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creaturefrombooklagoon 's review for:
The Hollow Ones
by Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan
Originally posted on the book blog Creature From the Book Lagoon.
* I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Possible triggers: Child death, racism.
Let’s get the elephant in the room talked about right away. This is NOT the strain. It feels like a lot of people are really disappointed in The Hollow Ones because it is not the same feel as The Strain. And it’s true, it’s not. It doesn’t even really feel like it’s by the same authors. BUT…. The Strain is straight up ghastly bloody horror. Hollow is much more of a nod to OLD school Victorian occult detective novels, but set in a modern era. Those old occult novels were much slower with not as much action as books today. It is a much different beast all together, and it is a little unfair to compare the two different books. Del Toro is such a big fan of retro horror, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was into Victorian occult novels and detectives. I admit though, that if you are a big fan of his work and The Strain trilogy, it is hard NOT to constantly think about the differences or similarities between the two books.
I really like the concept for this story. Very interesting and it gave me enough of a mystery to keep me going through the book. I do feel like I didn’t really get to know the main characters enough even though the plot is filled with set up. By the time the book was over, I only had an inkling of what the characters were like. I also thought the creature concepts were interesting, but they too didn’t feel fully explored. I wished we had only focused on one creature and get told it’s story fully, instead of doing multi-creatures in book 1.
The Hollow Ones takes place in 3 different eras with new sets of characters for each era. Sometimes it was a little difficult for me, not to keep up, but to remember where which era left off where. The story following Blackwood’s era was a little bit confusing to me. :/ I wasn’t totally 100% sure of the why’s and the what’s about his role in everything. I mean, I get what his job title was, but it just felt like …. I don’t know… maybe it wasn’t really explained all the way or something?
The narrator did a very nice job. She was extremely convincing in the role of Odessa, and she had a lot of variety between the characters. Some people can’t pull off age differences very well, but the narrator did a pretty spot on cadence and flow for both young and old. I had never heard this narrator before. I would have no problem listening to her again.
It felt like Hollow Ones had a lot more set up then answers. I don’t know how the authors work out who does what with their books, but it did feel like del Toro was more hands off on this one? I don’t know for sure, but I would be curious to know if he was as involved as this novel as their previous collaborations? I was entertained, but I didn’t feel as WOWed as normal with something from these guys. I will be interested in book 2, just to see what the next one is like, but it wasn’t an instant MUST READ STAT!!!! situation. Still a decent book, just not as exciting as their other stuff.
* I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
Possible triggers: Child death, racism.
Let’s get the elephant in the room talked about right away. This is NOT the strain. It feels like a lot of people are really disappointed in The Hollow Ones because it is not the same feel as The Strain. And it’s true, it’s not. It doesn’t even really feel like it’s by the same authors. BUT…. The Strain is straight up ghastly bloody horror. Hollow is much more of a nod to OLD school Victorian occult detective novels, but set in a modern era. Those old occult novels were much slower with not as much action as books today. It is a much different beast all together, and it is a little unfair to compare the two different books. Del Toro is such a big fan of retro horror, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he was into Victorian occult novels and detectives. I admit though, that if you are a big fan of his work and The Strain trilogy, it is hard NOT to constantly think about the differences or similarities between the two books.
I really like the concept for this story. Very interesting and it gave me enough of a mystery to keep me going through the book. I do feel like I didn’t really get to know the main characters enough even though the plot is filled with set up. By the time the book was over, I only had an inkling of what the characters were like. I also thought the creature concepts were interesting, but they too didn’t feel fully explored. I wished we had only focused on one creature and get told it’s story fully, instead of doing multi-creatures in book 1.
The Hollow Ones takes place in 3 different eras with new sets of characters for each era. Sometimes it was a little difficult for me, not to keep up, but to remember where which era left off where. The story following Blackwood’s era was a little bit confusing to me. :/ I wasn’t totally 100% sure of the why’s and the what’s about his role in everything. I mean, I get what his job title was, but it just felt like …. I don’t know… maybe it wasn’t really explained all the way or something?
The narrator did a very nice job. She was extremely convincing in the role of Odessa, and she had a lot of variety between the characters. Some people can’t pull off age differences very well, but the narrator did a pretty spot on cadence and flow for both young and old. I had never heard this narrator before. I would have no problem listening to her again.
It felt like Hollow Ones had a lot more set up then answers. I don’t know how the authors work out who does what with their books, but it did feel like del Toro was more hands off on this one? I don’t know for sure, but I would be curious to know if he was as involved as this novel as their previous collaborations? I was entertained, but I didn’t feel as WOWed as normal with something from these guys. I will be interested in book 2, just to see what the next one is like, but it wasn’t an instant MUST READ STAT!!!! situation. Still a decent book, just not as exciting as their other stuff.