dreamreader 's review for:

The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski

3.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Just like the first book in this duology, The Midnight Lie, I found the author's prose to really stand out. She's a beautiful writer, and I really enjoyed a lot of the more reflective moments in this book. I read that one doesn't need to be familiar with the Winner's Trilogy to read this duology, and I think that's true for the first book, but not for this one. I liked the perspectives I got here but ultimately felt like this book lacked world-building (it's probably in the Winner's Trilogy, which I haven't read) and because of that lack, I didn't truly understand the scope of this world or the stakes of the conflict. I'm also not a huge fan of really tense and/or exciting moments happening off page and then a narrator telling us afterwards that they happened. This happens twice in this book, and if I had instead seen these things happen, I would have perhaps understood something about why two supposedly big battles actually matter. But we don't get to see them, and so I continued to not fully understand the stakes of the conflict. It feels like lazy writing, and I'm sure that this author is capable of more. Despite all of that, I did still like reading this book and don't regret the time I spent doing so.