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A review by thebakersbooks
All the Inside Howling by Gregory Ashe
4.0
4/5 stars — missing some of Book 1's atmosphere, but still darkly powerful
All the Inside Howling is the second installment in the Hollow Folk series. Psychic high-schooler Vie reluctantly accepts help from a few classmates as he confronts his old enemy, Mr. Big Empty, along with a mysterious new threat.
I enjoyed the continuation of Vie's story, particularly his progress toward developing his psychic powers and accepting help from people who care about him. This book was a bit less grim than Mr. Big Empty, for which I was grateful. Gregory Ashe has a knack for writing dark, tense mysteries, but I appreciated seeing some indication that humanity isn't all bad in his eyes. (That said, the story was still full of heavy content, and my list of the major warnings is below.)
I've got a few reasons this novel was four stars instead of five. Firstly, All the Inside Howling lacked some of the atmospheric spookiness of the first book. Secondly, the threat level seemed like a step down from the previous book; although Mr. Big Empty is still present as the big bad, he was a known evil and thus less scary than when he could've been anyone. Finally, there were a couple of secondary character descriptions that came across as (in my opinion) slightly racist. The first was an Armenian cab driver with an "unpronounceable name"; the second, several references to a female character's "canted" eyes, which sounded too similar to describing an Asian person's "slanted" eyes. I'm also starting to notice that only "bad" characters are fat or ugly, but I'm reserving judgment on that for now because Vie's inner monologue involves describing unique physical features in detail.
Those issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the book! The high point for me was Vie's deepening friendship with Becca, because Becca is incredible. She heartily objects to being used as a bad guy's bait for Vie, she challenges Vie's subconscious misogyny, and she joins the ranks of people doing their best to feed Vie something other than the free burgers and fries he gets at work. Jokes aside, though:
Ashe's Hollow Folk series still has my attention! I'm glad there are two more books to hopefully flesh out more of the side characters the way this book did with Austin and Becca. Character is one of the author's strong suits, so I'd love to see Vie's relationships and friendships grow in the future.
** content warnings (not a comprehensive list; please tread with caution!): graphic violence, brief mention of sexual assault, child abuse, child neglect, homophobia and homophobic slurs, self-harm **
All the Inside Howling is the second installment in the Hollow Folk series. Psychic high-schooler Vie reluctantly accepts help from a few classmates as he confronts his old enemy, Mr. Big Empty, along with a mysterious new threat.
I enjoyed the continuation of Vie's story, particularly his progress toward developing his psychic powers and accepting help from people who care about him. This book was a bit less grim than Mr. Big Empty, for which I was grateful. Gregory Ashe has a knack for writing dark, tense mysteries, but I appreciated seeing some indication that humanity isn't all bad in his eyes. (That said, the story was still full of heavy content, and my list of the major warnings is below.)
I've got a few reasons this novel was four stars instead of five. Firstly, All the Inside Howling lacked some of the atmospheric spookiness of the first book. Secondly, the threat level seemed like a step down from the previous book; although Mr. Big Empty is still present as the big bad, he was a known evil and thus less scary than when he could've been anyone. Finally, there were a couple of secondary character descriptions that came across as (in my opinion) slightly racist. The first was an Armenian cab driver with an "unpronounceable name"; the second, several references to a female character's "canted" eyes, which sounded too similar to describing an Asian person's "slanted" eyes. I'm also starting to notice that only "bad" characters are fat or ugly, but I'm reserving judgment on that for now because Vie's inner monologue involves describing unique physical features in detail.
Those issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the book! The high point for me was Vie's deepening friendship with Becca, because Becca is incredible. She heartily objects to being used as a bad guy's bait for Vie, she challenges Vie's subconscious misogyny, and she joins the ranks of people doing their best to feed Vie something other than the free burgers and fries he gets at work. Jokes aside, though:
"Becca’s face was tight, white, and mottled under her eyes and across her cheeks in angry red blotches. I expected fear, horror, shock. What I saw, instead, was a woman who’d grabbed a cobra by the neck and was ready to pull out its teeth. What I saw was Becca Shockley, and God, she was amazing."
Ashe's Hollow Folk series still has my attention! I'm glad there are two more books to hopefully flesh out more of the side characters the way this book did with Austin and Becca. Character is one of the author's strong suits, so I'd love to see Vie's relationships and friendships grow in the future.
** content warnings (not a comprehensive list; please tread with caution!): graphic violence, brief mention of sexual assault, child abuse, child neglect, homophobia and homophobic slurs, self-harm **