4.5 stars

Full review here


Goddammit Stroud.


A Quick Rundown of My “The Hollow Boy” Reading Experience

Me: Ah, Lockwood & Co. Lockwood, Lucy and George.

Stroud: WRONG.

Me: But –

Stroud: *Hammers at one gigantic piece of what I thought I knew to be true*

Stroud: *Shoves Holly Munro into the mix*

Me: …Oh. Okay.

*

Me: Ah, look. Lucy, my well-rounded, reasonable heroine.

Stroud: Lucy? Reasonable? Unswayed by jealousy? Lady, please.

Me: Wait. Who said anything about jealousy?

Stroud: *Hammers away again*

Stroud: HOW D’YOU LIKE YOUR HEROINE NOW?

Me: Water you doing???? (‘O_O)

*

Me: … At least I still have my seemingly-random-case-that-turns-out-to-be-the-title-case. at least I’ve still got that.

Stroud: *maniacal laughter*

Me: Oh no.

Stroud: *continues laughing*

Me: Please no.

Stroud: YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD PREDICT ME? ME??? I LAUGH AT YOU.

Stroud: *picks up hammer. Destroys me.*

Me: (;________;)

*

Me: _{…at least the ending is ha}—

Stroud: NO.

Stroud: *hammers away gleefully*

*


The Hollow Boy saw some very serious changes for Lucy and, by extension, the readers. I think that’s the brilliance of this book. With The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull, Stroud made us comfortable. He took his time to introduce us to these characters, took his time to build solid walls of friendship and familiarity. And then he took a sledgehammer and SMASHED IT ALL TO BITS.

But I think you’ve already figured that part out by now.

As the blurb promises, Lockwood & Co. gets a new addition. Holly Munro, surprise surprise, is a girl – and to reasons obvious to everyone except the characters in the book, (Except the skull. He’s smart) Lucy doesn’t really get on with Holly all that much. In fact, she spends about 80% of the spitting snark and mentally tearing Holly apart for being “prim and proper”.

Yes. It must be said. Lucy Carlyle does not play nice with other girls.

Which is sad, really, because throughout this book you could tell that she and Holly could be great friends if only she’d given her a chance. But instead of seizing the opportunity to make a female friend, like, say, I would have, Lucy chose to be petty. She chose to be snarky. She chose to complain and gripe and make things unpleasant not just for Holly, but for Lockwood and George as well.

I hated this bitchy side of Lucy. But I also enjoyed how much more human this made her seem. Yes, she was being an unreasonable little twit, but considering that her powers have been growing so much, so fast, it was a nice touch. Gave her a little vulnerability and made her a tad more relatable.

(side note: This does not mean that I’m okay with Lucy not having any girlfriends. If she does not make a solid female friendship sometime soon, I will cut a bi–wraith.)

Anyway, I’m trying to keep a lid on the spoilers. But I will tell you that I appreciated the little change in routine Stroud gave us with this book. And not just in the case of a new member. The structure of the story changed. This book was, essentially, the beginning of the action of the entire series’ main arc – If The Screaming Staircase and The Whispering Skull were the exposition of the central arc, The Hollow Boy was the rising action. The conflict, if you will.

The cliff-hanger ending proves my point really. Because, even though The Whispering Skull ended on a bit of a cliffy as well, you sort of knew that things weren’t going to change too much. You knew that, on the flipside, things wouldn’t be that different. Not this one. This cliffy says, “Change is coming. Be prepared.”

Personally, I’m not prepared at all. But I am really, really, really excited for the next book. Too bad I’ll have to wait a year to get my grubby paws on it. (;_;)