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3.53 AVERAGE
3.53 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
Smalltown folklore, interwoven memory, and an inheritance of violence blend together in this novel by A. J. Vrana.
“The Hollow Gods” follows three primary characters: Miya, the restless townie who can’t seem to meet her potential; Kai, the troubled loner who carries lifetimes of baggage; and Mason, the emotional vulnerable out-of-towner who is searching for something he cannot quite define. We find all of them in the small town of Black Hollow, where legends of an angry spirit and her familiars haunt the community, supposedly disappearing young women, who, when they do return to town, often meet violent deaths shortly thereafter. As town legends collapse on themselves our three protagonists struggle to make sense of what is happening to them, and to the town, fighting all sorts of internal and external forces to discover something resembling truth.
There is a lot I can say about this novel. I will start with what I enjoyed. The central story is really enjoyable, taking bits and pieces of different types of folklore and combining them in an enjoyable way. The chapters switch perspective between the three protagonists, which always the story to move forward quickly and time jumps to happen naturally, and none of the timeline feels rushed or haphazard. In addition, the tone of the writing changes with each of the three characters, reflecting the difference in their natures not just in the depictions of their actions but also in the omniscient/narrative prose that makes up their sections, and this was a nice way of keeping the reader sunk into the world and the ways the diverse protagonists engage it. Additionally, the book reads really quickly. It has more than 50 chapters but they are all short, so there is always forward momentum, and for the most part each is well-crafted enough to encourage a compulsion to move forward to see what happens. Although the end itself isn’t wildly unpredictable, especially to anyone who enjoys mystery and folk-horror genres, it wasn’t the easiest or most boring resolution. It worked to complicate what we know about stories, relationships, and time, and overall was a satisfying conclusion to the story, even though it left a lot of things unanswered.
So, I enjoyed the story itself, the structure, and the primary characters. But I have to say, the writing seemed very forced. Every sentence was filled with adjectives, adverbs, similes, and metaphors, to the point where whenever a new character was introduced you could guarantee there would be at least two adjectives describing their hair. There are a few stray secondary characters that fulfill specific plot functions and feel like generic archetypes in doing so, granted all of their physical attributes were well-described, but aside from our three protagonists there was a lot left unexplained or understated, about he town and the people in it, and given the story I really feel like the town itself could have become a more central character and that would have greatly served the story, to make it more robust and satisfying. Some of it just felt clunky, like it was working so hard to make a brilliant, multi-colored mural that it forget the beauty of the blank space, of editing and reserving. If you read this sentence “Miya considered whether her marbles had rolled away as she leapt over the canyon of logic and expected to land safely on the other side. But she did.” and don’t wonder whether maybe there could have been a more light-handed approach then you will love this novel. If, instead, you read that and shook your head a little, then it might be a little difficult for you to get lost in this novel. There is just an abundance of excessively descriptive language that just really felt like it was trying too hard. It wasn’t enough to turn me off from the novel, but I would be hesitant to recommend it to others without knowing their tolerance of this kind of heavy-handed language. This is the first in a duology, and although it ends in a comfortable way that doesn’t require you to read the second to answer some burning question, I will still seek out the second novel, but it isn’t something I am seeking out with any urgency.
:::Note: I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:::
“The Hollow Gods” follows three primary characters: Miya, the restless townie who can’t seem to meet her potential; Kai, the troubled loner who carries lifetimes of baggage; and Mason, the emotional vulnerable out-of-towner who is searching for something he cannot quite define. We find all of them in the small town of Black Hollow, where legends of an angry spirit and her familiars haunt the community, supposedly disappearing young women, who, when they do return to town, often meet violent deaths shortly thereafter. As town legends collapse on themselves our three protagonists struggle to make sense of what is happening to them, and to the town, fighting all sorts of internal and external forces to discover something resembling truth.
There is a lot I can say about this novel. I will start with what I enjoyed. The central story is really enjoyable, taking bits and pieces of different types of folklore and combining them in an enjoyable way. The chapters switch perspective between the three protagonists, which always the story to move forward quickly and time jumps to happen naturally, and none of the timeline feels rushed or haphazard. In addition, the tone of the writing changes with each of the three characters, reflecting the difference in their natures not just in the depictions of their actions but also in the omniscient/narrative prose that makes up their sections, and this was a nice way of keeping the reader sunk into the world and the ways the diverse protagonists engage it. Additionally, the book reads really quickly. It has more than 50 chapters but they are all short, so there is always forward momentum, and for the most part each is well-crafted enough to encourage a compulsion to move forward to see what happens. Although the end itself isn’t wildly unpredictable, especially to anyone who enjoys mystery and folk-horror genres, it wasn’t the easiest or most boring resolution. It worked to complicate what we know about stories, relationships, and time, and overall was a satisfying conclusion to the story, even though it left a lot of things unanswered.
So, I enjoyed the story itself, the structure, and the primary characters. But I have to say, the writing seemed very forced. Every sentence was filled with adjectives, adverbs, similes, and metaphors, to the point where whenever a new character was introduced you could guarantee there would be at least two adjectives describing their hair. There are a few stray secondary characters that fulfill specific plot functions and feel like generic archetypes in doing so, granted all of their physical attributes were well-described, but aside from our three protagonists there was a lot left unexplained or understated, about he town and the people in it, and given the story I really feel like the town itself could have become a more central character and that would have greatly served the story, to make it more robust and satisfying. Some of it just felt clunky, like it was working so hard to make a brilliant, multi-colored mural that it forget the beauty of the blank space, of editing and reserving. If you read this sentence “Miya considered whether her marbles had rolled away as she leapt over the canyon of logic and expected to land safely on the other side. But she did.” and don’t wonder whether maybe there could have been a more light-handed approach then you will love this novel. If, instead, you read that and shook your head a little, then it might be a little difficult for you to get lost in this novel. There is just an abundance of excessively descriptive language that just really felt like it was trying too hard. It wasn’t enough to turn me off from the novel, but I would be hesitant to recommend it to others without knowing their tolerance of this kind of heavy-handed language. This is the first in a duology, and although it ends in a comfortable way that doesn’t require you to read the second to answer some burning question, I will still seek out the second novel, but it isn’t something I am seeking out with any urgency.
:::Note: I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review:::
I received The Hollow Gods from Netgalley for an honest review.
Based in current day North America, it follows Kai, Miya, and Mason as they uncover and unravel the mythology of the Dreamwalker and the cycle of missing girls.
The main characters are introduced early on and motivations are made clear from the start though as the weaving of the characters and story progresses these motivations become more unclear and tangled.
A lot of good world building to support the mythology that is being developed as this is the first of a duology, but by no means does this feel unfinished an waiting for the second book.
A play on some of the usual fantasy/horror tropes that has worked well. Wolves, ravens, dream states, all wind together and build to a great conclusion.
Well-paced and gripping for most of the book, it took me a day and a half to finish.
Based in current day North America, it follows Kai, Miya, and Mason as they uncover and unravel the mythology of the Dreamwalker and the cycle of missing girls.
The main characters are introduced early on and motivations are made clear from the start though as the weaving of the characters and story progresses these motivations become more unclear and tangled.
A lot of good world building to support the mythology that is being developed as this is the first of a duology, but by no means does this feel unfinished an waiting for the second book.
A play on some of the usual fantasy/horror tropes that has worked well. Wolves, ravens, dream states, all wind together and build to a great conclusion.
Well-paced and gripping for most of the book, it took me a day and a half to finish.
I REALLY wanted to love this book based on the summary and what I’ve seen, but for some reason it just didn’t do much for me. The dialogue was really disconnected, and a lot of lost details between the story.
"This town's legends, its mysteries, and its secrets - they make you feel alive, don't they?"
HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO MY FAVORITE DEBUT OF THE YEAR!
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
nothing bad about what I read, I just wasn't hooked and the genre wasn't what I thought
medium-paced
Boo. Kai has stupid internal monologues; he’s supposed to be this dangerous, insane murderer with no moral compass and it falls so very flat. He gets mad at the most asinine things and doesn’t get mad at legitimately infuriating things.
In fact, all the characters were kind of insufferable.
Author has a good idea but all around has zero ability to tell this story. This could have been really something… but they were too busy telling rather than showing, and using far too many metaphors.
In fact, all the characters were kind of insufferable.
Author has a good idea but all around has zero ability to tell this story. This could have been really something… but they were too busy telling rather than showing, and using far too many metaphors.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
i liked a lot of the descriptions in the book, but some of the dialogue felt stilted and took me out of it at times. i like mason's character in theory, but not necessarily in practice. my experience reading this book was a lot like my experience reading the raven boys (book 1 of the raven cycle), although i think the pov transitions in trc are more effective than in this novel.
i wish there had been further exploration of the town's objectification of miya, because i really liked that aspect. i think the book would have benefited from being longer if it stuck with the 3 person pov structure. miya/kai relationship needed more development but i thought it was cute
i wish there had been further exploration of the town's objectification of miya, because i really liked that aspect. i think the book would have benefited from being longer if it stuck with the 3 person pov structure. miya/kai relationship needed more development but i thought it was cute