Book Review - Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Amanda Hocking
Publication date: 6 Oct 2010
ISBN13: 9781453860953

First Line - "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door."

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.

Had I known that this book was about a zombie apocalypse I'd have been all over it a LONG time ago. How could I not know that?! I thought it was the usual YA fare and admit that the cover had a lot to do with that. That's a lovely cover and not a hint of zombie about it. It seems it's true what they say about covers, and judging... I'm not sure how long I've had this one but it seems like an age. I wish I'd gotten to it sooner. The only reason I looked at it when I did was because I just read an article on the Daily Mail about Amanda Hocking. I recognised the name and thought, "Hmmm, I've got one of her's here somewhere I think". The rest is history. Read it - Loved it!

It's a very satisfying story and right from the very first line the reader is hauled slap-bang into the thick of it. These zombies are not the slow, lumbering moaners from the usual zom-fests, these zombies are jacked up crazies and can pick up a bit of speed. All the action scenes are pretty frantic.

I felt I really connected with Remy, the main character and liked her a lot. Some of the other character's didn't impress me as much (ie, Blue - although it's a cute name) but I still liked them. Really liked Ripley too, if you can call a lion a character? Yeah, a lion! A very cool lion, actually.

There's a tiny bit of romance and sexual chemistry but I do mean 'tiny'. That's not the main focus of the story though so it makes a nice change from the usual YA boy/girl storylines.

There are some creepy character's in here too and I thought they were dealt with really well. Not TOO creepy for the YA market but 'just' creepy enough to make this adult shudder.

I loved the dialogue, it always felt so natural and suited each character perfectly. Amanda Hocking does character interaction very well, I thought.

I can't believe no publisher wanted this one! It's great. Judging by the money she's making from self publishing I'd say I'm not the only one that thinks that way. In the words of Kevin Costner..."Build it and they will come".

Now for the good news..If you're in the UK you can download this for your kindle for FREE! Amanda is offering a kindle copy of Hollowland for nada, zilch and gratis and I'd advise you to run like the wind to go get it...it's really good!

Book 2 in the trilogy, 'Hollowmen' is already out and I'll definitely be reading it to see what lies in store for Remy!