Hollow World

Executive Summary: A large departure from his Riyria books, Hollow World was still something I really enjoyed, but is likely not for everyone.

Full Review
I was a little nervous about reading and reviewing this book. I've been fortunate enough to exchange several emails and discussion posts with Mr. Sullivan over the last few months after discovering his Riyria books late last year.

Fortunate may not be the best word since Mr. Sullivan seems to go out of his way to interact with his fans. I hate writing reviews for books I don't like to begin with, so the notion of writing a review for an author I've actually talked with a bit was weighing on the back of my mind as I set down to read this book. Thankfully I really enjoyed the book, so none of that matters.

The book was a bit slow to start. Ellis Rogers is an unhappy man living in the present day who receives a terminal illness prognosis. Medical technology just isn't ready to solve his illness yet. His solution is to finally use the time machine he's been building in his garage to travel to a time when he can receive the treatment he needs.

So if read that setup as I wrote it, I'd probably not be too interested in reading the book. Thankfully this isn't a book that spends much time dwelling on whether someone (even an MIT graduate) could build a working time machine in his garage in 2014, or any of the other technological advances written about in this book for that matter. If that sort of hard science fiction is what you're looking for, you're going to be disappointed here.

What this book is about really is the nature of humanity. Politics, Religion, and especially love. You know, the stuff you're not really supposed to talk about in many social settings? For this reason alone I think many people may not enjoy this book. Especially those with more conservative leanings.

From my personal experience, most humans are social creatures. Why else would something like Facebook be so popular? They crave attention. Some more than others, but most people seem to need it to at least some degree. People want to be loved. Whether it is the platonic love of friends, the familial love of blood relatives, or romantic love of that special someone. It is our relationships with others that make life worth living.

The other major aspect of this book is what is happiness? Is Mr. Sullivan's Hollow World a utopia? A dystopia? Somewhere in between? A world where there is no more crime, war or disease. No more hunger? No more greed? Does that sound wonderful to you, or downright boring? Maybe a little of both? He also explores what it means to be human and unique. Are genetically engineered genderless clones still human?

I think this makes for both a great and divisive discussion book. Mr. Sullivan does a good job at presenting some of the different arguments, and leaves it to the reader to decide. For me personally I think that nothing is so black and white. The antagonist of this book makes some really good points. He also has some really awful ideas.

I hope that most of his Riyria fans will enjoy this one, but I suspect that won't always be case. I spent a lot more time thinking about the ideas in the book rather than just enjoying the ride. It's not the type of book I'd want to read on a regular basis, but one that I find enjoyable from time to time.