Review: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

 

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Publication Date: October 6, 2020

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A sequel in spirit (though not in content) to the excellent The Twisted Ones, The Hollow Places takes us on another journey inspired by another classic work of cosmic horror. This time it's Ambrose Bierce's turn in the barrel, via his famous short story "The Willows", which (unlike the inspiration for The Twisted Ones) I actually have read---long, long ago---and which I found deeply, deeply unnerving.

"Deeply unnerving" is probably the best description I can give of The Hollow Places, and I mean that in the best possible way. Kara, a professional graphic designer and amateur fanfic writer, is fresh off a much-needed divorce and working for her uncle's junk museum of the absurd, when she notices a mysterious hole has appeared in the wall. A hole that leads to a hallway that's much too long to exist, and beyond that hall, a willow-strewn world like something out of a fairy tale. But her adventure soon turns to horror, as she discovers the true nature of the world she's stumbled upon, and just how difficult it will be to escape.

My one complaint about The Twisted Ones was in its ending, which I felt took all the slow-creeping tension of the earlier chapters and just dissipated it. Well, The Hollow Places doesn't fall into that trap; if anything, the creep factor multiplied right until the very end. (With a central mystery that I didn't find mysterious at all, though; not sure if that was because it was so obvious or because I've read "The Willows".) What this book does so well, I think, is the way it manipulates the reader's expectations. There are jump scares, it's true . . . but more often, we see a horror, but don't *realize* we're seeing a horror until much later on. Instead of "oh my god, it's a monster!", we think "wow, that's . . . weird", whistle a bit as we read on, then have the true nature of what we've been seeing all along suddenly revealed. The true horror lies in how little we---like Kara and her buddy Simon---understood what we were seeing. In how easy it was to stumble headfirst into hell.

Overall: highly, highly recommended!

A big thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Review: Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

 

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

Publication Date: October 13, 2020

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A crow god in human skin on a mission of vengeance, a bisexual not-mermaid who can't seem to catch a break, a noble warrior who . . . gets very little page time, and a politically incompetent sun priest, all have their lives intertwine as a portentous eclipse looms.

Pre-Columbian mythology of the Americas isn't a loom many fantasy novels weave upon, so I was interested to see where the author took this. And there's a lot to enjoy; the writing is quick-paced and entertaining, several of the characters were well-drawn (Xiala is a treasure! And Serapio was intriguing), and the story moves at a good clip.

My biggest complaint lies in the relative brevity of the book. For this to work as well as I assume the author intended, the worldbuilding needed a lot more texture than I felt we got. The giant animals are just sort of *there*, the science/magic aspects weren't well fleshed out, and several of the characters seemed like their development was being rushed. (And I don't actually think I was supposed to be calling the sun priest a moron the entire time I was reading, but my *goodness* she was *such a moron*, constantly demonstrating a sort of hapless naivete that seemed completely at odds with what we were told of her upbringing and life thus far. Honey, if you're constantly getting outwitted by a nineteen-year-old, the problem is *you*.) Also, I found the ending somewhat abrupt.

Overall, I'd rate this as solid but not spectacular read. I was entertained, which is the most important thing, and I'd be willing to pick up the sequel.  

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.