Does Hollow City Set Up The Library Of Souls Sequel?

I’d say the connection is obvious: 'Hollow City' purposefully leaves threads dangling and amps up everything so 'Library of Souls' has breathing room to resolve and expand. The second book ratchets the danger up, deepens relationships, and ends on a note that promises both confrontation and revelation. Rather than tying everything up neatly, it makes you feel the consequences of choices and losses, which sets the emotional stage for the next volume. For me, that kind of setup—where stakes, character wounds, and unanswered mysteries all point forward—makes the sequel feel necessary instead of optional, and that’s what kept me turning the pages with a mix of dread and excitement.

Put bluntly, 'Hollow City' functions like a bridge with purpose: it carries plot, character, and tension across to 'Library of Souls.' The second book tightens the villain’s grip and makes clear that the problems won’t disappear unless the protagonists act. By the time you close the cover, there’s a clear trajectory—the conflict has evolved, allies have been tested, and the true cost of the fight is starting to show.

Where 'Hollow City' shines at setup is in atmosphere and consequence. It doesn’t spoon-feed the roadmap to 'Library of Souls' but it hands you enough revealed and unrevealed information to make the next book feel inevitable. The pacing and the losses the characters endure make you care about what comes next, and that emotional investment is exactly why the third installment lands harder. In short: it's not a mere stepping stone, it’s the part of the ladder that ensures you won’t fall when you climb into the finale. I was hooked and more invested than ever by the end.

If you loved the way the first book set up a creepy, whimsical world, then you'll find that 'Hollow City' absolutely lays the tracks for 'Library of Souls'—it doesn’t just continue the plot, it raises the stakes, scatters the characters into harder choices, and leaves a handful of hanging threads that beg to be resolved. For me, reading 'Hollow City' felt like watching the map of the story grow more complicated: the children are no longer safely tucked into a loop, time and danger are closing in, and the reasons behind the enemies chasing them become more personal. Those elements are exactly the springboard that pushes the story forward into the third book.

'Hollow City' sets up 'Library of Souls' in a few key ways. First, the central emotional engine—Miss Peregrine’s fate and the children’s desperation to protect one another—gets intensified. When the ymbryne is compromised and the group is forced into long, perilous journeys, it creates new responsibility for Jacob and ramps up the urgency to find answers and allies. Second, Jacob’s role evolves: he’s learning the limits and consequences of his peculiar sight and starting to understand the legacy he’s inherited. That identity arc is the kind of thread that the third book picks up and pushes to its logical—and painful—conclusions. Third, the antagonists aren’t abstract monsters anymore. The hollowgast and their wight handlers move from being spooky threats to strategic, almost personal enemies; the way they pursue the children in 'Hollow City' sets up much darker confrontations later.

Beyond those big-picture moves, 'Hollow City' introduces new locations and allies (and losses) that make 'Library of Souls' feel inevitable rather than tacked-on. You get deeper mythology bits—how peculiars survive, where they might hide, and what kinds of bargains are possible—and those bits seed the third book’s mission-driven plot. There are cliffhangers and revealed secrets that pull you straight into the next volume: characters whose loyalties are in question, clues about peculiar lineages, and practical puzzles (who to trust, where to go) that need resolution. So when you close 'Hollow City' you’re left with a pressing 'now what?' that 'Library of Souls' is designed to answer.

Honestly, as a reader I loved how the transition is handled—'Hollow City' doesn’t simply set up a sequel by dangling a gimmick; it deepens emotional stakes, complicates relationships, and scatters enough mysteries across the map that the only satisfying move is to keep reading. By the time I reached the end, I was itching to see how those threads would snap together, and that impatience is exactly why the trilogy works so well for me.

Reading 'Hollow City' left me buzzing because it absolutely plants the seeds for 'Library of Souls' in ways that feel both natural and urgent. The book ramps up the danger—wights and hollowgast stop being distant threats and start influencing every choice the kids make—so by the end you can feel the stakes tightening. Character arcs are pushed forward too: loyalties are tested, losses matter, and Jacob’s role shifts from puzzled outsider to someone with real responsibility. That emotional momentum is essential for the next book; without it, 'Library of Souls' wouldn’t carry the same weight.

Plot-wise, 'Hollow City' closes on a true cliffhanger rather than a neat wrap-up. New locations and mysteries are introduced (and some clues about the wider peculiar world that hadn’t been obvious before) so the roadmap to the third book is implied rather than spelled out in a tidy list. That makes the transition feel earned — you’re being pulled forward rather than shoved — and it gives 'Library of Souls' room to expand on the lore and deliver payoffs.

I also love how the second book deepens themes that the third can explore: what makes someone whole, how found family survives trauma, and whether sacrifice is inevitable in a world that keeps moving. So yes, 'Hollow City' doesn’t just set up the sequel casually; it does the heavy lifting emotionally and thematically, making 'Library of Souls' a satisfying continuation rather than a reset. I still get chills thinking about those last pages and how hungry they make me for the next chapter.