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A review by sleepy_yoshi
Hollow Empire: A Poison War Novel by Sam Hawke
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
I thought City of Lies was good, especially for a debut novel, but I think the sequel and conclusion here is even better. There are two main elements of Hawke's writing that really stand out to me. The first is the world building. There are different cultures, languages, religions, magics, and races found in the novels that makes for a very interesting and real feeling world.
The second element is the characters. The representation in this book is amazing imo, because it never feels like a character is defined entirely by just one thing. They are fleshed out, nuanced and very representative of what you might find in a city. So you have among the cast non-binary, homosexual, mental illness, disability, religious belief (extremism and faith), with complex behaviors, emotions, beliefs, etc. The world feels lived in, in part because of how well the society and the people that make up said society are written.
It's not all praise though. The pacing felt very slow to me. I did think the book could have been quite a bit shorter and been better for it. The bigger issue I have though is you alternate between two POV characters and while they are distinct from a personality standpoint their narrative voice to me is very similar. The chapters are named after the POV so you can keep it straight that way, but if you removed their names it would be very hard to distinguish which character's perspective you're in depending on the chapter.
The other thing I dislike is just preference, but I've always preferred mysteries where you can deduce the bad actors, rather than getting surprise information out of nowhere. Be that as it may, a great second novel and would highly recommend to anyone that likes their Fantasy with a lot of politics and a mystery/thriller plot.
The second element is the characters. The representation in this book is amazing imo, because it never feels like a character is defined entirely by just one thing. They are fleshed out, nuanced and very representative of what you might find in a city. So you have among the cast non-binary, homosexual, mental illness, disability, religious belief (extremism and faith), with complex behaviors, emotions, beliefs, etc. The world feels lived in, in part because of how well the society and the people that make up said society are written.
It's not all praise though. The pacing felt very slow to me. I did think the book could have been quite a bit shorter and been better for it. The bigger issue I have though is you alternate between two POV characters and while they are distinct from a personality standpoint their narrative voice to me is very similar. The chapters are named after the POV so you can keep it straight that way, but if you removed their names it would be very hard to distinguish which character's perspective you're in depending on the chapter.
The other thing I dislike is just preference, but I've always preferred mysteries where you can deduce the bad actors, rather than getting surprise information out of nowhere. Be that as it may, a great second novel and would highly recommend to anyone that likes their Fantasy with a lot of politics and a mystery/thriller plot.