Miya is a struggling university student. She has been put on probation. Why? She goes to Black Hollow. She doesn’t know that the town has a dark, age-old secret. Black Hollow has been having a girl missing and the community is upset. They are afraid that the Dreamwalker has taken her. Yet when the girl comes back home, the father ends up killing her. Why would a father do that? Miya sees a wolf while swinging on a swing in an old playground. He leaves her and goes into the forest. Miya will meet a boy whose name is Kai. Where did they meet? Will she learn Kai’s secret? What is it? Meanwhile, a doctor named Mason has come to Black Hollows to recover from a patient dying. He learns about the Dreamwalker fable. He becomes infatuated with the story and wants to see if he can find the mysterious Dreamwalker. Who is she? Will Mason find her? What will happen if he does?

The novel is a horror novel that includes a dark secret, mystery and fantasy. It is fascinating. I liked the development of the story. I enjoyed watching Miya’s coming to terms with herself and her life. It’s an excellent horror novel.

An interesting read. It was a bit confusing at first but if you push through it starts to makes sense. Ends abruptly.

Overall rating: 3.5 Stars

The Hollow Gods by A. J. Varna follows three main characters as they navigate and discover the secrets of an eerie town called Black Hollow. We follow the story of Mason Evans an oncologist taking leave after losing one of his patients, Miya a college student struggling to stay afloat, and Kai a mysterious stranger who lives in the woods.

The events of the book unravel around the town’s history and superstition of the entity known as the Dreamwalker who is rumored to lead girls into the forest and when the girls return they always wind up dead. Mason becomes entrenched in the town's history delving to uncover it’s secrets and the truths behind the story of the Dreamwalker, Miya begins to fear that she is the Dreamwalker’s next target, and Kai finds himself more a part of the history than he could ever imagine. Their three lives collide as they each move closer and closer to discovering Black Hollow's truth.

What I loved:

The characters! All three of the characters were strong and held unique voices. I found myself able to relate to each of them and was interested in their lives and history.

The history of Black Hollow! Growing up in a small town myself I understand just how stories travel and local folklore forms. I really enjoyed learning the history of the town through Mason’s uncovering.

What didn’t work for me:

Although the premise was promising, I found the story to be slow. I was waiting and waiting for the action to happen but it took a long time for it to appear, over halfway through the book, and when pieces were finally moving they moved too fast and made the story feel jarring and inauthentic.

Overall, the story has a great start and I am intrigued about the town and this Dreamwalker.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book as I struggled to stay engaged. My biggest problem was that I felt like the characters only served to further the plot... I needed to see more of their personalities, rather than just watching them make incredibly reckless choices so that we could get to the next discovery, or the huge logical leaps the characters made based on limited evidence.

I did think this book had some interesting things to say about depression and was at its best when conveying the depths of the characters' mental struggles, but the unfortunately the plot wasn't strong enough to feel bring out these qualities.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book.
The Hollow Gods by A. J. Vrana did not disappoint at all. I finished this book in a day and it was hard to leave the book because it has everything that I love to read and write in a book: curses, superstitious people, flawed characters that at least try (finally someone gets anxiety attacks because I could relate to Miya a lot in this book), wolves that might be both (wo)man and wolf, dreamscapes, and fables wrapped around mythology.
The world-building is incredible and I was loathed to leave it. The characters had me wanting to hug them and protect them from the nasty villagers who let their own fears bring new life into the fables. Also, anything with reincarnation that has characters being other characters in a previous life will have me on my knees begging for more and I salute the author for being able to pull it off.
If you want to read more of my crazy fangirl talk, you can check out my full review at https://bookgirlreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/
All I will say is that Kai can be my Big Bad Wolf anytime he wants to be;) (but I will bow out graciously because of Miya)
If I could give it 500 out of 5 stars I would, but since the system doesn't go that high... 5 out of 5 stars times 100;)

The Hollow Gods is an incredibly in depth story that spans centuries, families, dreams and the waking world. If you want it, Vrana delivers in this title that defies genres and takes you on one wild ride.

This is a book I straight up devoured. The first probably 40% of the book follows three different narratives giving each chapter to a certain point of view. As the book progresses we see these characters story lines start to tie into each other and oh what a tangled web they weave!

You have Miya, who is in a rut as far as studies go and can’t figure out what path she wants to take in life. With odd occurrences happening both too and around her she’s beginning to loose touch with whats real.
Then there is Kai. A smart-mouthed, amnesiac who can’t figure out what’s going on with his blackouts, only that he has a sinking feeling they aren’t because of anything good. (If you’ve ever read Kadry’s Sandman Slim series he reads like a young Stark. I loved Kai)
Lastly you have Mason, an oncology doctor that feels like he’s failing at everything until a chance encounter with a patient that heals miraculously from a serious accident draws him into a dark land meant for scary stories and night time tales.

All of this revolves around Black Hollow. A town steeped heavily in folklore. Of a dream-walker and her wolves that take young women, warping time and returning their shells. The townspeople fear it, try to pretend it isn’t real. But the grip its history has on everything it touches in their little town speaks to something much darker.

There is so much going on in this story but I never once felt like it didn’t have room to breath. The dialogue was a lot of fun, especially later on in the book once everyone starts coming together and we get to see some side characters come into play. It could veer into cliche here and there. Most of my issue lay in the chapters where we were bouncing back and forth in the POV. The time line could get a little wonky but it was tolerable. Regardless, still a page turner that I could not put down.

*E-Arc kindly provided by BooksGoSocial via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own

"The Hollow Gods" ist der Auftakt einer Dilogie, der spannender nicht hätte sein können. Durch das atemberaubende Cover bin ich überhaupt erst auf das Buch aufmerksam geworden und wurde von Anfang bis Ende in den Bann gezogen.
Wer spannenden und vor allem düstere Urban/Dark Fantasy mag, ist bei diesem Buch definitiv an der richtigen Adresse. Durch den flüssigen Schreibstil lässt sich die Geschichte sehr schnell lesen und da der Spannungsbogen konstant auf einem unglaublich hohen Level ist, möchte man das Buch auch gar nicht mehr aus der Hand legen, bis man am Ende angekommen ist.
Besonders hervorzuheben ist, dass die Charaktere hier keineswegs perfekt sind. Bei jedem einzelnen von ihnen handelt es sich um Randmitglieder der Gesellschaft, die von ganz oben ganz tief gefallen sind und nun zu den Außenseitern gehören. Doch sie lassen sich nicht unterkriegen.
Über die Handlung möchte ich an dieser Stelle gar nichts verraten. Der Klappentext gibt genügend Informationen und die Geschichte ist einfach zu gelungen, um hier gegebenenfalls zu spoilern.
Aber "The Hollow Gods" ist eine absolute Leseempfelung und ich bin gespannt auf den zweiten Band!

The Hollow Gods was definitely an interesting and dark read! I had a lot of mixed feelings about this book. It was complex and well thought out, and definitely weird! I just really didn't like the characters nor connect with them. I think that's why I didn't love the book. The folklore in this book was a bit confusing at times as well. I really did enjoy the folklore though, it felt really unique and original. The town of Black Hollow was a perfect setting for this book and I LOVED it. It was atmospherical and definitely creepy! I enjoyed Mason's POV in the book the most. I can't quite say why but his story and the experiences he had and the way he looked at the folklore was the most interesting to me. This is definitely a really cool and dark read that I think readers will enjoy!

I was taken with this story right at the start, the characters, setting and most of the pacing were spot on (there was just a few spots that the story got a little hazy/confusing). I would definitely read more from this author and recommend to fantasy/horror fans.

“Reality wasn’t timeless or enchanting; it was finite and perilous. There was no forever-after in Black Hollow or anywhere else.”

This imaginative fantasy takes us to the city of Black Hollow, located several hundred kilometers northwest of Vancouver.

The main characters are Miya, a struggling University student who grew up in Black Hollow and is no stranger to the odd occurrences that seem to happen there. Young amnesiac Kai, who’s introduction in the book cast him as dubious and dangerous, if only he could remember what happens during his black outs. Third is a grieving Oncologist named Mason who has come to Black Hollow to stay off the grid and recover from a terrible patient loss at his practice.

A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas and deadly secrets lurk in the foggy forests outside of Black Hollow. The main concern is the return of the Dreamwalker- an evil force that lures young women into the woods to their certain death. These three characters are meant to meet up, fight the fabled Dreamwalker and uncover the truth before they are all doomed.

What drew me to this book was the originality of the plot and the promise of a young heroine. The cover art was on point, appropriately dark and spooky.

The problem I had was that for all of the exposition and text heavy explanation of the characters, I did not believe the motivations of Mason whatsoever. I did not believe that Miya was so instantly mentally ill and unable to cope and yet unwilling to accept help from family and good friends, and Kai’s mysteriousness was too slow to be explained.

Overall I truly was excited to start this book but eventually was dulled by the lack of development. I had to slog through too much that happened in a too unbelievable way in order to get anywhere and eventually had to DNF the book after a hundred or so pages.

I will say that I think this story will appeal to YA and fantasy lovers who love lots of descriptive world building and dark fable based books. It was only my personal style preference that lead me to have difficulty with this one.

I loved how the book created some truly in-depth & relatable characters.. I felt very invested in Miya, Kai & Ama and their lives and was loving how things were going. It was definitely high fantasy, combined with folklore, mystery and almost a bit of stark gothicness.. However, I was so incredibly disappointed in the ending. I felt like it made very little sense and didn't give the reader a clear or precise conclusion. I'm interested in seeing how others respond to this ending, once it becomes available on Amazon. I'd probably read another book by this new-to-me author, but I'd be a bit leery, I suppose. I think if the author had given more clarity to the ending and explained things more thoroughly, instead of switching back and forth so quickly between narratives, things would have worked out better and allowed the reader to feel like an actual resolution had been accomplished.. The last couple of chapters were simply disappointing to me. Just to be sure of my opinion, I actually went back and re-read those final chapters one more time, hoping I missed something, but to me, it was just an unclear, unresolved, slightly messy ending that should have been given much more detail.. Kudos to the author though, on her world-building and realistic, likable characters.. I just feel let down by the ending and if the author writes a second book in the series, I would hope that it would have a much-clearer resolution.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. Wow! I really enjoyed this one and can't wait for the next book. I hope it's a continuous series.

I thought this had a great cover and decided to give this a try. I think the writing was decent but the story lacked something and didn't quite satisfy. Is this a sort of American Gods meets Red Riding Hood? Didn't think there would be any sort of romance but there was but that really seem to be the focus for most of the book. I think there are people that would like this book though. I was looking for magic and stuff like that though. Thank you for Netgalley.com for the chance to read this one.

The author delivers a rapid-paced, suspenseful, gripping, well-written and perfectly executed fictional fantasy/ thrilling mystery.

Overall tells an interesting narrative with a complex main character and interesting surrounding characters. Most of the characters featured in the narrative are well fleshed out and have their own personality rather than just being the side-kick or bad guy.

I can highly recommend this book and I will be waiting anxiously for the next book in this series!

Absolutely loved this book. The storyline had me gripped from the first sentence. I think the characters were really well written and I thought the ending was good.

I love.

That is all.

:)

Ok but seriouslY? This was so good! It was an amazing read. I was drawn in by the summary alone, but I am totally on board to find out what happens in the next book! It was serious, funny, spooky, and yet also knew when to be lighthearted. I'm so glad this book held up to my expectations!

This dark horror novel drew me in from the start with its spooky atmosphere, compelling characters and well-written story. The pacing was strong as three main characters are drawn into a wild mix of supernatural events, quirky small-town folk with secrets to hide, and personal demons that conspire to end them all. Some great twists and characters that are nuanced and tough to figure out who is good and bad- some may be both! Recommended.

"F*ck this shit."
"F*ck everything."
"And f*ck that squirrel in particular."

Normally I don't include much cussing in my reviews, it just isn't necessary.. but the above pretty much sums up my favorite character in 'The Hollow Gods (The Chaos Cycle Duology #1)' by A.J. Vrana. Kai Donovan's so surly it's hilarious, but he's still capable of caring.. it just comes in the most prickly, aggressive, physical package possible.. and I am crazy about him. Did I mention he's an ass.. but also hot as hell? Yeah. That's in his wheelhouse too.

This story is about an old town, harboring a very dark legend and a lot of secrets. Miya, the main character, is a university student who's struggling to get by.. and beginning to think she might actually be in serious danger. Along the way she meets Kai.. a stranger.. who's more than a little rough around the edges and just happens to wake up next to a dead body to start his day.

Told from multiple points of view by Miya, Kai, and Mason.. an oncologist who's dealing with some demons of his own, the three end up on similar paths. Attempting to get to the truth behind the legend of the Dreamwalker and a history of girls who go missing only to return, then turn up dead later, it's a question as to whether or not they can figure out what's happening and make it stop before it's too late.

"Time to lose your way, she trilled.
The Hollow's still got hell to pay."

Honestly, this book was such a pleasure to read. It's common for authors, especially debuting authors, to bite off a little more than they can chew.. and multiple POV is especially difficult to execute well. There are plenty of seasoned bestselling writers out there who can't manage it, but that is not the case with Vrana. She shifts seamlessly between characters, successfully gifting each of them with distinctively individual voices.

The same can be said for her transitions from chapter to chapter. Her foreshadowing is handled with all the control of a master like King.. elegant allusions and glimpses of things just beyond sight. Miya, Kai, and Mason all begin their stories at very specific points, vastly distant from one another, and are deftly drawn toward each other in gradually tightening circles.

"Once upon a time, when the earth was formless and empty, and darkness stretched over the surface of the deep, we plunged one another into the abyss, and the world has trembled ever since."

As for the plot itself, it's beautifully dark. It's the kind of story you find in age old fairy tales full of things that go bump in the night and absolutely mean you harm. The worlds they inhabit are fraught with dangerous things and not all of them as we might expect.

There's sort of an 'in-between' and a place of 'otherness'.. both of which are as unique as the characters she introduces to us. I loved the way the 'in-between' often felt almost gauzy.. as if it was sort of a filter between the two. And the 'other' place.. wow. Talk about a nightmare.

"Cut the seams of reality, and chaos is bound to spill out."

Even her supporting characters, of which there are several we get to know, have very developed backstories.. making them feel all the more tangible and crucial to the tale she tells.
Initially, I had been a little uncomfortable with the dialogue style between Kai and his nemesis, but that was largely due to the fact it seemed as if something else was happening. As soon as I understood.. it made sense and I realized it was absolutely the right choice.

Truly, I can't say enough good things about this novel or this author. I'm so glad there's going to be more to this story.. and I look forward to seeing what Vrana has planned for us. I highly recommend grabbing this book when it releases in July 2020.

A middling 2.5 stars for this one, leaning lower than it does higher.

Hollow Gods is a dark, modern fantasy with some really fun concepts. A rural. sleepy town is full of superstition, normal in all respects until a young woman goes missing. When she is found safe and alive on the outskirts of the forest, the town meets her with suspicion rather than the expected excitement.

And then her father murders her; the sleepy town of Black Hollow reacts with sympathy rather than outrage. Hollow Gods follows the story of the next woman to be spirited away, the spirit who does the spiriting (he thinks, or maybe he's just really bad at protecting the girls from the person doing the spiriting), and a medical student from the city slowly becoming immersed in superstition he scoffed at the thought of before. The premise is something I tripped over my own two feet over.

Unfortunately, the book is riddled with things I personally am not a fan of. A number of dream sequences from all three pov characters, a romance saturated with cringeworthy flirty dialogue and a "we're instantly connected" feel, and an increasingly more convoluted plot line that I get the feeling I was supposed to get lost in, but didn't. This book feels like it wants me to go down the rabbit hole, play in the maze, but it didn't click with me.

Kai is... a lot, truly, as a narrator. A good kind of a lot, but a lot that was also difficult to slug through at times. Miya's entire conflict that we start the book with (her struggling grades) means nothing in the scope of this story, and was wasted bait. Her personality seems interchangeable with just about anything or anyone else as far as what she actually does to impact the story. Mason's arc seemed the truest to the experience of a reader, and although I liked what his thread pulled out of the story I don't think his reasons for being involved were particularly tight.

For me, the dark mystery and horrific elements were lost as we spent time with this supernatural "our love is older than us" style romance, but for fans of that I'd imagine this book will read much smoother. Aspects of this story continue to captivate me--most notably, the idea that stories do not seek facts, but seek truth. There is a target readership in here that probably leans younger than me, or can otherwise ignore cringey dialogue and immerse themselves despite.

I had a really hard time with this one. It didn't hold my attention. There were so many points of view and it started out slow and didn't seem to be in any hurry to pick up.