Review: Hollowland, by Amanda Hocking

Author: Amanda Hocking

Title: Hollowland

Series: The Hollows (#1)

ISBN: 9781453860953

Publisher: Amanda Hocking (2010)

Buy your copy: Kindle | Paperback

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"-"This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.-" GoodReads’ blurb

This was my first zombie apocalypses novel. It won’t be the last.

Reading Hollowlands was a relief, in so many ways. You know those wild moments when you are wound too tight? How you get to your room, crank up some hard rock CD in the player, and start jumping around and screaming yourself hoarse until you’re as relaxed as a newborn baby?

Well, Hollowlands was that kind of book.

I didn’t find it particularly deep. The plot offered some surprises, but the important twists were all expected. The bits that caught me unaware were either not that important, like the strange religious community they find in the middle of nowhere, or made me frown instead of smile – er, lions and tigers? Isn’t that a bit too much?

The characters were okay, not deep enough to make me ponder their personalities but not so flat that I’d not be able to like them. I felt like the rock star fell a bit flat – like he should have a stronger personality, or, since he was indeed a rock star, that the fact should weight more in the story. Or something.

The action was over the top – not over the top for a martial artist, but certainly too much for a girl who has trained for only a few months and not her whole life. It made me think of Chuck Norris movies, at times.

... That reads like an awful lot of complains, doesn’t it?

And yet, as I said, the reading was refreshing, quick, and most satisfying. So much so that I bought the second instalment as soon as I finished up with the first. Why?

Because it works for what it’s intended. It hooked me, because the prose was light and easy and fast even though the action was predictable. It did its job so well, that I’m considering becoming a regular reader of an entirely new genre – zombie novels and apocalypses lurking in the corner, anyone?

So, I guess you should give it a shot as well, even if the reasoning behind this advice is... shaky. I don’t think you’ll regret it.