A review by tomatopotato
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

This was a big step down from the first book to me. I felt like not very much happened, though it took a whole book to get it across. Many of the characters or interactions irritated me because I didn't feel that they were authentic - this then pulled me out of the story a little. I also felt like, up until the last 5% of the book, it dragged. Again - I didn't feel like much happened. The ending had some interesting twists, but that was it. It often felt like the text was straining itself to match up with the photographs, even when they felt quite different from what was being described (might have annoyed me because they actually had a purpose in the first book - they were real pictures that Yakob had found. But here they are used to visualise things that the children absolutely could not have taken photographs of, and so it just doesn't feel realistic). 

Not sure why this one irritated me in these ways, when I really liked the first one. The next ones will probably be better!