A Hollow World: Down the Rabbit Hole (R. G. Beckwith)

A Hollow World: Down the Rabbit Hole
(The Hollow World series, Book 1)
R. G. Beckwith
Beckwith Publishing
Fiction, Fantasy
**+ (Bad/Okay)

DESCRIPTION: When global warming opens up a mysterious hole in Greenland, a government team led by Rick Taylor bravely descends into the abyss... and vanishes. Five years later, his daughter Elena, fresh out of college, prepares to follow in his footsteps. She knows her father is probably dead, but she has to know for herself what happened - and, like Rick, Elena cannot resist the mystery of the unknown. Besides, she has to do something to keep herself distracted from the dreams of a strange man, calling to her for help from a forgotten place. Little does she know what she's about to find, a place where the impossible is real and dreams are reality.
A Kindle-exclusive title.

REVIEW: This is billed as the first tale of a series, but in truth it's more of a prolonged teaser. The characters are simple constructs to serve a basic plot, which never quite builds up much interest in anything before being distracted by something else. (No prizes for guessing whether or not the "dream" is indeed a real person calling for help... though just why he reached out to Elena of all people is never established. But, then, there were several other logic holes I had trouble leaping, such as why this was set about thirty years in our future or just what any government could hope to gain by throwing scientists down a hole without even trying robotic probes first - not once, but at least twice.) For all the running around that's done and strange things witnessed, I found it hard to care about anyone, even the supposed protagonist. Things happen, sometimes violently, and the requisite number of extras are picked off on the way to a cliffhanger ending that fails to properly establish the stakes of the series. I also found the writing a bit clunky at times. Yes, I've read worse, and this was just a quick freebie when I downloaded it, but I still hoped for more.

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