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jellystorm's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-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? No
5.0
Once again, Katrina Halle has hit all of my dark little buttons. Hollow is a darkly gothic retelling that seeps into the bones and lives there. The [horror] feels oppressive, close and claustrophobic enough that my heart was racing right along with the characters'. Ichabod's fear and rationalizations feel genuine and give him a more human flavor than many MMCs I've read in the past.
The tension (both fearful and sexual) is thick and only gets more so as the book goes on, Brom's return ratcheting everything up to eleven.
I am in love with every single thing about this book and I can't wait to start the second!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Death of parent and Gaslighting
fairytalefootnotes's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Sexual content, and Violence
spicycronereads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It was…fine. It read quickly and the spice was decent. It slips into euphemism quite a bit, which was surprising given how explicit the author seems to want to be. There are MF and MM pairings. Kind of hoped we would get the MMF at the end, but alas, no. There is some light kink, but it felt a little off.
The Kat / Crane dynamic felt rushed. And at the same time, I have no idea what happened over 300+ pages because the plot didn’t seem to actually develop. The author says this was not originally intended to be a duet, and I think that might be part of the problem. I will likely read the second one, because so much world building has been established in this one, I am hoping it actually pays off in the second. And since it is on KU, it doesn’t cost me anything.
In terms of diversity, it’s complicated. The author says that the characters have autism and ADHD, but I have to admit that this did not really seem to come across in the writing. Which is fine. I don’t like when authors seem to clumsily write what they think is a neurodiverse character. So maybe it did come across and I’m just so used to people doing it poorly that I didn’t notice. There’s one Black character who is so minor I don’t think he even ever has any dialogue. Seems a bit tokenizing. There are bi characters and we do see that played out in the pairings, so I would say this book is strongest in terms of sexual diversity.
I think more than anything this book will be good for me to figure out which social media book reviewers I actually align with and those that maybe I won’t give as much weight to.
The Kat / Crane dynamic felt rushed. And at the same time, I have no idea what happened over 300+ pages because the plot didn’t seem to actually develop. The author says this was not originally intended to be a duet, and I think that might be part of the problem. I will likely read the second one, because so much world building has been established in this one, I am hoping it actually pays off in the second. And since it is on KU, it doesn’t cost me anything.
In terms of diversity, it’s complicated. The author says that the characters have autism and ADHD, but I have to admit that this did not really seem to come across in the writing. Which is fine. I don’t like when authors seem to clumsily write what they think is a neurodiverse character. So maybe it did come across and I’m just so used to people doing it poorly that I didn’t notice. There’s one Black character who is so minor I don’t think he even ever has any dialogue. Seems a bit tokenizing. There are bi characters and we do see that played out in the pairings, so I would say this book is strongest in terms of sexual diversity.
I think more than anything this book will be good for me to figure out which social media book reviewers I actually align with and those that maybe I won’t give as much weight to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Sexual violence and Drug use
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
ofthenight98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence
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