House of Hollow is a dark mystery horror story by Krystal Sutherland. In telling this story, you get glimpses of Scottish folklore that shape the characters’ everyday lives and stories. Folklore has unquestionably shaped cultures and civilizations, showing you a glimpse of the mind of the average person of the time. It showcased fears, hopes, and beliefs, and the way those manifested to reflect daily occurrences in their lives.
To this day folklore is something you grow up with, as it has weaved itself into the very fabric of our stories. And because of that, folklore is a common ground most cultures and people can connect with.
House of Hollow was a book that wasn’t what I was expecting yet something that I was delighted to have found.
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In this book, Krystal Sutherland does a great job of using folklore without you knowing that she is pulling from multiple stories, lores, and beliefs. She manages to weave a narrative based on folklore that tells you a new story that pulls you in and intrigues you from the very beginning. While most of the components of the lore she creates will sound familiar to you, she manages to weave them in a way that is new and captivating.
House Of Hollow currently stands at 4.04 stars on Good Reads out of 75.8K ratings! Definitely something that a lot of people have enjoyed.
It has also won a bunch of awards!
- Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Novel (2021)
- ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Young Adult Novel (2022)
- Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2023)
- Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2021)
House of Hollow Synopsis
Each of the girls in House of Hollow was born with jet-black hair and beautiful blue eyes, but after the mysterious disappearance their hair turned stark white and their eyes turned black. Doctors said that this was due to severe PTSD. And each girl grew to be insanely beautiful, so beautiful people just could not say no to them under any circumstance. Full of sharp edges and mystery, each taller than the rest, these girls stood out in a dark and powerful way.
The eldest sister, Grey, did not get along with their mother and ended up saying something so mean and awful to their mother that she was not welcome back in the house. After being kicked out, she wanted to find her own way in life without any help or assistance.
Just a few months after leaving home, she became a world-renowned supermodel with her own successful fashion brand. Each piece of clothing is an echo of a modern fairy tale and heavily embedded with a unique smell. Meanwhile, Vivi the middle sister, is fighting her way through the world as a punk rock artist.
Just as successful as her older sister, she is trying to make her mark on the world. She left home just a few months after Grey and went through some dark times before being able to claim success. Iris is the youngest of the three, and the only one who stayed home to finish school and is still living with her mom. While her sisters exude self-confidence and know how to hold themselves, Iris is book smart and shy, not yet ready to handle herself in the real world.
And she is still so confused about what happened that night. She has no answers, and on top of that, she does not know where these white flowers that smell like death are coming from. Or why do they keep showing up in pictures of Grey…
Suddenly, Grey goes missing. The sisters were supposed to meet up and spend the evening hanging out and catching up. She did not show up to dinner or the concert Vivi was holding in town or even meet up at the club afterward. Instantly Vivi and Iris started wondering if whatever happened to them ten years ago was happening again (prior to this, many stalkers followed them and one even tried to kidnap them before but none had been successful … yet).
They desperately followed Grey’s last known whereabouts and could not shake the similarities between the two kidnappings… was this a copycat or the same offender coming back to finish the job? And why did Grey have so many books about old folklore and modern fairy tales, weird taxidermy, and what in the world was that smell everywhere?
An Enticing Exploration of Folklore
I loved reading this book! It was a slower pace and a more haunting book than I usually read and was the perfect choice for a moodier rainy season before spring fully kicked into gear. I found that it was easy to read and get lost in the book, but that it did not hold me hostage reading way past when I was supposed to be sleeping. This may seem like a negative, but was very appreciated by this often sleep-deprived reader.
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It was one of those stories that slowly picked up pace, and by the end, I realized that I hadn’t been able to put it down for hours. While House of Hollow doesn’t follow any specific fantasy or folklore story, I could feel the pull of many of the tales that shaped this story as a whole. I really enjoyed discovering how multiple folklore stories melted together to build this world. It created something new that was dark, sharp, haunting, and full of lore which lent itself perfectly to the atmosphere of the novel.
Final Thoughts
The ending of House of Hollow is a bit divisive, with many people enjoying the ending and just as many wishing for a different outcome. This sparked many debates and opinions about how the story could have ended. In this article, Krystal Sutherland herself talks about 5 things that almost happened in the novel and how their inclusion or exclusion drastically shifted the outcome and overall story (heads up: read this article after you read the book – it gives major spoilers). And then after you read the book leave your thoughts on the ending- did you love it or hate it?
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No matter what your opinion of the outcome, it’s clear that House of Hollow provides entertainment and atmosphere for readers searching for a novel with a darker tone than traditional fantasy provides. One can only hope that more of these tales will make their way onto bookshelves everywhere.
Related Books You Might Also Enjoy
- Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
- Nocne godziny by Marta Bijan
- A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
- Karolina Dalca, Dark Eyes by M.R. Noble
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The Review
House of Hollow
An intriguing dark mystery that will captivate you slowly without you noticing. Full of folklore and fairytales this book creates a new version of the lore we all know and love, enticing you to figure out the ending before it is reveled.
PROS
- Atmospheric and haunting
- Atmosphere
- Prose
CONS
- Missed out on development of secondary characters
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