Reviews

The Hollow Heart by Marie Rutkoski

kookeybird's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.75

Confusing, rushed ending. Nirrim committed unspeakable crimes and only acknowledges it as a sort of footnote at the very end. Sid was whiny and petulant for 200 pages of this book. Idk. Just disappointing 

cheeny's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am actually so sad that this did not become a series of multiple sorties and characters. The world building was so incredibly drawing that I got sucked in and don’t want to leave. I wish I could just drop myself into their world and roam around learning all that I could about it.

What a wonderfully amazing way to interpret love in all its glory, it had a classic fairy tail mythological feel to it but with a small twist of horror and gore. Just amazing writing as well as voice actor for the audio book. 

kattyy__101's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

arrow_als's review against another edition

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Wasn't enjoying the book.

endlessmidnight's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

A pretty good conclusion, the ending fits, of someone who asks even if they're not perfect, does it mean it's the end, and also of the gods games and their cruelty perhaps. A wonderful end to the story and it's been a while and I remember them, and the clarity of what is happening in this mystical and mythical world. One of my still favourite YA writers. 

lungfishopolis's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

4.25

claireisinthedeep's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

xlpurple18's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Despite the controversy over this book, it was so well done and well written. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because if you’re expecting Sid and Nirrim to have a lot of quality time together, that is not what you’re going to get, and it’s really disappointing. I read to the end because I had no idea how everything would’ve been tied together, but I’ll admit I was hoping to see more of Sid and Nirrim. believe the last couple of chapters
where Sid saves Nirrim and Nirrim surrenders her ruthless cause
would have made a great third book. It would have been amazing and much better to get a third book exploring where Norris goes from here, and how her and Sid’s love evolves and grows, then been given insight to Nirrim’s psychological recovery after all of the damage she caused. That said, it was tied together beautifully, although it felt rushed and felt like we didn’t get the rich end of the story. Marie Rutkoski did a beautiful job of depicting Nirrim’s ruthless self while not overloading her POV, and giving us more time with Sid, whose character development in this book is phenomenal as she navigates the complicated relationship of parent and child, and of her relationship with herself. Both kinds of love, love between parent and child and love of self, are so hard to put into words, but Marie Rutkoski did it beautifully, in a way that we all see ourselves in somehow. It’s difficult to write such a complicated, multi-layered narrative, but she did that beautifully. Despite the book feeling like it was rushed at the end—and we could have used more of Sid and Nirrim’s growing and loving relationship, and Nirrim’s recovery—it was still written beautifully. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

molliewallace337's review against another edition

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

3.0

fantasmic_reads's review against another edition

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

2.5

I wouldn't have actually started reading this series, but my friend bought this book for me in a book swap! I'm very grateful for reading the first book but this one just didn't hit the mark for me. 

The pacing was just SO slow. I think everything started happening in the last 50 pages and everything before that was just a blur since I literally can't remember shit. I didn't like reading Sid's POV at all, even though I love Sid, and it felt like the character was very OOC at times with pages and pages of descriptions that just didn't sound like her character at all. 

During the last 50 pages, the main characters finally actually reunite but it's really anticlimactic (?) and some war starts (?) and then it just ends (?). I think it was just really rushed honestly. 

Also the Sid subplot just didn't make any sense as to why it was there. I wanted the main plot to continue much more than the side story about her mother and it felt weird that the main plot kind of felt pushed to the side? The god pov also took me out SO MUCH. Why was it there??

I've also just found out that this like a sequel duology to a trilogy and maybe if I had read that I would like this book more? I'm thoroughly disappointed though.