A review by clovetra
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

god this book had such potential!! and sadly it did not live up to it. this book's pacing was so odd, and coupled with the fact the actual "mystery" was only explained >80% into this book was a bit.... eyebrow raising.
i will say i liked iris, she was a good protag. kinda was a blank slate but i think that was her role.
vivi can have my soul esp since she seems to love hungarian women. vivi hmu i can show u my grandma's village we can get it on queen. sorry i love a bald lesbian who also is down with the magyars 🔥
grey was... idk. i still cant put my finger on my opinion of her. i mean she was... fine. with how big her role was for this story though... she was a bit of a let down. especially since for like 90% of this book she spoke in cryptic phrases that actually just pissed me off. at some point i want to be reading this book because im invested in the characters, not just that i want them to shut up and stop saying vague terms to actually explain the whole mystery element of this story. like by the end, this book became so interesting! but when i only find the last fourth of your book intriguing......
like
the fact the girls were changelings all along? and killed the real hollow sisters? the dad was the bull (which ngl was predictable but its YA so im not gonna be too harsh on that)? cate knew they were changelings??? tyler had his fucking SKIN REMOVED AND WORN LIKE A SUIT????????
was so good! if the whole book was that i wouldve easily given this 4/5 stars. but when most of ur book is building up to a reveal that doesnt come until the very very end and then almost NOTHING is done with the reveal?????? nawwww
also sorry the minute i read
iris kissed tyler
this book became a chop. sorry i cant fucking stand the
a relative of a missing person & the missing person's partner kiss because they share such a deep love for said missing person
trope. not to mention
iris is 17 and tyler is fucking 20!!!!!!! EW AGE GAP
.
i think a lot of these "issues" i have with this book can be attributed to its YA nature but some... like literally i love the premise i just wished it was executed better. like this book had some great parts! the opening chapters were quite good ngl, as were the final 4 chapters. but everything in the middle? it was not enjoyable for me im afraid. idk i think the concepts explored at the end deserved some more run time, with the whole "ooo where's grey" schtick being shorter as to expand those concepts. i mean for me personally im not saying change the entire book just for little old me 😭 but you know? great concept, missed the mark more often than it probably should have.
also sorry i feel like the "horror" elements were all mish-mashed together. like the flower stuff... the fucky-ass ending with the bull? like idk it reminded me a lot of You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight & She Is a Haunting but idk like those books this felt..... like it was missing multiple puzzle pieces. 
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