#man i feel like i just revived a corpse tbh its been so long since i wrote for geo gramps HHAHAHAA

[phantomdarksgirl]

[dusts off blog]

what up

I just finished reading BOTH The Hollow Earth trilogy and its sequel, The Orion Chronicles and my brain won’t shut up, so I’m gonna make this post.

Without going into spoilers, Hollow Earth was FANTASTIC. It’s been a while since I’ve had a book captivate me as much as the premise and plot of that trilogy have, which is why I was spurred to read The Orion Chronicles. I just wanted more adventures with Matt and Em and wasn’t quite ready to pick up another universe just yet.

The Orion Chronicles books were good, and I do still recommend them, but...man I just have THOUGHTS so spoilers ahead this is gonna be a long one.

The tone shift from Hollow Earth to Orion Chronicles makes sense to me. Matt and Em are 17 now. They’re more mature, growing up. Fine.  But I felt like the writing itself suffered from the change of publishers.  The style itself felt the same, but the pacing was all over the place, especially, I felt, in the third book.  There were places in the third book that were inconsistent from an editing standpoint, and passages I had to read twice because I was confused at omitted details that needed to be inferred.  I never had to do that with the first trilogy. Omitted details were easily inferred and not confusing to the narrative when done so.

I felt some crucial scenes and arguments we should have seen play out were just...glossed over. Like Em and Zach’s breakup and Em’s decision to stay with Matt instead of be bound to Zach. The overall premise of these books I felt was a wonderful expansion of the universe created in Hollow Earth, but I found its execution lacking, unfortunately.

And ESPECIALLY when it came to poor Zach.  There were times I was more interested in seeing the story from his perspective, to be honest, and we barely got anything until the third book. And even then I just have so many QUESTIONS that went unanswered.

Like....okay here’s a list

- How long has Zach been working for Orion? Did he join to find his mother? DId he know his mother was working for Orion before or AFTER joining? Was his decision to infiltrate the Carmarilla BECAUSE his mom was there?

- Was Zach always working for Cecilia during his infiltration? What was his in for this job? How did he climb the ranks so fast in a matter of months? Wasn’t Cecilia running the Carmarilla??

- When did Zach’s Animare powers start manifesting? You want me to believe in the 4 years between these series that he didn’t AT LEAST tell the twins about these powers? The ONLY OTHER PEOPLE in the world who are exactly like him? He wouldn’t be comfortable telling them or exploring those abilites with them? The entire first series they kept big secrets from the adults. Wouldn’t this just be another one?

- IS Zach even a hybrid? Sebina isn’t a guardian by definition. Tbh it’s not even clear what she really is since we never see her grow wings like Luca. If he’s not the product of a Guardian and an Animare, what IS he?

- If Vaughn is actually Zach’s dad, what the FUCK is Simon in relation to him? How did he come into the picture? Did Vaughn not raise him because of his Orion work? Did Simon KNOW Zach wasn’t his? I could swear Zach was described as looking like Simon in the first trilogy but I can’t remember clearly.

- Was his internship at the MOMA just his cover for his Orion work? I’m guessing so, but that wasn’t really cleared up.

- Did he ACTUALLY send Em’s portrait back or was it just a return to sender type deal? idk man that’s a nitpicky one but whatever.

- Where did Luca even TAKE them at the end of the book? Is he acting like Zach is his son too? Is Zach staying with Sebina now?

- Zach and Em were together for FOUR YEARS and you want me to believe now that they were just in lust that whole time? When Em mentioned she would break the Animare/Guardian child rules for him? I get she’s young and maybe blinded a little...but you REALLY want me to believe she was just in lust with Zach after everything they’ve been through? And she’s gonna be with Remy now instead?

This is ON TOP OF the fact that they spent three books building up Em’s longing for Zach and mentioning Zach’s hurt in the few chapters we get with him, ONLY for him to just...basically not acknowledge Em, WHO IS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE IN FRONT OF HIM I MIGHT ADD, or even talk to her.  There was no reunion or resolution of their conflict despite 3 books of build-up and I’m MAD ABOUT IT. The one time these two characters are in the same room and you’re telling me they don’t even have an awkward “hey glad you’re okay” moment? It felt so out of character for Zach, and it was difficult to understand his motives beyond getting close to his mother again.

And his whole hybrid-ness felt...not exactly shoe-horned in, but not quite thought out either.  I’m hoping more books are coming (hopefully written from Zach’s perspective!) that might shed light on this, but for now I’m just confused as to what his mother is as well as what he is.  And I’m bothered he was attached to his mother in the final scene we see him in when the only woman he ever loved (as mentioned in the book) was literally dead and brought back before his eyes.

I’m just confused and disappointed by Zach’s character arc. He’s the only main character from the first trilogy that feels like he got pushed to the wayside. The adults like Simon, Sandie, Jeannie, and Renard I can understand...but Zach deserved so much better imo. I was waiting for an awkward and heartfelt conversation between him and Em that never happened.

Again, I attribute some of this to the change in publishers.  While Hollow Earth had 2 years between the release of books, Orion Chronicles had 2 years between book 1 and book 3. That’s TIGHT deadlines imo, which would explain why things felt rushed or unpolished.

And it just makes me wonder what this series could have been if they had been given the time to edit and polish more thoroughly.  There were even places where lore they established in the first trilogy got ret-conned or ignored in the second, and while those details may be minor and forgotten over the period of writing (I get it that authors forget details sometimes), it still took away my enjoyment of the story on top of everything else.

Here are more questions not related to Zach:

- Renard and Jeannie BOTH left the islands at one point in the plot. Why were the islands still fine before Em, a descendent of Albion, showed up?

- Remy was able to save Em but not the Moor? Could he only conjure enough music to save one of them? Was the Moor’s head wound too severe to be saved? Why did he suffer NO repercussions from literally bringing someone back from the dead when he was nosebleeding over easier conjurations earlier?

- How does the reviving process work? Can Em not be out of range of Remy anymore or she’ll die again? The zombies he animated dropped dead when the music stopped. Where does the process bring a soul back vs an empty husk/zombie? Can it only be fresh corpses, I assume? (WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO THE MOOR TBH)

- How did Orion know Luca was going to attack the abbey and the headquarters? Did Zach warn them ahead of time, or did they just use the tracking device? Is the damage he did reversible? (For a series talking about hiding the supernatural this certainly seemed out in the open and blatant. Actually...most everything Luca did was :T)

- IS Caravaggio bound in the cage Zach created for him? Is Zach powerful enough to do that? As a Guardian/Animare hybrid (we assume), that might be possible, but again...it’s unclear if he just put Caravaggio in a painting or if he’s actually bound this time.

- Is Matt gay or bi? That’s a nitpicky one but man I gotta know. I was so excited when he was into dudes. ONE OF US. ONE OF US.

- Speaking of Matt, where the FUCK did Lizzy come from? How did they meet? How did she come to the Abbey? Was she found by the Council? How are Animare and Guardians paired prior to their binding ritual? We never hear Matt telepath with her. She felt like a very one-note character that was shoved in for plot and never expanded on again. How long had she been with Matt and Em?

- Could the twins not join Orion if they were bound to guardians? Why did Matt feel it was a trap to be bound when he’s seen Guardians and Animare be apart before? (Like Sandie and Renard or Simon and Mara)

- What happened to Henrietta de Court? I assume she was arrested, but [shrugs]. We can infer Tanan died from the valerian root poisoning, but I wonder about her.

- How were the Watchers not bound to Hollow Earth by the monks of Era Mina? Is the Second Kingdom just like...another Hollow Earth or something?

- Matt’s eyes were a result of ‘time travel gone awry’...but why did it affect him and not Em? Both of them did about the same amount of time traveling in the first series. I would have been less skeptical about it if it was a result of unbinding Malcolm after the time travel, or like...even an incident after the first trilogy of Matt being reckless, but having it just be a time travel incident was vague and unsatisfying to me.

Overall, would I still recommend these books? Sure. I just wish the second trilogy was more polished like the first one felt, is all.

Zach Butler deserved better I will die on this hill. WHERE’S MY ZACH TRILOGY (or at least a book tbh)

(I definitely DO recommend the Hollow Earth trilogy though. I thought it was wonderful.)