0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific way to end this series (if this actually is the end...), March 29, 2007
This review is from: Enemies #4 (The Hollow) (Paperback)
I don't know if ENEMIES #4 (The Hollow) is meant to bring the curtain down on this fairly diverting Young Adult series by Christopher Golden and Ford Lytle Gilmore; if it's indeed the conclusive installment, then it's a rousing way on which to end things. While these four books haven't proven to be as overall gripping as Golden's other series (ie: PROWLERS and the more adult SHADOW SAGA and THE VEIL), it still disappoints me that this might be the final sighting of Shane, Aimee, Stasha, and the mismatched duo of Jekyll & Hyde. Oh, yes, and I'll miss the Headless Horseman, who, even though appearing only in the first book and in this one, is still the lynchpin that holds the series together. And, for one who doesn't have a head and who doesn't achieve significant "screen" time, he's certainly imbued with enough personality to leave a distinct impression on the reader.
Serious plot SPOILERS now follow (really, I mean it):
Months have passed since the dysfunctional Lancaster family had moved into the town of Sleepy Hollow, New York, and, by doing so, had inadvertently set off a chain of supernatural events and murders. Since that time, contentious siblings Shane and Aimee have witnessed many wondrous and terrifying things but, even more importantly, have made some staunch friends. Oh, they still have issues with each other (which came to a head with the still recent passing of their mother), but they're getting along better. Together, they've faced off against deadly water nymphs, the insidious Whispering Tree, cackling harvest spirits, and murderous gremlins. But all these horrific creatures pale in comparison to Acephelos, the demonic Headless Horseman. In the first novel,
Horseman #1 (The Hollow), Aimee and Shane were seemingly able to reach an accommodation with the monster. But, now, he returns.
Now, if you've been reading this batch of books, then you already know that Shane and Aimee are the descendants of the villainous Ichabod Crane, a turd of a human being who had to summon the fear demon Acephelos to protect the town from the supernatural beings Crane himself had set loose. But Acephelos's history extends further back than Sleepy Hollow. The main antagonist here (and "antagonist" doesn't sound near alarming enough) is a nightmarish entity from ancient Celtic mythology whose immense size increases via a pretty appalling method and whose one-eyed gaze either murders or drives men insane. In the course of their research, the kids unearth a personal and rancorous connection between this creature and the noggin-less one.
With the crappy DROWNED bringing down the Hollow series to a low ebb, it took the third entry
Mischief #3 (The Hollow) to again raise my expectations. And, now, with the wild and action-packed ENEMIES, everything is once again very copacetic in my tiny corner of the Christopher Goldenverse. With this one, Golden and Gilmore take a manic full-speed-ahead approach to the storyline. The level of intensity and peril is ratcheted up and the stakes are considerably raised as, this time, the teens combat something a hell of a lot more sinister than naiads and gremlins. In the former books, only fringe characters are killed; in ENEMIES, recurring characters actually do kick the bucket.
What else happens? The youngsters gain an unlikely and dubious ally. Shane and Stasia's romance is outed, which doesn't bode well for Shane's relationship with his sister (Shane had gone out with a friend of Aimee's before, with disastrous repercussions for Aimee). There's also another budding high school romance which we got a whiff of in MISCHIEF and which, now, fully comes to the fore. But, mostly, the book focuses on the horror aspects as things get more and more dire for the folks in Sleepy Hollow. It all culminates in a desperate, all-out showdown in Hyde's junkyard. In fact, the ending was a bit abrupt and left me thinking, "Wait! What? This book's over? Nooo!" - which is probably the exact reaction the authors wanted.
End SPOILERS.
For me, as fun as the horror side of things always is and even with the frenetic, gut-check-time action sequences, the major pull of this series is the characterization of the protagonists. The authors portray them as discontented, lone wolf, and/or "weird," which serves to make them more interesting to me. The constant bickering between the Lancaster kids rings true, and yet, these two will ferociously go to bat for each other when threatened. Shane is withdrawn, Aimee is combative and defiant, and Stasia is her own sexy, maverick self with a surprising bookish side. Steve Delisle, aka "Jekyll" and the wiseacre of the group, just might be the most normal. And then there's the gigantic Mark Hyde, a former bully who's now striving to rehab his rep, who might possibly relish his spontaneous acts of brutality too much and whose constant inner battle for control makes him the most intriguing character, by far. All these kids get a turn to present their point of view in the book and, as we read along thru their respective perspectives, we grow to learn of their aching vulnerabilities (yes, even Hyde). This makes them very likable. So, no, it's not the cool ghouls and monsters I'll miss the most or the atmospheric town of Sleepy Hollow. It's these gutsy kids.
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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Up-And-Down Series Finally Hits Rock Bottom With "Enemies", April 3, 2007
This review is from: Enemies #4 (The Hollow) (Paperback)
"The Hollow" 4-book series has been an up-and-down adventure. Starting with "Horseman", author Christopher Golden created a new take on the Sleepy Hollow legend of Icabod Crane and that pesky Headless Horseman. The novels murky storyline redeemed itself with its sinister and darker version of the folklore. The 2nd novel, "Drowned", abandoned all the perks of Sleepy Hollow (the Horseman himself being an example) and replaced it with a too-obvious-to-be-a-mystery storyline and pathetic monsters (the nude homicidal water nymphs just don't have the same charm as our beheaded friend). The third book, "Mischief", fixed problems from the second book and made the characters more than one-dimensional, therefore making it a moderate success but still not up to par with the first novel. And so it brings us to 4th book, "Enemies", a sad and messy conclusion to a problematic series.
The cover alone seems promising: a figure shrouded in shadow stands in front of what can be believed as the infamous crossing bridge where Icabod met his end. But from the first few chapters hope is quickly lost. In one aspect, this book succeeds by bringing back the main character of the series, the Headless Horseman. And this time around he's got one giant challenge: a creature of Celtic mythology that's an amalgam of dead human remains with one mean eye for trouble, figuratively and literally. Golden's toyed with us before with his disposal of creatures; we've had good (an evil bloodhound) and bad (those naked water ladies!) but this time he just lets loose and creates a monster of ridiculous proportions. Throughout the book, anytime the creature was mentioned I couldn't help imagine a two-story sized humanoid pieced together with lunch meat and a laser eyeball. And so with that set-up brings us back to the theme of the book "Enemies": because we've got a walking cemetery killing at random it's up to Aimee, Shane, and the rest to unite with their "enemies" (i.e. the Horseman) and stop this menace once and for all!
I've tried so hard to enjoy the series, to take it for its worth, and I think I have. I enjoy the moments where the characters interact but it's a 50/50 chance of enjoyment or displeasure (the dialogue still has yet to find its voice). As multi-novel plots continue so too do the characters and I'm still happy to say they are pretty well-rounded. But the storyline becomes too ludicrous in design, too unbelievable even for a fiction novel about ghouls and ghosts, too boring to be entertaining. The climax is a high-action scene involving a junkyard and a lot of stuff being thrown around but it's all too outlandish for the original premise of Sleepy Hollow and its lore. If Golden and Gilmore originally wrote these novels without involving the Sleepy Hollow trademark it might've worked better, but because they do involve said trademarks it requires some sort of credibility and prestige to follow through with the title and characteristics that Sleepy Hollow brings to it. All associations with Sleepy Hollow were abandoned after the first novel (INCLUDING the headless horseman until the final book!) so why should we try to hope that the series will be a welcome addition to the legendary Washington Irving story and history?! The story's weak, the monster's ridiculous, and the Horseman himself becomes watered-down. Off with my head for feeling so negative but this series' conclusion has just completed my disappointment in every aspect of what I wanted this hopefully new and refreshing series to be. "The Hollow" has suffered from the beginning and devoted readers will leave this series feeling too cheated instead of entertained. To top off the end of the book (and entire series), the epilogue abandons the voice of the teenagers, opting to see through Alan's perspective. What should come off as satisfying and conclusive turns into trite and hokey.
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