Reviews tagging Injury/injury detail

House of Hollow, by Krystal Sutherland

90 reviews

emmaegerb's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Kidnapping, Body horror, and Injury/injury detail

dovewrites's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

3.5 - 4. The writing is of good quality and I appreciated that the author managed to keep the tone despite the book being set in modern times. This book has an incredible fairy-tale quality and it’s impressive that mentions of social media and the sims 4 did not disrupt that feeling. The explorations of femininity and the grotesque were very compelling and exciting to read in a YA novel. The character building was so interesting, I’ve read that some people feel like Iris is bland

Spoiler

but I think she’s supposed to be, she is so intimately linked to her sisters and especially to Grey- she has no self- until the end, when we see a glimmer of her becoming something more.

My only grips are that the Americanisms did disjoint me a little and If this book is a stand-alone why was the ending written like it’s setting up for a second book? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, and Injury/injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Self harm

camillaloe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Injury/injury detail, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Car accident

adi_mazig's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, and Rape

Moderate: Murder, Child death, Abandonment, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide, Violence, Drug use, Vomit, Stalking, and Grief

feedmefiction's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Abandonment

thyroyalreader's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I’m not a horror fan, but the last few chapters of this book made it worth it!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Body horror, Gore, Stalking, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Alcohol, Child death, Blood, Misogyny, and Death

ericageorge91's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was okay. I liked how dark it got towards the end. That was interesting. 

That being said, I was really annoyed in the beginning and middle. I was intrigued about the story, but the sister codependency was…something else. I also didn’t care for the “Me and my sisters were sooo beautiful. We’re all tall, blonde, and thin, and sooo beautiful. And we have such a huge appetite and eat all the time but are still so tall, skinny, and sooooo beautiful” of it all. That was so boring to me. There is not a single chapter that goes by where their beauty is not mentioned. This book is a constant swing between, “Does Iris want to be her sister or fuck her? News at 11.”

Umm, this book is disgusting. Literally disgusting. You’ll see various descriptions of dead, rotting things that sometimes involves insects. I just…Tender is the Flesh didn’t seem all that bad compared to this 🤢

I’m a little confused about some things. Like, I feel like there were moments when the main character was trying to have her feminist moment like, “Ugh, isn’t it sad how men can be such creeps?!” But then…your sisters literally walk around bewitching, touching, and kissing people without their consents so…..🤨

I’m also a bit confused as to their background story? The other spirits in the Halfway seemed like catatonic and didn’t do shit. Why were they so different? And Grey was just this murder-savvy little girl? What? Are they all older? I just wish that story was developed more. There was so much buildup and I expected more explanation of what tf was happening. 

TW: Attempted kidnapping, bullying, sexual assault (forceful kissing/lip biting), physical abuse (hands on throat, a slap), suicide, drug use, alcoholism, binge eating (in a magical related sense but still), murder, attempted rape, 

Rep: Sapphic MCs (lesbian and bi/pan)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Murder, Stalking, Body horror, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Child death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Bullying, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Minor: Physical abuse

ellereadsalot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

House of Hollow is a gorgeously written, dark and twisted fairytale set in modern-day Scotland. Iris knows she and her two sisters haven't been normal since they were kidnapped as children. She is determined to figure out exactly who took them, what happened to them, and why they seem to have otherworldly powers. Iris leads readers on a nightmarish journey: through magic doors, coming face-to-face with the walking dead, cursed kisses, and long-lost family members.

This book is totally out of my wheelhouse, but I'm so glad I gave it a chance! It's a fast, fun read, but you should definitely check out trigger/content warnings before reading as the book can get fairly graphic in its depiction of gruesome imagery. If you like Stranger Things, you'll like this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Self harm, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

nikenacs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

[Book club - November 2022]

Not the biggest fan of this in the beginning, but it really won me over in the end. A tad too YA for my taste, but that's a me problem. Had I read this in my teenage years, I would have been absolutely /obsessed/.

The strong part of this book is definitely the finale, or generally everything that takes place after the hospital. This is where everything that has been laid out before really pays off. The main strong point of the book is that Sutherland is fantastic at describing surroundings, smells, sounds, sensations, all her horrors feel very tangible. The mix between strange natural beauty and body horror worked very well. 

Unfortunately, this strongly descriptive style also felt like one of the main downsides to me. The book is VERY Tell, Don't Show, and I felt like very obvious things were being spelled out for me again and again. I could see most plot points/twists coming a mile away. Maybe this is a YA thing, though, and I really am just a little too old already. The pacing was odd in some places as well.

Overall, it didn't wow me, but it was pretty good. I probably wouldn't have stuck with it if it hadn't been for the book club, but I'm glad I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Vomit, Death, Violence, Gun violence, Gore, Grief, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Rape

Moderate: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/injury detail, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

lyssb's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Stalking, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Stalking

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Vomit