Hollowland by Amanda Hocking is an intense zombie apocalypse story. Remy King is on a mission to find her little brother Max after the military base they were at became overrun by zombies. As the place was swarmed, her and two other girls named Harlow and Sommer try to get to Max in the science room. But when they get to the room everyone is gone; the scientists took Max with them when they vacated the building. Remy will not stop until she finds her brother. While on her journey to find Max, she helps Harlow and Sommer survive and fight for themselves. As the journey goes on, all three stumble across trouble and meet new people to help them along the way.
Hocking wrote Hollowland in first person, making it more powerful because the reader gets to see what’s going through Remy’s eyes and what she’s feelings while she’s looking for her brother and fighting zombies. If this book was written in third person the reader would not get the full effect of what Remy’s feeling. In third person the reader does get to experience what the character feels, and it is not as personal as in first person. In this story the reader is going to want to be in the main character’s head.
Amanda Hocking did amazing job creating Remy King. I love how Hocking made her strong and stubborn, with a powerful bond with her brother. She will not stop fighting until she gets what she wants. All these qualities are the reason why she was able to keep herself alive. What also made her character stronger was her age: nineteen. It showed how a young, naive, but stubborn and confident women would act like during a zombie apocalypse. She had to grow up fast and learn to make hard decisions. Hocking makes her characters seem real because some are strong but others are scared and weak.
Hocking also did a good job explaining how the zombies came about. People turn into zombies because of the Rabies Virus, while in TV shows a person turns into a zombie because they already have the virus in their system. It is interesting that it is the Rabies Virus that started the zombie apocalypse. What is also interesting about these zombies is they attack and try to eat other zombies, not just humans. In TV shows and movies zombies are not attacking and trying to eat each other, they are focused on going after humans. Hocking did a good job writing about what she thought a zombie would look and act like. Hocking described them: “Froth covered their lips and their skin had gone almost gray. Their jaundiced eyes had dark rings around them.” The writing here gives the reader a haunting visual.
Hollowland was a well written, well-paced story and it did not take long to get into it. This book keeps readers on their toes, wanting to know what will happen next, and is part of a series called The Hollows. There are only two books in the series, the second book is called Hollowmen. I recommend this story to young adults and new adults.
On Amazon Hollowland costs $ 1.99 and it’s 330 pages. It came out on September 28, 2010 and the publisher is CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
