Audiobook Review – Hollowland (The Hollows, Book 1) by Amanda Hocking, Narrated by Eileen Stevens (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic/Science Fiction
Length: 7 hours and 36 minutes (330 pages)
Publisher: Audible Studios
Release Date: January 31, 2012
ASIN: B0073OH2ZW
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Hollows series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.”

This is the first book in The Hollows duology by Hocking. This is a very typical zombie apocalypse YA novel. Parts of it were okay and other parts of it were very predictable and/or annoying.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator does a good job with narration. I would recommend listening to on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

This book was incredibly predictable. The big mystery throughout the story is the mystery around Remy’s brother Max and why he is evacuated before anyone else in the beginning on the book. If you have ever read a post-apocalyptic zombie book you will figure this “huge” mystery out very quickly.

Additionally Remy and her traveling companions go through every typical post-apocalyptic scenario you’ve ever already read about. Do they run into a crazy religious cult? Yes. What about a Mad Max scenario…yep. Over-controlling military scenario? Yep, that too. I had to roll my eyes everytime anything happened exactly as planned.

Remy was a decent character but she was incredibly black and white in her thinking. The end of the book is ridiculous; she never once tries to compromise or strike a deal with the doctors she talks to. The doctor doesn’t seem like an unreasonable man…she should have at least tried to compromise with him. It was silly.

The other characters weren’t as well done. Harlow (who is thirteen and travels with Remy from the beginning) is just plain annoying. She almost gets the whole party killed a number of times with her squealing and stupidity. Does anyone ever talk to her about her behavior and point out how much she endangers the party? No.

The two boys that join the party aren’t well done either. Lazlo is incredibly immature and I never understood the attraction. Blue, who seems like a much more interesting character, ends up being very underdeveloped. My favorite side character in this whole book was the lion that Remy picks up on the side of the road.

Overall this is an okay book. The writing isn’t horrible and the story does move along at a quick pace. However, the story is incredibly predictable and not at all creative. The side characters are not well done and come across as either underdeveloped or just plain annoying. I will not be continuing with this series. There are so many other more well done post-apocalyptic zombie YA novels out there.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge