A review by sgbrux
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

5.0

You are like the death flowers that grow rampant in your wake: lovely to look at, intoxicating even, but get too close and you will soon learn that there is something rank beneath. That’s what beauty often is, in nature. A warning. A disguise.

Update: you know what? I’m bumping this up to a 5. After discussing with my friend Tessa, there are just too many great things to say about it. I see myself buying a physical copy of it and marking up the hell out of it.

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This was recommended to me yesterday by my good friend, Tessa. So of course I had to slate it at the top of my TBR! And the fact that Cindy (Read with Cindy on YT) rated it 5 stars, which she doesn’t often dole out, I had even higher expectations.

If I hadn’t just read Verity by Colleen Hoover, I think House of Hollow would’ve been 5 stars for me. It’s at least a strong 4 or 4.5. I wasn’t as shocked by the plot’s reveal as I was with Verity, and I anticipated what was happening early on, but it was still just as dark and atmospheric. Definitely worth a read if you’re looking for something fresh that feels a bit like magical realism and horror.

House of Hollow is gorgeously written with lush atmosphere and tone. The descriptions are so rich you’ll find yourself crinkling your nose as if you, too, smell the stench of rot and decay and all-things putrid. It’s that kind of immersive writing.

The dialogue between the three sisters is also sharp and cuts deep. Plenty of snark (and believable sisterly cattiness) that’ll either give you PTSD or make you laugh aloud at times.

I think it’s technically urban fantasy(?), involving lore I haven’t seen done very often, but am familiar with in a different depiction from a series of YA fantasy novels written by Amanda Hocking. It’s really intriguing and much more adult and grittier than those. HoH feels like a completely new angle on this particular lore, and it was super twisted.

Bonus points for mentions of:

• Mad Max
• Sims 4
• Smiths and Pixies
• Game of Thrones

I’ll make my ebook highlights visible so you can get a sense of the style. Highly recommend!