Month: March 2012

Hollowmen by Amanda Hocking

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is book 2 in The Hollows series. There weren’t as many typos or, maybe, I just accepted they were there and didn’t look for them as much.

The first chapter of this book was absolutely 100% maddening and stupid! I can’t express that enough. I believe the event, as told, would be enough to turn readers away from the rest of the book. But if you can get passed this first piece of writing then the story returns to a similar storyline in the same vein as book 1.

It’s not as ‘badass’ (this is a word other reviewers seem to use in association with this book, but it’s not a word I would generally use) as the first book. The main character has slowed down a bit. There are not as many zombie attacks, but still everyone is dying around her. This book had survivors fighting survivors, which is saying our evil side comes out to play when rules and regulations are taken away.

The main characters from book 1 – Lazlo and Harlow – were not in this book, except for a quick mention really. And Blue was only in it for a zombie attacking moment. This was disappointing and unsatisfying because it left loose ends. Ripley was present, but mostly forgotten.

The entertainment level wasn’t as good and although a third book could be written, I’d be happy to leave the story here. Overall, too many disappointments for me to really enjoy the book.

Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Firstly, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read a book with so many typos in it. Virtually every page had a word or some sort of punctuation missing. The book needs a really good edit because at present it reads like a first draft, which is a shame.

Secondly, the main character can do anything (almost). She can single-handedly kill a horde of zombies without so much as a scratch. Some call this “badass”, I call it ridiculous and unrealistic.

Yet … if you push these things aside and just read the book at face value, without thinking about it too much, then entertainment wise it was a good read. I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and who was going to die next.

It was gory in parts and there were some imaginative ways of killing used. And no one was immune (excuse the pun) to death, so there’s no use pinning all your hopes on any of the support characters.

There was even a bit of romance. Not much, mind you, which was good because in all honesty there’s no time amongst all the running and killing.

This was a free download. I’m not sorry I read it as it was quite entertaining. It’s just a pity the author didn’t invest more time into polishing it up a bit before releasing it.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Of course I’ve seen the movies, but this is the first time I’ve read the book. The first scene was hard to get through, very technical and complicated, but hugely warranted as it gave the story substance and credibility. Not that I understood any of it.

When the travelling started, however, it became much easier to read … and, hence, more enjoyable.

And it is a great story.

I’ve always been interested in time travel and parallel travel, so this story fed that obsession well. It was interesting to note that a writer from our past could feed ideas to the reader and somehow close the gap, before going on to show us a future that was well thought out.

I enjoyed the romantic side of the story, and the cannibalistic side as well. I found it interesting to see that Wells has predicted the Earth colliding with the sun. And I found the ending of the story left me pondering what I would do if I were in the main character’s shoes. After such a narrow escape, would I go on another adventure?

I think it would be impossible not to.