantasy with folklore and a side of (open-door) romance.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
3.5 round up
I liked this quite a lot. I'll admit it wasn't quite as intense as I'd expected, but I enjoyed it all the same. It was very atmospheric.
I liked the way Kai never truly tried to act human and how Miya accepted him for it all the same. And I liked the way Miya showed vulnerability, but also wasn't a pushover and Kai appreciated that about her. I understood Mason's difficulty and obsessive need to find answers. Though I thought his reluctance to believe lasted well past when it should have.
The prose is a little on the purple side. But I have a pretty high tolerance for that, often enjoying writing others complain about being too full of adjectives, similes, and metaphors. The story also wrapped around itself in a pleasant way, coming full circle and concluding nicely. But I never quite grasped The First's motives, Madrix's but not The Firsts. (I'm not certain I spelled that name right, since I never saw it in writing.)
All in all, I plan to read the second book too. But I'm not leaping straight in at the moment.
I liked this quite a lot. I'll admit it wasn't quite as intense as I'd expected, but I enjoyed it all the same. It was very atmospheric.
I liked the way Kai never truly tried to act human and how Miya accepted him for it all the same. And I liked the way Miya showed vulnerability, but also wasn't a pushover and Kai appreciated that about her. I understood Mason's difficulty and obsessive need to find answers. Though I thought his reluctance to believe lasted well past when it should have.
The prose is a little on the purple side. But I have a pretty high tolerance for that, often enjoying writing others complain about being too full of adjectives, similes, and metaphors. The story also wrapped around itself in a pleasant way, coming full circle and concluding nicely. But I never quite grasped The First's motives, Madrix's but not The Firsts. (I'm not certain I spelled that name right, since I never saw it in writing.)
All in all, I plan to read the second book too. But I'm not leaping straight in at the moment.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Hollow Gods is a mild horror with fantasy elements, built upon the folklore of a (fictional) town called Black Hollow.
Odd things happen at Black Hollow, and the people living there live and breathe the story of the folklore villain of their town - the Dreamwalker.
Women go missing in the woods and, if they return, they're soon killed by men who claim to love them. The townsfolk believe that the woman that goes missing in the woods is not the same woman who comes back out. That the Dreamwalker has possessed them.
The Hollow Gods follows three main characters - Miya, Mason & Kai - switching between their POVs throughout as their stories start separately, but later converge.
Miya is a lonely, depressed woman living in Black Hollow. She's flunking college and can't afford to stay living in her apartment for much longer. She's drawn to the edge of the Dreamwalker's woods, and often spends time in a small park alone there.
One evening, she sees a missing woman emerge. On another evening, she makes contact with a red-eyed, large black wolf who steps out of the woods, but with tales of wolves being the Dreamwalker's omens, and the hallucinations that start haunting Miya after this, is she the next victim?
Mason is a burnt-out young doctor who is taking a break in Black Hollow after a tragedy, which he feels responsible for, befalls one of his patients. Despite coming to the town to take some time away and to switch-off, he finds himself being sucked into the lore of the town, trying to find a plausible reason for what's happening that isn't a mythical being haunting young women. His need for answers could find him in danger though.
Kai is a wolf-shifter who lives in the woods on his own. He's a little bit feral, cold and detached from human life. He also keeps waking up beside the Dreamwalker's dead victims with no recollection of what happened and what he's done. One evening, he steps out of the woods and sees a young woman on the swings opposite the park, and the rest is history.
I really enjoyed how the POVs switched in The Hollow Gods. The way the stories later linked up was great, but getting to know the backstory of each before that helped set the scene for the characters' motivations and flaws.
There is some romance (and a little bit of spice) in this book, though it's not the main focus of the story.
Both Miya & Kai are hardened by life and the way they soften each other up is so wholesome.
Kai is a slightly feral wolf-shifter, with will-kill-for-her energy, and a cute (also kind of funny) nickname for Miya. He's sarcastic, dry and enjoys teasing her. What's not to love?
The world-building in The Hollow Gods is fantastic. The folklore element has been so well written, and then the gods-lore behind that? Amazing.
I'm so excited to go onto the second book in the duology, The Echoed Realm, to see where the story continues after the whirlwind of an ending!
This is a book where women are the victims, and men are the perpetrators. It mirrors real life in the sense, but it's given a mythical reasoning. If you enjoyed books such as My Throat An Open Grave, I think you'd enjoy The Hollow Gods.
Odd things happen at Black Hollow, and the people living there live and breathe the story of the folklore villain of their town - the Dreamwalker.
Women go missing in the woods and, if they return, they're soon killed by men who claim to love them. The townsfolk believe that the woman that goes missing in the woods is not the same woman who comes back out. That the Dreamwalker has possessed them.
The Hollow Gods follows three main characters - Miya, Mason & Kai - switching between their POVs throughout as their stories start separately, but later converge.
Miya is a lonely, depressed woman living in Black Hollow. She's flunking college and can't afford to stay living in her apartment for much longer. She's drawn to the edge of the Dreamwalker's woods, and often spends time in a small park alone there.
One evening, she sees a missing woman emerge. On another evening, she makes contact with a red-eyed, large black wolf who steps out of the woods, but with tales of wolves being the Dreamwalker's omens, and the hallucinations that start haunting Miya after this, is she the next victim?
Mason is a burnt-out young doctor who is taking a break in Black Hollow after a tragedy, which he feels responsible for, befalls one of his patients. Despite coming to the town to take some time away and to switch-off, he finds himself being sucked into the lore of the town, trying to find a plausible reason for what's happening that isn't a mythical being haunting young women. His need for answers could find him in danger though.
Kai is a wolf-shifter who lives in the woods on his own. He's a little bit feral, cold and detached from human life. He also keeps waking up beside the Dreamwalker's dead victims with no recollection of what happened and what he's done. One evening, he steps out of the woods and sees a young woman on the swings opposite the park, and the rest is history.
I really enjoyed how the POVs switched in The Hollow Gods. The way the stories later linked up was great, but getting to know the backstory of each before that helped set the scene for the characters' motivations and flaws.
There is some romance (and a little bit of spice) in this book, though it's not the main focus of the story.
Both Miya & Kai are hardened by life and the way they soften each other up is so wholesome.
Kai is a slightly feral wolf-shifter, with will-kill-for-her energy, and a cute (also kind of funny) nickname for Miya. He's sarcastic, dry and enjoys teasing her. What's not to love?
The world-building in The Hollow Gods is fantastic. The folklore element has been so well written, and then the gods-lore behind that? Amazing.
I'm so excited to go onto the second book in the duology, The Echoed Realm, to see where the story continues after the whirlwind of an ending!
This is a book where women are the victims, and men are the perpetrators. It mirrors real life in the sense, but it's given a mythical reasoning. If you enjoyed books such as My Throat An Open Grave, I think you'd enjoy The Hollow Gods.
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Honestly, one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It’s paced very slow, but the way everything is written held my attention for the entire book. I think if I had read it within days of starting it, then it would have been a 5-star read. I took too many breaks (dumb homework) and it pulled me out of the story. It’s more mysterious than my usual reads and held many interconnected storylines that eventually came together. Kai, oh lord, I love this man. He’s so real and overpowering, it was a delightful breather from the structured male narrative of other romantasy books. He felt like a real “human” being, and the way he interacted with Miya had me kicking my feet and laughing out loud. Even Mason (not a second love interest, just a quirky doctor) kept me entertained and wondering how he’d fit in with the plot. Overall, fantastic read and I’m excited for the 2nd in the duology.
