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A review by paragraphsandpages
The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski
3.0
I desperately wanted to love this, and I loved parts of it, but overall this would've worked better as a Part 2 within The Midnight Lie instead of its own installment.
Let's start with the positives. I loved the ending, maybe because by then my expectations had lowered greatly and I didn't mind the abruptness and quickness of it, but I loved how it wrapped up with the gods and stories, which was the focus of the series overall. I also liked the god POV in this book too, and the story it told, though it's novelty wore off fast. Additionally, I did enjoy this outer perspective it seemed to bring throughout the entire book. I also still liked Sid and Nirrim, though I missed what I loved about them from the first book.
My biggest issue with this book is that it takes a loosely connected series set in the same world as The Winner's Curse and situates it firmly as a sequel series. I was hit over the head with how much of a sequel series this duology became solely because of this second book. I was still planning on reading the original trilogy at a later date, but I basically don't need to anymore because this book decided to describe, in detail, the entire plot of that trilogy. I still don't full understand why except to explain this side-side plot that was happening in Sid's point of view, and why we should care about it, but it was unnecessary for even that. We were motivated enough to see this murder/poison plot through simply by seeing how much Kestrel's potential death would break Sid and Arin, we didn't need an extended history lesson to see that. It was so frustrating and constant, and while this series was always going to be a spoiler for the trilogy in the sense that we know who survives the events of the trilogy, I didn't expect to be taught every little thing about Sid's parent's relationship and history? It was especially frustrating because Sid is motivated by wanting her own story/love story, yet her own series feels taken from her by her parents once again. It takes so long for it to be wrapped up and for Sid to return to the story started in The Midnight Lie.
I also just didn't enjoy this book as much because Nirrim and Sid spend almost the entire book apart. They're in their own worlds with their own problems, thinking of the other every once in a while, but they just feel so separate. It wouldn't have been the same regardless of if they were together or not, because Nirrim lost her heart, but it just felt like such a loss regardless. I missed their banter and how they grew together, and I missed having a story that felt strong on its own, and that didn't hinge entirely on some other series.
I guess, overall, my main frustrations from this book come from the sudden decision to make it much more of a sequel series than the first book was, and the choices that were made because of that. I still love The Midnight Lie, but if I reread, I might skip a large chunk of this book and just read the ending, because it felt like such a weird detour in the middle.
Let's start with the positives. I loved the ending, maybe because by then my expectations had lowered greatly and I didn't mind the abruptness and quickness of it, but I loved how it wrapped up with the gods and stories, which was the focus of the series overall. I also liked the god POV in this book too, and the story it told, though it's novelty wore off fast. Additionally, I did enjoy this outer perspective it seemed to bring throughout the entire book. I also still liked Sid and Nirrim, though I missed what I loved about them from the first book.
My biggest issue with this book is that it takes a loosely connected series set in the same world as The Winner's Curse and situates it firmly as a sequel series. I was hit over the head with how much of a sequel series this duology became solely because of this second book. I was still planning on reading the original trilogy at a later date, but I basically don't need to anymore because this book decided to describe, in detail, the entire plot of that trilogy. I still don't full understand why except to explain this side-side plot that was happening in Sid's point of view, and why we should care about it, but it was unnecessary for even that. We were motivated enough to see this murder/poison plot through simply by seeing how much Kestrel's potential death would break Sid and Arin, we didn't need an extended history lesson to see that. It was so frustrating and constant, and while this series was always going to be a spoiler for the trilogy in the sense that we know who survives the events of the trilogy, I didn't expect to be taught every little thing about Sid's parent's relationship and history? It was especially frustrating because Sid is motivated by wanting her own story/love story, yet her own series feels taken from her by her parents once again. It takes so long for it to be wrapped up and for Sid to return to the story started in The Midnight Lie.
I also just didn't enjoy this book as much because Nirrim and Sid spend almost the entire book apart. They're in their own worlds with their own problems, thinking of the other every once in a while, but they just feel so separate. It wouldn't have been the same regardless of if they were together or not, because Nirrim lost her heart, but it just felt like such a loss regardless. I missed their banter and how they grew together, and I missed having a story that felt strong on its own, and that didn't hinge entirely on some other series.
I guess, overall, my main frustrations from this book come from the sudden decision to make it much more of a sequel series than the first book was, and the choices that were made because of that. I still love The Midnight Lie, but if I reread, I might skip a large chunk of this book and just read the ending, because it felt like such a weird detour in the middle.