Hollow City

The Hollow City is the second installment in Rigg's trilogy of the Peculiar Children's exciting adventure, and it is a worthy following of its predecessor. But did I enjoy it as much as the first volume? The answer is a hesitant ‘‘no''.

Hesitant bceause I cannot, clearly, state what it was that made me feel that something was missing. Up until the 45% mark, it was a real page - turner, then, gradually, I seemed to lose interest. Perhaps, I couldn't fully connect with it as I was reading the first two volumes of ‘‘The Grisha'' trilogy and the Ravka universe had completely sucked me into its lore. But probably the actual reason was simply that it became repetitive and predictable. ‘‘Predictable? Really?'', some may think, ‘‘why, with so many twists and turns?'' Yes, there are many twists and turns and chasings and cliffhangers. More than I can count, but the narrative reached a point where I, as a reader, knew what to expect. Every stranger was a threat that was eliminated by the intervention of another stranger and so on and so forth...This continues until the very end to the point where the conclusion of the second book left me a bit indifferent. The introduction of the Peculiar animals further alienated me from the story. It was just too much for my liking. Also, the absence of Miss Peregrine didn't help.

The writing and the dialogue are polished and engaging, though I could do with less of Enoch's constant bickering and battling words with everyone, and I would like to see more than just a passing glance as to how Jacob's parents are dealing with his absence. What makes the book rich is the new set of peculiar photographs that manage to be even creepier than the ones found in the first book. I simply loved them all!

Can you tell I am confused? Because I admit I am. The Hollow City is a good continuation of the story and perhaps this is just me nit-picking, but I expected to feel the well-known enthusiasm of following the Peculiars' adventures and it didn't happen. Finger crossed that the third part of the trilogy will restore my admiration for it.