Book Log #36: The Hollow, by Nora Roberts
Jul. 2nd, 2008 11:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperOn to book two of Sign of the Seven!
I definitely liked this one better than Book 1, for a couple of reasons. One, I liked Fox as a male lead character better than I liked Caleb. He's a more thoughtful character, in more ways than one; there's the obvious thing about his being telepathic, but also, in general, he's more analytical than Caleb and that worked better for me as a character trait. Also, I was quite charmed that he could juggle. And, dude, he plays the guitar. Automatic swoon points for a male lead who's a musician, what can I say?
(Though I have to take issue with a couple of the leading ladies asking each other: "Why are guitar players so sexy?" "It's the hands!" Not for me! It's the music.)
Layla as the female lead in this book is not nearly as much of a benevolent bulldozer as Quinn, yet I liked her too. She's more vulnerable, more fragile, and yet she also demonstrated her strength after having to wrestle around with her personal demons in the first bit of the book. She and Fox had some very charming chemistry together as well.
Plot-wise, things do kick up a notch, although we're still building to the main event of the Seven. Our heroes and heroines figure out a few critical background details, even as the Big Bad revs up its own strength and does a pretty decent job going after Fox early in the book and then after all six of the main characters later on. The final scene, where the six of them need to accomplish a specific ritual task to prepare themselves for the forthcoming confrontation, has some suitably powerful description going on.
Though, really--I think Nora's handling of the supernatural elements of this trilogy is more effective when she's not pulling out all the stops. For example, one bit that really stood out for me for how evocative it was is this one: "The demon in a child's form laughed. Then it opened its mouth, wide as a cave, and swallowed itself."
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how she does indeed gear up for the main event in Book 3--and how Gage and Cybil take their turn at center stage. Gage the rogue, the gambler, the precognitive... I think I'm going to like him too. ;)
For this book, though, three and a half stars.
I definitely liked this one better than Book 1, for a couple of reasons. One, I liked Fox as a male lead character better than I liked Caleb. He's a more thoughtful character, in more ways than one; there's the obvious thing about his being telepathic, but also, in general, he's more analytical than Caleb and that worked better for me as a character trait. Also, I was quite charmed that he could juggle. And, dude, he plays the guitar. Automatic swoon points for a male lead who's a musician, what can I say?
(Though I have to take issue with a couple of the leading ladies asking each other: "Why are guitar players so sexy?" "It's the hands!" Not for me! It's the music.)
Layla as the female lead in this book is not nearly as much of a benevolent bulldozer as Quinn, yet I liked her too. She's more vulnerable, more fragile, and yet she also demonstrated her strength after having to wrestle around with her personal demons in the first bit of the book. She and Fox had some very charming chemistry together as well.
Plot-wise, things do kick up a notch, although we're still building to the main event of the Seven. Our heroes and heroines figure out a few critical background details, even as the Big Bad revs up its own strength and does a pretty decent job going after Fox early in the book and then after all six of the main characters later on. The final scene, where the six of them need to accomplish a specific ritual task to prepare themselves for the forthcoming confrontation, has some suitably powerful description going on.
Though, really--I think Nora's handling of the supernatural elements of this trilogy is more effective when she's not pulling out all the stops. For example, one bit that really stood out for me for how evocative it was is this one: "The demon in a child's form laughed. Then it opened its mouth, wide as a cave, and swallowed itself."
Still, I'm looking forward to seeing how she does indeed gear up for the main event in Book 3--and how Gage and Cybil take their turn at center stage. Gage the rogue, the gambler, the precognitive... I think I'm going to like him too. ;)
For this book, though, three and a half stars.
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Date: 2008-07-03 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-03 05:10 pm (UTC)Also, since it must be said: thanks to all this X-Files I've been watching lately, I had frequent visions of this book's male lead played by David Duchovny in my head. ;)
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Date: 2008-07-03 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 01:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-03 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 01:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 12:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-04 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-06 03:24 am (UTC)I agree that Fox is a better character than Cal. Though I think she's saving the best for last with Gage. :D I've always had a soft spot for her bad boys. This is a good series. It's up there with the "Key" series as one of my favorites so far.
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Date: 2008-07-06 05:47 am (UTC)I'm clearly going to have to investigate another of her trilogies after I'm done with this one. I've heard varying reports about how well she handles paranormal-flavored stories, but so far, this one's been solid.
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Date: 2008-07-06 06:02 am (UTC)Those are the paranormal books I can think of, rated in order of personal preference. All three of the first ones mentioned are very 'strong-women' stories. Let me know what you decide, eh?
Oh! And, random, they've put liner notes for each individual song up on the Fortune's Favour discography page. Seem to be written by Sean, and are quite humorous :D Especially love the one for "Oh, Yeah!"
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Date: 2008-07-06 08:42 pm (UTC)More Nora to come probably in a while, after I put more of a dent in my To Read shelves.