BOOK REVIEW - HOLLOWLAND ( The Hollows # 1 ) by AMANDA HOCKING

By : Amanda Hocking
Published By : Self Published Smashwords
Released : Available Now
Details : E-Book , 463 Pages ( On my uber new  6" Rank Arena E-Book reader)

RATING :  5 TATUM & LAZLO STARS!!

Hollowland - the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows...


"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.
 
 
BOOK REVIEW:
 

Firstly I would like to show you Amanda's original cover for this awesome zombie book. I really do like her new one up above. Gives me a face to Remy's character.

 If you don't know of Amanda Hocking, never read any of her work, well have a nose around this blog and you will see that I am a huge fan. Go on....this review can wait....but make sure you come back to this exact spot!!
 
I must admit I am not a zombie fan..you know,  blood, gore, fugly, generally want to rip you to shreds in the most grotesque way and eat you....and so on....
 
Hubby got me watching 'Zombieland',  his movie pick at the cinemas awhile back. My choice was,  'New Moon' at the time..he didn't so much go for that choice.  So here I am sitting in a cinema thinking how am I going to get through this zombie movie with actually seeing some of the movie ( not hiding my face in his shoulder).
I always like to look around at who is in the cinema with me before the lights dim. Nice 50 ish couple behind us..... they look safe, he was reading a book until lights dimmed. Just me preparing myself for the onslaught of gore that I was going to be subjected to. Well, talk about awesome movie. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, the little chicken from Little Miss Sunshine ( who did that hilarious dance that grandpa taught her) anyhoo trying not to tangent here, just saying I was not into zombies. Once you get past that most gorey 4 minute opening scene it is a very clever , funny movie. Hubby was giggling all through first 4 mins, I was like "oh how am I going to survive this movie"....but I did and it was worth watching.
 
I saved Amanda's zombie book to near last ( my fear of zombies) in all the books she has written and self published for all us lucky readers to read. Well somebody slap me with a stinky dead fish , should have read it earlier, talk about an AWESOME!!! book.
 
From the first page, the book takes off. No waffling on about life before this happened, just BAM!!! straight into the story and Remy and Co, fleeing for their lives.
 
CHARACTERS:
 
REMY : 19 yrs old, survivor. Her mission is to find her brother Max , 8 yrs old.
 
HARLOW : 13 yrs old , orphan.
 
SOMMER : "...contained all the nervous energy and usefulness of a chipmunk."
 
BECK : Soldier, looked out for Max.
 
BLUE : 20ish yrs old, studying to be doctor ( always handy)
 
LAZLO : Rockstar, same age as Remy.
 
RIPLEY : Well , I'll let you figure Ripley out by yourself.
 
The 'lyssavirus genotype 8', mutation of rabies virus, only infects humans. Within day of exposure, symptoms are , headaches, fever, nausea, hallucinating, paranoid, aggresive. Within 3 days, angry , violent, incapable of rational thought. The infected are  overdosed with adrenaline, crazy strong, insatiably hungry for anything including dirt and people. If you shoot them, they die. If you get their blood or saliva in your blood, you die. Pretty simple.
 
Plan was , quarantine all the infected , let virus run its course.
 
Not all plans go accordingly.....
 
Remy is on a mission to find her little brother, it is all she has left. She knows he was evacuated from the quarantine base that they were now fleeing from. Zombies were getting smarter.....the virus mutating within their bodies.
 
The characters Remy picks up along the way on her quest to find Max make the book very enjoyable. She is a survivor who will not let anyone stop her . She is as strong as any 19 year old girl can be but she is determined. She is a quick thinker . She will not allow herself to fail.
 
Amanda writes Remy's story very well. I really felt like I could have been tagging along with her. That feeling of surviving the whole ordeal keeps the heart racing as you read. The whole time I was in fear of who was going to get torn apart, bitten, clawed.....
 
Amanda is very good at making you 'feel' for certain characters. They aren't 2 dimensional. Remy has emotions but she can't afford to take the time to connect with them as it will be her undoing. She has an unlikely friend who doesn't say much ( hee..hee...) but is always there for Remy. A very odd friendship. I kept fearing she would be left behind all the time. I was like...don't forget her.
 
Some nice little POW!! moments ( POW = didn't see that coming). I have a team t-shirt and I think funnily enough it is Tatum. I know Lazlo is the rockstar and cool dude, but I can't help thinking there will be more with Tatum in book 2.  Just me , thinking aloud. I really connected with Tatum. Like I connected with Peter in MBA series ( My Blood Approves ).  
 
Does Remy complete her mission? How much will she have to sacrifice for that freedom that so many will be relying on?  She is only 19 and not super woman.  She can't fix everything...or can she?
 
Visually , this would make an awesome movie. So glad this is a series of books as the ending had me wanting so much more.

With some further snooping it would appear 'Hollowmen' is book 2 in this series..yayayayayay!!

I thought this youtube clip was very good explaining the book but does contain spoilers which I chose not to include in my review ...click on it only if you want to watch a very review in clip form of Hollowland containing couple spoilers:D 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sJn-6KGxe8
 

Michelle