A review by rtwack
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The pacing was slow, almost unbearable, and I found myself most of the time skimming the pages waiting for it to get back to the “Hollow Places” and the not the struggles of the main character’s divorce or her trying to wrap her head around the only interesting thing that’s come up in like 2 or 3 chapters. But I feel like this was redeemed with the story’s captivating ending. It was tense, and emotional, and had a very nice resolution and the author’s note only added to the feel of the ending, like a journey’s end type feel. The center of the story is based around a taxidermy museum that is run by the main character in her uncle’s stead, and the little coffee shop connected to it where she ends up befriending the resident barista, and in the author’s note she explains how she drew inspiration for the idea of the museum from various museums she’s visited throughout her life, each one listed by name, and how The Black Hen, which is the coffee shop in the story, is based off her own resident coffee shop, Café Diem, where she goes to write and enjoy the company of the staff, whom she also dedicated this book to. At first my biggest complaint was how the “Hollow Places” was never elaborated or explored as much as I expected and hoped for, but in the end I feel it’s not so much a lack of world building but trying to preserve the mystery of this strange dimension that the characters stumble into, and it works, because I’m frustrated I want to know more about it and that sense of frustration is what kept me hooked throughout the story even when I felt like it was dragging on too much for me to finish properly. In the end, it was a captivating story and a nice homage to the author’s roots, and how she drove inspiration from said roots and Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows” to craft this story it what drove this book home for me, along with its satisfying ending.