Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

Vie Eliot has come through unimaginable events. Ancient evil and psychics are a plague to the small town in Wyoming he now lives in and, after a battle that left everyone shaken, Vie would like nothing more than to unwind and spend some with his boyfriend, but he also knows that another storm is coming.

There are many that want Vie to leave town and many others that want to protect him. When Hannah and Tyler go missing, nothing is as it seems, of course. Vie will have to battle an immortal supernatural pair that have preyed on children for centuries, waking them from their “mortal sleep.” Vie has always had no choice but to do everything on his own, but now, he has people willing to stand up for him and with him. Being caught in a supernatural battle should be the worst of it, but Vie is still caught between Austin and Emmett with more impossible choices that threaten to break Vie for good.

This is the last book in the Hollow Folk series and Vie Eliot is certainly one of the most favorite characters I have read this year. There is something absolutely mesmerizing about him and those he encounters see it as well. A few months have passed since the last psychic battle and, while Vie has a lot more information, he has little idea what to do with it. Then, violence once again finds him as more people with unleashed powers want him out of town permanently.

This book hurts. Vie has encountered violence his entire life. First from his mother, then his father, and it seems everywhere he turns he is met with a fist. Vie also turns it on himself with self-harm, and while it can be tough to read, it’s also impossible to look away.

The storyline here is complex, as it has carried through four books. The mystery of why so many children have gone missing over the years has been revealed and the evil behind it is darker and more powerful than Vie could have ever known. It seems impossible at times that he is only 17, while at others he is acting and reacting as a teen thrust into one impossible scenario after the other.

There is a lot that happens and we get detail on some and only a general sense in others and some of the most important details for me were sometimes left out. Ashe walks the line of keeping the details and horror and gore down in some areas with a teen main character, while raising them up in others. And, while we learn more about so many things, there is just so much going on that it’s not all fully explored for this last book.

The relationships between Vie and Austin and Emmett are a highlight of the series and, in this book, those relationships are tested, broken, and changed forever. At a young age, Vie has two men that he needs and who need him, but their relationships are radically different and Vie has major decisions to make and he has so much to deal with all of the time.

The larger plot line comes to a conclusion here, mostly, and this book is so visual it would make a great television series. But, Vie’s life still has much that can be explored. Being that he is 17, there is still a lot of life for him, but with this book being the last of the series, his journey and the end here simply left me wanting more resolution and to see him further along after these events.

The Hollow Folk series is a great, immersive series and losing myself in these books has been amazing. There are few series like this and few characters like Vie. It won’t be the series for everyone, with violence, and gore and moments of terror, but Vie is absolutely a character worth getting to know. The Ember Boys, a new book by Ashe, has recently been released and it is a spinoff of this series featuring Emmett, and while he has already been through so much, I cannot wait to see what Ashe has in mind for him next.