The Hollow Places

If you like creepy weird fiction, but don't need it to be purely bleak, this one might be for you! I was immediately drawn in by the homey and lovable Uncle Earl and his cozily weird museum, but I wasn't sure where this story was headed. Then when supernatural/sci-fi stuff started to happen, I was here for it. But imagine my delight when I noticed the willows were not just a passing bit of background, and there were creepy funneled holes all over the sand - ‘HOLY COW is she embroidering on [b:Algernon Blackwood 1335601 The Willows Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348548258l/1335601.SX50.jpg 2588003]?!' Yes, reader, she was, and it was almost entirely successful in my opinion. What a charge to realize a classic but largely unknown story by the author of [b:The Wendigo 1137702 The Wendigo Algernon Blackwood https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1181290361l/1137702.SX50.jpg 2482119] is the basis for this supremely unsettling, compelling horror story! This is less toward the hopeless Lovecraft/Ligotti end of the spectrum, and honestly more toward the Raimi end - there are seriously chilling and terrifying bits, but also almost a slapstick element at times, and a good deal of snark. For me, it worked!I guess technically this is a 4.5 for me due to some reliance on a couple of colossally stupid decisions by the protagonists, and one point that the readers can see perfectly clearly yet the main character misses in a way that starts to seem dense (but is defensible if you take the point of view that someone really experiencing these things wouldn't notice what we readers in our comfortable chairs can see much earlier).

One of the scariest, actually terrifying books I have ever read in my life. This book made me crawl in my skin. Absolutely one of the best horror books I have read. I loved the characters and their interactions. The vibes were wonderfully horrific. Holy fucking shit. I hope Singer and Bible made it. 

There's a scene in this novel that I think about quite frequently. I was cringing inwards with great discomfort when reading it. That's praiseworthy for me. But what makes this book quite a bit more special is our main character and how humor was incorporated in the horror parts. I loved this book so much I even convinced my non-reader partner to read it as well. I just couldn't shut up about it to be honest.

Really great elements of a bit of everything. But maybe not for everyone.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, the characters are funny and endearing and the story moves along at a good pace. I was especially fond of Kara, from her annoyance with her ex looking for her absolution while she is absolutely past caring to her ability to absolve, in her mind, someone who just didn't know any better I felt like I would have been friend with someone like her.

I hope I will get a chance to revisit The Willows someday!

Gelezen via audioboek

Dit boek was tegelijkertijd ongemakkelijk eigenaardig en absurd grappig. De schrijfstijl vond ik innemend en de personages charmant. De plot deed me met momenten aan “Stranger Things” denken, maar dan met volwassenen en soms wel heel verontrustende beelden en ideeën.
Gaf me zeker en vast goesting om meer van deze auteur te lezen. E
n ook, herinnering aan mezelf om “The Willows” door Algernon Blackwood via Project gütenberg eens te lezen, want dit was wat dit boek heeft geïnspireerd.

Tonally and structurally very similar to [b:The Twisted Ones 42527596 The Twisted Ones T. Kingfisher https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567950921l/42527596.SY75.jpg 58145790]. The main character voice is also almost identical. One difference is the main character here will not shut up about fanfiction. I think its a great hobby to give your main character honestly but anytime she mentioned it I felt more like the author was talking to me, especially when she goes on a half page tirade about people calling her out over “technically incest” (whatever that means) smut. I do not care but I'm not convinced anyone would think of this during a life or death situation. I'm sure whatever fanfic drama the author has or had was very annoying but please keep it away from me. (also a more minor annoyance but, how many times did the male lead mention he isn't into women out of nowhere, and how many times has the main character mentioned if he was straight they would totally have fucked in that scenario or whatever? too many.) Other than that well the best bits of the story were at the start I really enjoy the sort of “impossible space” stories. I didn't like where it went eventually, very similar to the Twisted Ones but that one saved the stuff I disliked more towards the end. It really felt like reading the lesser version of that book sadly.

Strangely Enjoyable

This is my first read by T. Kingfisher this is one of my first attempts at reading the genre of fantasy in 2020. I have a hard time connecting with the genre there for I am super selective. The book however had many spooky qualities that made it closer to horror for me which made me intrigued enough to want to read it. To me this book is like Alien meets The Chronicles of Narnia which shockingly enough I just finished a day ago with my nephew. At page one I fell in love with Carrots relationship with her friend Simon and what made it more enjoyable for me is that one of my closest friends has the name Simon. I felt like I was Carrot and he was in the story with me. I loved how Kara (Carrot) moves in with her Uncle and pretty much runs the museum as her uncle recovers and what is more entertaining is that while he is recovering the world comes undone. I loved every minute. There is a hole in the wall of the museum that leads to a new creepy place that the readers get to explore. creepy willows, shadow things, scary people, other worlds, bizarre bunkers, and so much more to keep the pages turning. I want to apologize for my delayed review to all involved because my delay has no baring on how good this book is. I recommend this to anyone who loves horror mixed with a little bit of fantasy. Also a Finalist in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards very well deserved!

I loved the characters. Uncle Earl and Simon were fabulous. I especially loved the scenes where the ex-husband calls and Kara doesn't give a shit because there's much worse stuff going on.

I felt like the other world was a letdown. I would rate this a three if not for the characters and Kingfisher's writing. Creatures that want to kill/eat you and can know where you are if you think about them. That's overdone.

I read The Twisted Ones in a tiny studio in Kyoto on the eighth story as a typhoon raged around me. That book scared the pants off me. This one wasn't as scary. I'm not sure why. I know the willows are a reference, but willows that change position aren't particularly scary. Things whose danger is known because Simon says so aren't particularly scary. I think what was missing was a feeling of malice - if new characters who could have been saviors actually were evil, or the item that caused it all had been more alive/humanoid. It's hard to attribute malice to willows.

This book definitely had a lot of ‘empty space' where, technically, not much was happening. But it did a real good job of wanting you to keep reading by either making the conversions interesting (and the characters loveable) or you knowing something is coming, which in this book isn't always good.

Overall, I really loved this book; it made me cringe at times, but it was the good kind of cringe.

God I hated this. It's like if the Scary Movie franchise did a skit about Narnia. Based off the cover I expected to be very ominous with scary parts. There definitely are some creepy elements but there is so much comedy in this book it completely took away any scary element out of it. Not for me at all.

This is one of those books you don't want to put down until the end. But, before you read this book I suggest, if you haven't already, read the classic horror story The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. This story, that definitely falls under cosmic horror, is an excellent homage to Blackwood's story. Like many such tales it poses the idea that there are other dimensions or worlds separated from our world by a thin veil and that sometimes openings may be torn in that veil allowing bleed through. In this case an object brought into a quirky museum, made up of strange objects and various preserved animals through the taxidermic arts, holds the power to punch a hole through the wall of the museum and into another world of cement bunkers, flowing water, misty white light and massive amounts of foreboding willow trees. While newly divorced Kara is looking after her uncle Earl's museum, she and her friend Simon, from the coffee shop next door, find and enlarge an opening in the wall of the museum and discover a cement bunker and tunnel that leads them to the dangerous Willow world. What follows is an edge-of-the-seat, unforgettable horror adventure into the unknown.

I feel like my expectations were let down for this book because the cover gives such eerie vibes and the horror narnia aspect of it sounds so interesting and so I was expecting this to be creepier than it is. 
I wanted more exploration into the Narnia world, more description, more weird things happening, I feel like it had great potential had this book chosen to lean more heavily into the horror side.

However I found this to be on the more fun, light side. The writing was light and almost quirky like you would find in a romcom. Which weirdly was the thing I loved most about this, the characters had great banter which was entertaining.

I love the characters and the setting, I love that it didn't take itself too seriously, and it struck this fantastic balance of cozy (a divorcée graphic designer, a stylish barista bestie, in a small town, with a cat, a beloved uncle, references to Bambi and Narnia, etc.) and creepy that slides to horror and back.

The only drawback was the pacing, but that just might be the nature of the genre.
I also wished that Kara (LOVED her nickname of Carrot!) had investigated the otter carving a little sooner, but she got there.

To be fair....
This was going to be a 4 star read (at least!) before I even opened the cover on it because I love T. Kingfisher's writing, The Twisted Ones was my favorite book of last year and because I really didn't care what the plot was because I knew I was in good hands.
I was right. I loved it. I didn't 5 star love it, but I loved it a lot. I did no prep work on this book so that I went in cold and I think that may have been what hurt me. I knew nothing about Algernon Blackwood or The Willows. If you don't know there is source material, you cannot appreciate the cleverness it takes to create a whole new story. So, a lot of the clever was lost on me.
Still The Hollow Places is creepy AF and parts of it will stay with me every time I close my eyes. I was enchanted with Beau (is this a Kingfisher/Vernon thing?). I swear no one writes better animal sidekicks.
So, why not 5 stars? It may be me. Cara's crying got on my news. She cries a great deal. Also, the constant complaining about the leg kind of serves one brief, small purpose but it got old reading about how painful it was over and over. Also, Simon shows up at really convenient times and we all know I don't like to see my female protags survive because some man saves her,and it happens multiple times. Also the ex-husband bit did nothing for me, except show character growth? Maybe? I'm being generous here.
That said, The Hollow Places is awesome. I swear, on an animal that has been stuffed and chemically treated, that I will reread this in a calmer year and see if I can amend my review.