Lauren
The Hallow Places follows Kara, a woman finding her footing after a recent divorce, and Simon, a local barista, while they experience finding an otherworldly portal to a strange land.
"If there's a way into hell, someone will always find it."
This book is weird (in a positive way). If you’re someone who liked things like A Quiet Place or BirdBox, it felt kind of reminiscent of that. Although both Kara and Simon provide comic relief, the overall atmosphere is very tense. This is definitely a horror novel, I can see slotting it more into the sci-fi/fantasy genres too and it’s seems to be an equal mix of both. The humor mixed with the dark atmosphere actually worked pretty well. The book itself is pretty fast paced and it only takes a handful of chapters to get into the action. Without giving spoilers, I will note around the 50% mark I had not idea how there was going to be more book, but I was pleasantly surprised with the direction it took. With a book like this, I really don’t think I can say much more without giving the plot away. (See the spoiler section if you’re curious). Some warnings/heads up I’d provide, however, is don’t expect everything to make sense. It’s not poorly written and there aren’t plot holes, but instead it is written in a way that’s meant to not answer all (many) of your questions because there simply aren’t answers. I do think some people won’t like that, but I didn’t seem to mind (mostly, again, see the spoiler section). I also think it’s relevant to note that historically I haven’t been a T. Kingfisher fan, so while I think her fantasy is out for me, I’d be interested in checking out more of her horror. Oh, and Beau is the best character. . . . . . . . Welcome to the spoiler section. Okay, this part is really just me rambling off my thoughts, maybe to get them into something that makes sense? Bear with me. There are two things I want to talk about in this section : Sturdivant and Simon’s eye, starting with the latter.
Simon’s eye What’s up with it? Now I know I said I don’t mind not having all the answers, and I don’t, but I need that one. I was so sure we were going to learn he had come weird connection to the Willows or to the weird aliens from the other world or SOMETHING but we never get answers. He can just see things that may or may not be there? I’m assuming he’s essentially seeing through the barriers between worlds (universes?) but what does that have to do with possible absorbing a twin (or maybe that was a joke - I’m not sure)? Or, is he from somewhere else and isn’t telling us? I don’t know, I really liked him, but something just felt off.
Sturdivant Weird character. I thought he was well done, really creepy, was able to exposition “dump” without making it feel like I was just reading exposition. Here’s the thing, I’m like 90% sure he’s the guy for the bible/journal entries and I just wish that was confirmed. Maybe that’s me being silly (fair enough) but I just want to know if I’m right. Sturdivant tells Kara and Simon that he was with a group and a girl who came to that place another way, and then their group died and they were being chased. Ultimately she died and he’s stuck being whatever he is (until they eat him maybe??). The bible journal follows a similar story, except we never find their fates. The only issue I see with this is that the bible journal tells us the writers are there for work, while Sturdivant tells us he is a ranger and kind of just stumbled into the world. However, I also think Sturdivant can’t be 100% reliable considering he’s unraveling and starving. If they’re not the same person, it feels like a missed opportunity to allow something to come full circle. I was also a little confused about his whole deal. When they first meet him, he says something along the lines of they need to back up and when they do he says he shouldn’t be able to reach them there, which insinuates he might hurt them even if he didn’t want to. But later, when Kara is in the water, he doesn’t hurt her. If anything, he helps her get away from the Otter, so what’s up there?? I found that whole detail about him to be very confusing.
The Hallow Places follows Kara, a woman finding her footing after a recent divorce, and Simon, a local barista, while they experience finding an otherworldly portal to a strange land.
"If there's a way into hell, someone will always find it."
This book is weird (in a positive way). If you’re someone who liked things like A Quiet Place or BirdBox, it felt kind of reminiscent of that. Although both Kara and Simon provide comic relief, the overall atmosphere is very tense. This is definitely a horror novel, I can see slotting it more into the sci-fi/fantasy genres too and it’s seems to be an equal mix of both. The humor mixed with the dark atmosphere actually worked pretty well. The book itself is pretty fast paced and it only takes a handful of chapters to get into the action. Without giving spoilers, I will note around the 50% mark I had not idea how there was going to be more book, but I was pleasantly surprised with the direction it took. With a book like this, I really don’t think I can say much more without giving the plot away. (See the spoiler section if you’re curious). Some warnings/heads up I’d provide, however, is don’t expect everything to make sense. It’s not poorly written and there aren’t plot holes, but instead it is written in a way that’s meant to not answer all (many) of your questions because there simply aren’t answers. I do think some people won’t like that, but I didn’t seem to mind (mostly, again, see the spoiler section). I also think it’s relevant to note that historically I haven’t been a T. Kingfisher fan, so while I think her fantasy is out for me, I’d be interested in checking out more of her horror. Oh, and Beau is the best character. . . . . . . . Welcome to the spoiler section. Okay, this part is really just me rambling off my thoughts, maybe to get them into something that makes sense? Bear with me. There are two things I want to talk about in this section : Sturdivant and Simon’s eye, starting with the latter.
Simon’s eye What’s up with it? Now I know I said I don’t mind not having all the answers, and I don’t, but I need that one. I was so sure we were going to learn he had come weird connection to the Willows or to the weird aliens from the other world or SOMETHING but we never get answers. He can just see things that may or may not be there? I’m assuming he’s essentially seeing through the barriers between worlds (universes?) but what does that have to do with possible absorbing a twin (or maybe that was a joke - I’m not sure)? Or, is he from somewhere else and isn’t telling us? I don’t know, I really liked him, but something just felt off.
Sturdivant Weird character. I thought he was well done, really creepy, was able to exposition “dump” without making it feel like I was just reading exposition. Here’s the thing, I’m like 90% sure he’s the guy for the bible/journal entries and I just wish that was confirmed. Maybe that’s me being silly (fair enough) but I just want to know if I’m right. Sturdivant tells Kara and Simon that he was with a group and a girl who came to that place another way, and then their group died and they were being chased. Ultimately she died and he’s stuck being whatever he is (until they eat him maybe??). The bible journal follows a similar story, except we never find their fates. The only issue I see with this is that the bible journal tells us the writers are there for work, while Sturdivant tells us he is a ranger and kind of just stumbled into the world. However, I also think Sturdivant can’t be 100% reliable considering he’s unraveling and starving. If they’re not the same person, it feels like a missed opportunity to allow something to come full circle. I was also a little confused about his whole deal. When they first meet him, he says something along the lines of they need to back up and when they do he says he shouldn’t be able to reach them there, which insinuates he might hurt them even if he didn’t want to. But later, when Kara is in the water, he doesn’t hurt her. If anything, he helps her get away from the Otter, so what’s up there?? I found that whole detail about him to be very confusing.