Hollowpox: The Hunt For Morrigan Crow By Jessica Townsend

*Review Copy*

Wunimals are everywhere in Nevermoor. Wunimals are animals, any kind, that can talk and function like humans. They are part of the Nevermoor city and are treated like every one else, as equals, but most of all they are tame and civilized.

One night Morrigan Crow and her friend Hawthorne Swift are on the Wunderground train coming back from the Nevermoor Christmas celebration, which is a magical “battle” between St. Nick and the Yule Queen. They are sitting on the train when a celebrity Leopard Wunimal leaps out, and attacks them. This attack is strange and frightening, and soon attacks are happening everywhere and are harming innocent people. But the worst part is that once a Wunimal attacks, they fall unconscious, as if dead. But they’re not. They are hollow. Worse than death, being hollow takes everything that makes a Wunimal a Wunimal. Their personalities, their soul, their everything.

After Morrigan learns her Knack as a Wundersmith, she begins training to learn the Nine Wunderous acts, by visiting ghostly hours. Ghostly hours are hours in time which have been saved and preserved for Wundersmiths in the future to visit. But what she didn’t expect to see is Ezra Squall, the last and evil Wundersmith, as a boy, learning like she is, and growing in magical abilities. Could he have something to do with the attacks?

Then, as more and more reports of the Hollowpox come flooding in, Morrigan starts to have suspicions about the Hollowpox, and what it is, and most of all where it came from. One night something happens that flips Morrigan’s view of Wunder upside down and she begins to learn the truth of things she never imagined to be possible. As she uncaps the lid to all her powers and their possibilities, she learns the real and solid truth about Wundersmiths and their past, present, and future.

Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Little Brown Books) is part of the Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend and is the newest edition to the series. In all honesty, all of Townsend’s Morrigan Crow books are enchanting. However, only in Hollowpox does the reader witness the evolving character of Ezra Squall. I can only wonder what Ezra Squall will become, but if I’ve learned anything from Townsend’s last three books, it’s this: her stories always take you by surprise.

p.s., Click here to also see my review on the first book The Trials Of Morrigan Crow.