Book one in The Hollow trilogy
2 stars (originally 5 stars)
Abbey’s best friend, Kristen, has gone missing. She’s wracked with guilt, confusion, and wonders what happened to her friend. It doesn’t help that Kristen’s parents have decided to bury a coffin without Kristen inside of it. At the funeral, Abbey meets a strange boy with white hair and a black steak. Her world has been turned upside by the loss of her best friend, but who is this mysterious boy who keeps her company in the cemetery. This was one of emo thirteen-year-old Sarah’s favorite books. I loved it because of its ambiance and I connected with Abbey’s depression and love for the macabre—legend of Sleepy Hollow, the cemetery, and moody boys. Twenty-year-old Sarah does not share the same sentiments. The ambiance fluctuates between kind of foreboding and overwhelmingly chessy. This book wants to be a ghost story but isn’t one until the last two chapters. I remember loving the big reveal and it was why I loved the book so much when I was younger, but as someone who has read more books, this is rushed and poorly plotted. It feels almost like Verday remembered that she needed to finish the book someway because by chapter 23 out of 25, Abbey is working on a science fair project and doing a lot of borrowing inconsequential things that don’t affect the story at all. It’s not horrible, but it’s underwhelming. Verday has promise. There were times where I really liked her descriptions of the landscape and her intertwining of the legend of Sleepy Hollow to the town the novel is set in and its relation to the story, but this is 85% about Abbey mooning over Caspian. It’s boring and cliché. It is a steaming pile of instalove and angsty teenage moaning about true love not being fair and tragic and yada yada yada.
Whimsical Writing Scale: 2
Abbey is a drag. I appreciate that she is a character struggling with depression, but she is very empty. I think that’s what Verday was going for and she succeeds in that depiction, but people are more than their depression and I would have liked more characterization. I did like that Abbey was passionate about perfume making. It’s unique and it’s been a character trait that I’ve remembered for years. She is too boy obsessed for me to really care though, so I don’t know. I couldn’t tell at times if she was mourning the loss of a friend or the cold-shoulder of her heart throb. It was unconvincing.
Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 2.25
Caspian… what a name. Someone really loves the Chronicles of Narnia and it’s appeal to sounding like a goth kid’s attempt at rebranding themselves during their teen years. I used to think he was so swoon worthy, but I can’t tell you one thing about Caspian besides his affinity for classic literature and always showing up when Abbey is really sad and needs him most. He is soulless. An empty shell of a person and why Abbey lusts after him is beyond me.
Swoon Worthy Scale: 1
The Villain- Pretty sure Verday forgot about writing one in. There’s this mysterious plot about Kristen having two journals and living a double life. I suspect it is leading up to a villain for the future, but this novel is boring. There’s no suspense. No terror. Just the moonings of a teenage girl.
Villain Scale: ???
That Ben guy was annoying. I think he’s supposed to be the Jacob end of the love triangle, but he’s weird. Who sees a girl that he doesn’t know but has forced his friendship upon (creepily and ineffectively I may add) a girl at a restaurant with family while on a date and ask to sit with these strangers? It was the most awkward thing (outside of Abbey’s pining) that I had to endure listening to. Also, who is Kristen? I keep being told and shown memories of them together, but who was she as a person. She wasn’t just a friend. My friends are people with qualities and I can list all the things I love about them and why I value their friendship while also telling stories about times we hung out, but Abbey seems to only be able to relay memories and not reasons why she loved her friend.
Character Scale: 2
This reread was a bust. It proved to me that I really have grown as a reader and my tastes have changed drastically. I do plan on checking out the sequel because I’ve heard the writing and story improves. We shall see.
Plotastic Scale: 2
Cover Thoughts: Back in the day, I read that ugly hardcover, but I love the necklace cover. It is beautiful.
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2011
The Hollow is one of my favorite books. I loved Abby and Caspian they were such good characters. Abby struggles with the death of her best friend and ends up meeting Caspian and falls for him. I liked the paranormal twist that was thrown into the mix, especially since it was vampires. I love vampire novels, but I like having a mix of other paranormal creatures and this book took the cake for a good jaw-dropping shocker.
Are there any books that you've reread that you stopped loving? Have you read The Hollow? What are your thoughts on the sequels if you've read them? Let me know down below in the comments!
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