Customer Reviews

The Hollow (Hollow Trilogy)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(32)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

When I received The Hollow in the mail I nearly threw my other reading selections aside, their bookmarks noting my reality of being rather far from completion, and I happily welcomed this exciting, inviting take on an old classic.

You are greeted by obviously beautiful cover art, and a well chosen font style but then you open the rather large book to see nearly 500 pages of a much larger then necessary font.(Oh, the waste of paper!) The first chapter in about 8 pages, but it takes less then two minutes to read... it's just a little unnecessary.(Even if it's aimed at younger 'tweens' they can still read a more moderately sized type.)

Any-who, I finished The Hollow in two long, uninspired days to be left feeling entirely disappointed and with more then a few question marks looming overhead.

Abbey and Kristen have a strange obsession with their hometown, Sleepy Hollow and the famous Legend that is derived from it. Which ultimately leaves them unpopular, and painfully strange.

When Abbey meets Caspian, a dark, mysterious brooding type in the cemetery she frequents, a rather alarming crush occurs, or as we are to believe a relationship is formed. Which of course works out beautifully to help distract our misfit Abbey from the recent death of her best and only friend, Kristen.

Our heroine, Abbey is original sure, in that archetypal 'loner-girl' kind of way that is customary to these human/supernatural relationship central tales. Although I will say that her passion of creating perfumes was rather intriguing,... at first, that quickly became tired with her prolonged explanations of their individual scents and composition.
Author Tip: Don't focus so long on certain things that you cannot control. Reading a book cannot convey real scent, the attempt at creating a real sensation is nice, but not possible. Overall it becomes redundant, then frustrating.. I would love to be able to smell Kristen's very original perfume, or Caspian's that smells like delicious snicker-doodle cookies, but hey this is reality and not smell-o-vision book edition.

Which isn't to allude that I dislike description, it's just that overall I find, Verday hasn't quite grasped the most enjoyable way for the reader to really see her stories. Pages and pages focus on mundane tasks that have no real place or importance in the plot and aren't even slightly entertaining. Abbey working for her uncle, Abbey walking through her cemetery routine, Abbey cooking, Abbey making perfume, Abbey whining over her non-relationship with Caspian, Abbey whining about how much she misses Kristen....

Really, Abbey just does a lot of whining.

Not to mention, Caspian isn't very drool-worthy. He seems completely indifferent to Abbey most of the time, and by the end I find myself almost forgetting anything he's done only chapters before and even worse caring if their 'relationship' will work out.

Maybe I'm just hypercritical because it's been a few years since high school for me, maybe I've crossed over that bridge and can't really connect because that part of my life is over... but I enjoy plenty of young adult novels without feeling so completely void of any and all REAL emotion. That tends to be the best part of these types of stories, their ability to transport us all back to a different point in our lives, with sweeping emotions and stereotypical but entertaining characters and situations.


The most upsetting element of this whole thing too, the climax and resolution are thrown together so sloppily in the last few chapters it all barely makes sense. It really is a great idea, it just needed a lot more work.... and a real plot.

Oh, and I still can't find a moral to the story.

The Hollow was a good read, but it wasn't an amazing read...I managed to plunge in and read it in two days, but the next morning I couldn't even recall the ending precisely and had to open the book and glance at it again, just to make sure the tale got some closure in my head. The tale is about a young girl named Abbey who's best friend has gone missing, suddenly half her world is gone and she must somehow survive it one day at a time and get though dark feelings of sadness, loneliness and a confusing budding new romance. She meets a strange boy at the cemetery, which is one of her favorite places, and enjoys his sudden interest in her persona. Too bad that the romance isn't as hot as it's advertised, if anything I never found Caspian to be anything worth thinking twice about, other than being nice/polite he wasn't much else. It felt more like an unreturned crush that took up the bulk of the tale.

Initially an empty casket is burred considering the disappearance, but later Kristen's body is found in the river, reality sets in, she's really gone...to make matters worse, Abbey finds Kristen's secret diary which is completely different than her regular diary, why keep both I don't know but such was Kristen. Upon reading it, Abbey finds that Kristen has been very busy right up until she disappeared. That part of the book was very interesting, sadly not much time was mentioned about Kristen and her secrets, Abbey visited the grave and did sweet things in her friend's memory but the mystery and clues of her disappearance and death, died about two thirds of the way into the story! I hope the rest of it is included in the next novel or the author really did a bad job of handling the main plot. Abbey's romance with Caspian was the worst part of the story, I found it a bit boring and the ending wasn't any better. Overall the book was fun but nothing worth shouting about, read it, enjoy it but don't stress over plot holes, there are too many to count. Cute teen book but the mysterious haunting and happenings felt way too juvenile even for a young adult book, more like something from a grade school novel.

- Kasia S.

I am so torn about this book, I have a definite love-hate thing with it. First, let me say the that cover is amazing and actually depicts a part in the book, for the most part anyway. When I first started reading this book I was sucked in and lost some sleep getting through the first half of the book trying the answer the questions of who Caspian was and what was going on. That became the problem of the 2nd half was that I felt like there was a lot of "filler" type info that wasn't necessary for the story and we were not finding out anything more until the very end of the book. At 544 pages, I think it could be cut down somewhat taking the unnecessary stuff out that really has no relation to the story being told.


The story overall is good with romance and a touch of paranormal. The main character, Abbey, is likable for the most part but has times being a spoiled brat and whiny that can get on your nerves, you want to scream, ENOUGH ALREADY...MOVE ON. The plot is a little weak and meandering at times but overall I did enjoy the book and really look forward to the next installment of the trilogy that is due out in 2010. See what I mean...love-hate :)


I found the note about the author very interesting, that she wrote The Hollow's first draft by hand using 13 spiral notebooks and 15 black pens. She is also writing the 2nd book in this fashion. Do I even know how to write one page in cursive anymore? Just give me my laptop, thank you :)

First, a warning: This book has a sequel.

Abigail is a 16-year-old average girl living in the town of Sleepy Hollow. The book opens with her attending the funeral of her best friend Kristin. The rest of the book alternates between her grieving for Kristin and falling in love with Caspian. There are some slight elements of some mystery afoot, which aren't really an important part of the story or all that interesting.

Abbey's not all that bad a character, but with it focusing mostly on some dead character, it's hard to emphasize much with her when you didn't know this other character. And before you get a chance to know Abbey without her grieving, it introduces Caspian, and all the emotions you get from her are grief and a gigantic crush. Which of course means she's obsessing about his hair, his eyes, his lips, his face, and wondering if he likes her and when she'll see him again.

So in two words: sappy romance. As mentioned, there are tiny slivers of mystery, but the answers aren't particularly surprising (good news - no vampires). I read it yesterday and all I've bothered to remember is feeling total disbelief in the romance between Caspian and Abbey. She insists it's love, but I just see it as an obsessive crush that is no fun to read about even though Caspian's not that bad.

The reason why I give it 2 stars instead of 1 is because Abbey's a pretty believable character, and I think her hobby of making perfume was quite interesting to read about. The setting and writing were all right, and the way that the legend of Sleepy Hollow was woven in was pretty well done.

The cover is cool. If you like teen-romance thinly veiled in horror and mystery, this might be for you. And though I was disappointed with the ending, if you actually like it, you'll really look forward to reading the sequel, because that's where I assume most of the real answers will be.

First, I just want to say that when I picked up THE HOLLOW, I was expecting this complex, engrossing read just because the book was so thick. However, I opened the book to the first page to discover that the font was large and that the lines were double-spaced or something ridiculous like that. The book could have been cut in half just by making the printing more reasonable. This is a personal, nitpicky thing, but it did bother me.

I don't feel too badly, though, because THE HOLLOW was not a good book. It does read quickly, so that's a plus, but otherwise? The summary on the cover flap makes it sound like it will be a novel about a teenage girl dealing with the possibly supernaturally-caused disappearance of her best friend with a romance with a mysterious boy on the sidelines. However, it's really the opposite. THE HOLLOW is a book about a teenage girl's relationship with a mysterious boy while she investigates the possibly supernaturally-caused disappearance of her best friend on the side.

Unfortunately, the romance is just not all that interesting because there is no chemistry between Abbey, the protagonist, and Caspian, the mysterious boy. Why? Well, it's hard to have chemistry with cardboard, and Caspian is totally cardboard. He did not interest me at all. I was interested in the circumstances surrounding the the disappearance of Kristen (Abbey's best friend), especially since one thing Verday did extremely well was to convey Abbey's grief and reluctance to accept the possibility that her best friend was dead. But then the story returned to Abbey's relationship with Caspian, and I would get bored again.

Then Verday throws in references to "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (as the novel is set in Sleepy Hollow), and then she didn't do much with it. Basically, that was my biggest problem with THE HOLLOW: it was a bunch of set-up for the next book. I mean, THE HOLLOW has a good premise, and it has definite potential; the second book could be good, but this book was pretty much a waste. I don't know what the sequel will contain, but I do think that there's a strong possibility that Verday could have combined the two books into one novel and it would have been worth reading. As is? Read THE HOLLOW only if you have nothing better to read and don't expect too much from it. It's definitely not worth buying.

"The Hollow" contains many interesting elements. A mystery surrounding a girl's unexpected death. An adolescent heroine with an unusual hobby. A handsome, brooding love interest. As others have mentioned, a LOVELY cover. Perhaps most of all, a wonderful, evocative setting - Sleepy Hollow.

Unfortunately, the elements don't come together in any meaningful fashion. Abbey, the heroine, is somewhat interesting. She makes perfume and is fascinated by local folklore. She is also a loyal and good friend, and, when her closest friend vanishes and is presumed dead, she grieves intensely. Then, she finds Kristen's diary and realizes that there was a lot about her best friend she never knew.

It's an interesting idea, but bogs down in execution. Every moment of Abbey's life is mapped out in excruciating and overwrought detail, including angst, tantrums and the most mundane actions. We don't need to know every step of her trip to the mall - just tell us the parts that move the plot along and leave the rest out. Please! Also, there's no real "there" there with the so-called love interest, which means Abbey spends page after page mooning over someone who doesn't appear to be interested in her at all. Too much unrequited crush and not enough mystery.

This book would have been greatly improved with a more forceful editor. Decent debut for a talented writer, but I probably won't go out of my way to read the sequel.

This book is appropriately titled, because nothing much happens. It's hollow. The characters are flat, the story is practically non-existent, and it takes more than 500 pages to say what could be said in 100.

Unless you like trilogies where the first books are nothing but placeholders, skip this one.

First, I did NOT finish the book, I stopped in page 305. I think its kind of harsh to give one star to a book, so I've decided to start with the things I did like. I liked the fact that Abbey makes perfumes, its kind of interesting and creative and I also liked how the chemistry between her and Caspian is described in some parts. Plus, I normally don't like when there are faces in the cover -I like to imagine the character myself- but this cover is beautiful. It really draws attention.
Now moving on to what bothered me: the book is full of nonsense. There are at least 80 scenes where nothing actually happens! Like pages that just want to keep you there or torture you! I mean, when I sat down to read, I would start but then anything around me, any noise, a wind, anything would pull my attention away. It's weird because I'm the kind of person who gets so into the book that you can come talk to me when I'm reading and I wouldn't notice. So that was a really bad sign.
Abbey was so boring and dumb, a complete bubble-head. She obsesses over a guy she just met and keeps analyzing how to tell him what she feels. Who does that? And Caspian is not that bad, he has his hot/mysterious thing going on but it wasn't enough to keep me interested.
The writing was not something I enjoyed either, it felt awkward sometimes. The best friend's death subplot is not what the book is about. It's about Abbey and Caspian's relationship. Which is not what you think when you read about the book. To me, that death part seemed kind of forced, but I don't really know the ending. I suggest you read other reviews of people who could finish it. And then again this is just my opinion, you may think differently.

I had such high hopes for this book, and so it is with a heavy heart that I say this book was positively horrible. It's a small miracle that I actually finished it. The saddest thing is that it's exactly my favorite niche of novel: a YA paranormal romance with ties to another well-known story. This book fits my tastes perfectly - or so I thought, until I actually read it.

I know that with YA lit you can't expect a whole lot of sophistication or complexity, but there have been some REALLY fantastic YA novels written recently and I think I've just been spoiled (*Ahem* I'm talking to you, Suzanne Collins, Carrie Ryan, and Maggie Stiefvater). The Hollow read like something I would have written in a creative writing class in high school, not like something people pay money to read. I actually cringed several times when reading it at the horrible quality of the dialogue and plot.

The plot is passably original, which is why I'm giving it two stars instead of one. And I understand that the author is currently writing the sequel, thus the plot has to be watered down and drawn thinly across more than one publishing, but honestly, there is NO excuse for a book to be as boring as The Hollow is.

I really could say a LOT more about how much I disliked this book, but I feel like it would be beating a dead horse, and that's just mean. So just take my word for it and skip this one.

Given the synopsis on the back, The Holloww seems like an interesting captivating mystery. Abbey's friend Kirsten's disappearance made it seem as though the story would be about unlocking the mystery of her disappearance. But no, the book would have about a chapter or so where the reader is thinking "oh wow here's a clue, perhaps something interesting is going to happen or Abbey is going to uncover some hidden truth". This only happens abbbout 3 times throughout the whole book and each time something interesting is brought up, it's left alone for the rest of the book.

Now, for the love story between Abbey and Caspian, i agree with everyone else when they say it is unbelieveable. The relationship the two have isn't realistic in any sense, the reader is led on to believe that something more will happen between the two of them and once again....nothing does. The author touches up on a lot of subjects and completely disregards them later on in the story, she has no explanation for anything that happens in the book. There is only one or two things that was brought up that is explained at the end. However, if you are wondering what ever happened to her friend Kirsten, you'll never know. The big mystery of her disappearance just gets left alone as though it never happened...very disappointing.

If you are looking for a read to pass the time then this is a book for you. Although if you're looking for a novel with a plot, mystery, and romance, then no this book is not one for you to read.