Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

13 reviews

bloomingrose92's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

While horror isn't really my thing, this book was incredibly well written. I particularly liked the descriptions that Sutherland gave. They provided a strong sense of rotting darkness throughout the book with novel phrases I'd never heard before.

And the twist of them not be chased by something that hides in the dark, but being the thing that hides in the dark was excellent. That they killed the three little Hollow girls, stole their bodies, then left them, unburied, as they took over the Hollow sisters' lives. I especially liked the line that Grey called out to the Hollow sisters for help, and they listened, because Grey was a little girl too. And the masked killer haunting them is actually the Hollow's father, coerced by their unholy magic to suicide, and refusing to pass on so that he can finally bring down his children's killers? Chef's kiss. I loved the detail of him finding his children's discarded bodies in the Halfway place, and making graves for them to finally rest. I have a particular fondness for protagonists putting everything they have into fighting a big bad, just to find out that they were the bad they were fighting. And the characterization of our protagonist in this book as a mousy bookworm who just wants to escape the weirdness of her past adds to the twist.

A well-written book, with unlikeable characters that only adds to the ultimate payoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

sylvestra's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Gun violence, and Body horror

imskylow's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Dark and twisty and interesting. All of the descriptions had me glued to the pages. The death and decay vibe was just so prevalent everywhere but described with such tangible imagery. 

A WHOLE star off for that egregious kiss though. Did not need that to be in the story. We can have platonic relationships between sexes too, you know 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child death, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Bullying

ilaxaria's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Vomit, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Child death, Body horror, Blood, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Gore

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Stalking, Self harm, Gun violence, and Drug use

Minor: Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Cursing

extraterrestrialcrisis's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Vomit, Child death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Stalking, Kidnapping, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Murder, Body horror, Blood, and Addiction

brotestantethic's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

charmingly written. words spread past the page like mold and rot and flowers. derivative of stranger thing’s “the upside down.” semi surprising twist? sorta? easy to devour.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

toffishay's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A dark, exciting, mysterious fairytale. There are some heavy themes and things certainly get intense, but I was really pleased by the way the story comes together...even when things get dark and sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Gore, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Vomit, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Body horror, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

There are some detailed descriptions of rot and death that some readers might be sensitive to.

kt2e56's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Okay so this is described as a dark fairytale on here, but it’s actually a bleak fairytale. One of the very few books I’ve read that doesn’t waste a single page. It genuinely holds you captive from beginning to end. Nothing feels wasteful. Nothing feels unnecessary. All of the characters are compelling. The twists and turns and reveals feel earned. I just really loved this book a lot. Krystal Sutherland has such a visceral voice as a writer, I can really feel and see and touch and smell and taste EVERYTHING she puts on the page.

Very much looking forward to reading more from her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Vomit

katiedykema's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I really wanted to love this book… but it was definitely not for me. I was hoping for something halfway between Small Favors and the Raven Cycle but that’s not really what this delivered. It was not all that creepy or dark like I had expected; it had its moments but overall it was just… average. I wish it hadn’t taken place in modern day because it definitely ruined the atmosphere a lot of the time. It also led to weird stuff like Vivi being a walking stereotype, Grey a fashion designer for literally no reason to the plot, and wayyy less horror. The plot was overall pretty confusing because it felt like the beginning really dragged, and then all of the sudden they were doing a bunch of random things that didn’t connect very well. It was at times difficult to pinpoint what the characters’ end goal was and the villain was poorly developed in my opinion. Honestly all of the characters were pretty unlikeable or uninteresting. The ending was pretty crazy but less impactful because of how much I really didn’t care about the characters. 
Overall decent I guess but not as atmospheric and creepy as the description advertised, and it was often kind of boring. 

Okay… why the hell did Gabe kill Tyler? I understand him wanting to kill the changelings but damn Tyler did nothing wrong; I thought Gabe was supposed to be this sweet character… makes no sense. Also the very ending was just weird. They find out this crazy thing about themselves and, for one thing Cate just accepts it and still wants Iris around, and they also just don’t do anything about Grey even though she is the real villain? I don’t know but I would definitely not let her just go on with her celebrity life after that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Suicide, Death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Sexual assault, Bullying, Gun violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Self harm

mo345's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

5.0

the weirdest and creepiest book i’ve ever read. i couldn’t put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Grief, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Stalking

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, and Self harm