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bvrnthewitch 's review for:
The Hollow
by Jessica Verday
Even though I've never read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I've heard a lot of good reviews about this series and have wanted to read it for a while. So when my friend lent it to me, I started to read it almost immediately. Whilst I found it hooking and found myself reading late into the night, after I finished it I found myself really disappointed.
So the background story to the plot itself, I loved. I thought the idea of basing a modern novel around the American Legend was brilliant on Verday's part, and I haven't seen anything else like it. But the plot itself? I didn't like that so much. The beginning was really good, and I found myself unable to put it down, wanting Abbey to learn more about her best friend's death so in turn, I would too. But that didn't happen, exactly, which was where it's downfall began. If I had read this when it had first came out and there had only been one installment, then I'd definitely give this book a one-star rating; even books in a series need to have that finality to the end of that particular novel, but this did not. Most of me did keeping reading this because all the way through it, I kept thinking, Okay so I'm sure that pretty soon something interesting will happen. And it did - literally within the last 100 pages, if that. It all kicked off, and if that had happened earlier, then this novel would have been brilliant. But too little, too late.
Even with the characters, I wasn't completely sure I loved them or hated them. At first, I liked Abbey and Caspian, but as the book wore on, I found them gullible, irritating and just unrealistic. Abbey seemed to break into tears every five seconds, and Caspian would definitely win the award for Sending The Most Mixed Signals. But I still couldn't completely make up my mind, because I kept on reading because I wanted to find out what would happen to the pair. And to be honest, it kind of lead to nothing - and I know there are more books to come (which I will read, despite this bad review) but it still didn't give me any closure.
However, despite all my complaints, I did keep on reading because there just is something about this series that kept me going. I don't know whether it's because half of the mysteries are still unsolved, or just because it is nice to read a book every one in a while that doesn't involve thinking (to a certain extent, anyway).
So overall, I think if you like ghost stories and books based around older novels, then you should definitely read this. If you like Sarah Dessen novels but also like your reads a bit more paranormal, then I think this would be up your street for sure.
So the background story to the plot itself, I loved. I thought the idea of basing a modern novel around the American Legend was brilliant on Verday's part, and I haven't seen anything else like it. But the plot itself? I didn't like that so much. The beginning was really good, and I found myself unable to put it down, wanting Abbey to learn more about her best friend's death so in turn, I would too. But that didn't happen, exactly, which was where it's downfall began. If I had read this when it had first came out and there had only been one installment, then I'd definitely give this book a one-star rating; even books in a series need to have that finality to the end of that particular novel, but this did not. Most of me did keeping reading this because all the way through it, I kept thinking, Okay so I'm sure that pretty soon something interesting will happen. And it did - literally within the last 100 pages, if that. It all kicked off, and if that had happened earlier, then this novel would have been brilliant. But too little, too late.
Even with the characters, I wasn't completely sure I loved them or hated them. At first, I liked Abbey and Caspian, but as the book wore on, I found them gullible, irritating and just unrealistic. Abbey seemed to break into tears every five seconds, and Caspian would definitely win the award for Sending The Most Mixed Signals. But I still couldn't completely make up my mind, because I kept on reading because I wanted to find out what would happen to the pair. And to be honest, it kind of lead to nothing - and I know there are more books to come (which I will read, despite this bad review) but it still didn't give me any closure.
However, despite all my complaints, I did keep on reading because there just is something about this series that kept me going. I don't know whether it's because half of the mysteries are still unsolved, or just because it is nice to read a book every one in a while that doesn't involve thinking (to a certain extent, anyway).
So overall, I think if you like ghost stories and books based around older novels, then you should definitely read this. If you like Sarah Dessen novels but also like your reads a bit more paranormal, then I think this would be up your street for sure.