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A review by theunpredictablereadsoflollie
Emilie and the Hollow World by Martha Wells
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 ⭐ Emilie and the Hollow World is a middle grade steampunk novel that follows a teen girl running away from home. Trying to get out from under the thumb of her bully Uncle, Emilie finds herself as a stowaway on a ship headed to a place she’s never heard about: The Hollow World. This Hollow World resides at the core of her world (a nod to Jules Verne) and the only way to get there is to travel along the aether currents connecting the two. Along the way, Emilie meets new friends, mentors, allies, and enemies in this unique adventure novel.
Emilie is a girl I would have worshipped if I had this book around in my tween years. She is smart, confident, stubborn, and a go-getter. She sees a problem and instead of freezing, she does her best to fix it, even when she doesn’t have a ready answer. I spent so many days fantasizing about happening upon an adventure and traveling the world. Emilie got to live this daydream.
I did have a few issues with this book. One being Emilie does read younger than her age. I went back twice to double check her age because I kept visualizing her as 11-13, maybe 14 at the oldest and not 16. Which in turn made me wonder several times “why are they just letting a child do this??” But then realizing she is nearly an adult and might have come across as more mature to the crew. This leads to my other issue of it being a bit unrealistic that as a stowaway on a research ship with zero education, she is allowed in several discussions that were meant to be private to only a few researchers. For me, it reads as something tween me wouldn’t have batted and eye at and believed Emilie just belonged. But as an adult, I’m side-eyeing all of these adults for even letting this child put her in very precarious situations, let alone leave the ship at all. I think it would have been more believable if Emilie did more sneaking around and putting herself in those situations than the adults saying "sure, you can come."
Martha Wells writes beautiful scenery and descriptive passages so well. I loved her worldbuilding and could picture every detail. Her conflict scenes are also amazing and easy to visualize. With how small this book is though, it has taken away from character development. There are so many wonderful characters that are brought in, only to just remain a name and description. I know there is a book two and I hope they’re brought back to be fleshed out a little more. I do worry with it only being two books that we will not get to see more in-depth characters. This could easily have been a 5-book series (think Fablehaven or Percy Jackson) with just exploring The Hollow World and all of the beauty it holds. I think that would allow for us to get to know Emilie more and watch her develop deeper emotional connections to the other characters.
Anyone that loves middle-grade steampunk fantasy and/or loves Martha Wells will devour this book! Now on to book two!
Emilie is a girl I would have worshipped if I had this book around in my tween years. She is smart, confident, stubborn, and a go-getter. She sees a problem and instead of freezing, she does her best to fix it, even when she doesn’t have a ready answer. I spent so many days fantasizing about happening upon an adventure and traveling the world. Emilie got to live this daydream.
I did have a few issues with this book. One being Emilie does read younger than her age. I went back twice to double check her age because I kept visualizing her as 11-13, maybe 14 at the oldest and not 16. Which in turn made me wonder several times “why are they just letting a child do this??” But then realizing she is nearly an adult and might have come across as more mature to the crew. This leads to my other issue of it being a bit unrealistic that as a stowaway on a research ship with zero education, she is allowed in several discussions that were meant to be private to only a few researchers. For me, it reads as something tween me wouldn’t have batted and eye at and believed Emilie just belonged. But as an adult, I’m side-eyeing all of these adults for even letting this child put her in very precarious situations, let alone leave the ship at all. I think it would have been more believable if Emilie did more sneaking around and putting herself in those situations than the adults saying "sure, you can come."
Martha Wells writes beautiful scenery and descriptive passages so well. I loved her worldbuilding and could picture every detail. Her conflict scenes are also amazing and easy to visualize. With how small this book is though, it has taken away from character development. There are so many wonderful characters that are brought in, only to just remain a name and description. I know there is a book two and I hope they’re brought back to be fleshed out a little more. I do worry with it only being two books that we will not get to see more in-depth characters. This could easily have been a 5-book series (think Fablehaven or Percy Jackson) with just exploring The Hollow World and all of the beauty it holds. I think that would allow for us to get to know Emilie more and watch her develop deeper emotional connections to the other characters.
Anyone that loves middle-grade steampunk fantasy and/or loves Martha Wells will devour this book! Now on to book two!