The Hollow Gods Review

Black Hollow is a town with a dark secret.

For centuries, residents have foretold the return of the Dreamwalker—an ominous figure from local folklore said to lure young women into the woods and possess them. Yet the boundary between fact and fable is blurred by a troubling statistic: occasionally, women do go missing. And after they return, they almost always end up dead.

When Kai wakes up next to the lifeless body of a recently missing girl, his memory blank, he struggles to clear his already threadbare conscience.

Miya, a floundering university student, experiences signs that she may be the Dreamwalker’s next victim. Can she trust Kai as their paths collide, or does he herald her demise?

And after losing a young patient, crestfallen oncologist, Mason, embarks on a quest to debunk the town’s superstitions, only to find his sanity tested.

A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas, and deadly secrets loom in the foggy forests of Black Hollow. Can three unlikely heroes put aside their fears and unite to confront a centuries-old evil? Will they uncover the truth behind the fable, or will the cycle repeat?

This debut novel is filled to the brim with folklore and analysis of the characters is masterfully subtle yet effective in that the reader believes they are reading a story about a crazed and demonic woman that is terrorizing a town but in actuality it is an examination of anxiety, grief, loss, identity crisis and everything else you go through in fantasy realms.

The writing is beautiful and the author develops a beautiful visual scene in an extraordinary way. She has developed scenes that are so real it is almost overwhelming and can almost play with your emotions and mind.

The narrative is the point of view of three different characters and each one had a different tone/voice which really gave the impression of different characters talking and was an aspect that I love but is often rare in fantasy books.

As well as the characterisation and the narrative I also like the romance aspect. It was only a small aspect of the novel but an important part because it allowed the reader a moment of desire and a break from the darkness.

Overall, I loved the book and would give it a solid 4 stars due to the pace at the beginning being a bit slow for me.

The Other Black Girl Review

I was provided The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris as an ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. All opinions are my own and thanks is extended to the author, publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to do so.

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.

It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.

I loved this novel that was slow burning at the start before reaching its suspense filled climax at the end. It has been compared as The Stepford Wives meets Get out and I would say it had more Get Out vibes for sure and I was totally within the books grasp from the very start.

The story line itself is intriguing and interesting and the characters are so well written and captivating. I didn’t find a single page of this book boring if anything I felt genuine fear whilst reading it and an intense dislike for some of the acts that characters were carrying out.

My only criticism was that I found the ending frustrating and even more frustrating that I cannot go into why without giving spoilers … so spoiler alert without giving away anything to major I found it intensely frustrating that after receiving so much prejudice, discrimination and hate from a privileged group in society, to then have your own people turn on you also left me with a feeling of utter hopelessness and despair that left me with boiling blood and an intense rage. However, I appreciated the reasons why the author did this and so although it frustrated me, I appreciate the power of doing just that. I just felt that following such a build up and tension that I was left with lots of questions and needing more in terms of the backstory and generally just more information.

However, this didn’t take away from the experience and it is still a strong 4 star read for me.