Category : Supernatural, Adventure, Teen Fiction, Romance
Summary :
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A town struggling for survival. A generation eliminated. A sacrifice worth countless lives.
The Hollow Ball.
It's been a tradition in the small, secluded town of Mill Hollow. Every twenty-five years, every eighteen-year old boy and girl is sent as an offering to the creatures that have held the town captive for hundreds of years. There are no winners. There is no survival. Once a girl or boy steps through the doors of the Hollow Ball, they never come back. A world of enchanting beauty, lustful encounters, and a stranger in a skull mask. Hayley Castellano is determined to uncover the horrors behind the monsters that hold her town captive and find a way to break them free of their hold forever. Even if it means uncovering a past that could change the world forever.
Review :
The cover is extremely inviting. I mean, damn, that's one sexy cover.
It starts off really good too, with amazing vocab and a sophisticated language. It creates a very mysterious aura, and instills the severity of the situation into the reader's subconscious. It paints a very flimsy scenario, and eloquently expresses the danger they are in.
Until the last two chapters, the book progresses really well. Even though there is so much happening, it's expressed pretty eloquently and that makes it easy to grasp. If you don't understand some things, within the next few chapters, it becomes clear.
In the second last chapter, the connection can be found. It makes sense, and explains a pretty romantic bit of the whole story. In the end, I didn't understand what exactly happens and that's one part I didn't quite like, but other than that, the chapter is fine.
Then comes the last chapter.
Utter chaos.
It becomes really hard to understand how the author got to that point.
There are so many questions left unanswered in this book; so many loose threads. I think that a book in completion must leave no loose ends. If a sequel exists, then it must exist to answer one crucial question; one question to propel the story forward. This book is just really incomplete, and that's sad because after reading such a gripping story, the fact that it isn't ended properly hurts.
There are a few more things I didn't understand, though I'm not sure if it's just me or generally questions the book leaves unanswered. Overall, I'm still a bit muddled. Also, when you really look into the details, a lot does not add up. But if we keep to the storyline and focus on the basic skeleton, it's actually a beautiful concept and a beautiful story.
All these aside, the book has excellent writing, very well partitioned and aptly titled sequence, well built characters and backgrounds and a really gripping hold.
It's a good read, and it also has a sequel to answer everything (I guess) but it's still under work and seeing how this book's end really let me down, I'm not sure whether I want to continue reading.
