The Hollow Places
Ratings171
Average rating3.8
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.
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).
Very fun and enjoyable read. I liked how it was set in 2/3 places and kept a small cast, beau the cat was my favourite of course. It wasn't overly scary, could do with more scares to make it to 5 but overall I was very pleased.
Have started reading The Twisted Ones because I enjoyed this so much.
The writing conveys a very creepy Lovecraftian vibe, but set in modern times. Really very unique and otherworldly.
My only criticism (a quibble, really) is that the characters were So. Very. Sarcastic. All of the time. Distracting and it made the tone a bit juvenile. Still, it's an excellent read. Recommend.
P.S. You'll find plenty of antlions in North Carolina, and really most temperate and warmer parts of the world. ... You'll understand when you read the book. Heh.
Vilken jävla resa den här boken var. KUNDE KNAPPT SOVA FÖR JAG VAR OROLIG FÖR HUVUDPERSONENS KATT.
DNF at page 51.
Interesting premise, lovely idea. Poor execution. The prose is dry. I had no indication of what anybody looked like nor grounding in the scenes. The slapstick element missed hard for me. I wasn't expecting super serious horror per se with a museum of oddities — but I was expecting cohesive and alive. This is neither.
If I could give this book eleventy bazillion stars (out of 5 of course) I would. I feel like T.Kingfisher AKA Ursula Vernon wrote this book with me in mind. I had to resist the urge to highlight all the quotes and descriptions that greatly appealed to me. It probably would've been 3/4 of the book anyway LOL.
This book was filled with humor, horror, and insanity. It was a total nod to cosmic/weird horror. If you read the author's note in the back you'll see that Kingfisher said they were using a quote based on The Willows by Algernon Blackwood (which I haven't read but plan to remedy).
The willows™ were filled with inexplicable beings who were a danger to anything that came to their otherworld. It was an eerie place filled with unspeakable things that were a threat to your body and mind. With the climax, you get the bunker quote “Pray they are hungry” because sometimes these beings want to play instead of just eating you. It is better to be eaten in this scenario.
GREAT BOOK! I will recommend it to everyone like a proselytizer for a new religion because this book was worthy of my worship.
This is my favorite adult T. Kingfisher book! I love the way that Simon and Kara work together. I love the way they figure out the ‘rules' for this new world that they found. I liked the way we got a glimpse into a world(s) that are just a little different than ours. I thought the solution was good even if it took Kara awhile to get there. But even if she was slow on the uptake, it led to some really great scenes, so I'm not mad about it. There are a few of the images from the book that will stick with me for a while. I also liked the little glimpse we get into Kara getting back into a ‘normal' life. The ex-husband parts weren't my favorite, but I can see the benefit of him showing up also. I can see myself reading this book again sometime.
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.
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.
This was good for some light chills, but (ironically) it felt about as deep as the pixel-thin façade alluded to in the descriptions of the willow world. I kept expecting it to tie back in to the divorce or something. All the stuff to do with the willow world was very effective though. I'd watch a film adaptation of this for sure.
A chilling atmospheric horror, The Hollow Places will linger with you every time you put it down.
It is scary and hory and amazing But also somehow wholesome and relateble
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 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.
That was great! Wow. Inspired by a short story called “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, somebody who inspired the likes of H.P. Lovecraft, T. Kingfisher weaves an absolutely bonechilling story of other worlds that appear in the walls of her strange but king Uncle Earl's Wonder Museum, full of bizarre taxidermy and other such artifacts.
I'm still stewing on it, really, but I can say that it takes a lot for horror to get under my skin these days, but The Hollow Places creeped me out. And I love every moment of it. Nothing felt out of place, or bland. Kingfisher writes with so much colour and knows the perfect moments to tone it down and... damn. The atmosphere.
Read this if you're a fan of horror, particularly the Weird.
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.
Kara finds a hole in the wall in her uncle's museum. It appears to be a portal. It leads to madness.
I thought this was ok. Definitely not my favorite from this author. I don't read a lot of horror, so maybe that's why I didn't love it. I didn't think it was scary, just weird.
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!
There are five-star horror novels like Stephen King's It that are pillars of the genre, essentially defining it with exceptional storytelling, a cast of characters drawn to perfection, unexpectedly literary construction, and enough horror to ensure that even remotely squeamish readers will want to make a wide berth. Then there are five-star horror novels like Shaun Hamill's A Cosmology of Monsters that melds Lovecraftian scope and world-building with a undercurrent of heart that sets it in a league of its own. Then, there are the novels of T. Kingfisher. I have read three - and I have given out three sets of five stars. They are self-contained, easily-accessible and filled with likable characters working through wonderfully inventive and horrifically satisfying circumstances. The Twisted Ones, What Moves the Dead and now The Hollow Places are like the third options for Goldilocks - just right. That said, they aren't perfect. Some repetition niggles and some inability of characters to recognize moments of importance stretch to extremes, but these works are so good otherwise that such minor annoyances don't detract from their singular success as fun, fast-paced and unique horror. Kingfisher is an auto-buy and, so far, an auto-love.
Read for Stacks of Strange: February 2022
i didn't hate this book or anything it just didn't really have any horror and the whole second part of the plot i didn't like. the beginning was interesting and i enjoyed the characters but that's it really.
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.
