A review by bookshelvesandtealeaves
Hollow Earth by Carole E. Barrowman, John Barrowman

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I think if I’d read this when I was 8 and not 28, I would have fallen in love with it. It’s fun and exciting and magical.

But it is very middle grade. And not the kind of amazing middle grade that can be loved by all ages. It’s…childish. Lazily written feels more accurate, but I don’t want to sound like I think all middle grade is written like that.

The world building was fairly nonexistent. Things would be partially explained, then something would happen that completely undid the partial explanation. The twins powers and the extent of them was still a major unknown by the end. I still don’t quite understand how ANY of their powers work, if there’s rules, what they’re bound by, etc. It just kind of felt like the authors were making it up as they went, changing these kids abilities to get them out of whatever situation they were in.

The plot was engaging but there were plenty of holes to pick at along the way.

I liked the inclusion of a Deaf character it felt poorly handled and barely considered. These new kids were introduced to him and within weeks they were communicating fluently in sign language? It was just, once again, lazy.

I won’t be continuing reading this series, but I think young readers would really enjoy it.