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Hollandos Vessel of the Kazàncore
Not yet published
Expected 17 Nov 26Imagine the Netherlands with pirates, ancient artifacts, epic battles, and mythical dragons
Atop the volcano at the southern tip of Hollandos lies the volcanic city of Volkaania. Here, an ancient force begins to awaken, threatening to plunge the entire city into fire and ash. Only one long-lost device can prevent the coming catastrophe: the Kazàncore.
Bente, Stars, and Luna return to Hollandos in response to a girl’s cry for help. They set out on a rescue mission across the kingdom, hoping to find the missing princess. Their journey takes them across treacherous seas, where they face ruthless pirates, survive mythical beasts, and discover that their search may hold the key to saving Volkaania.
Can they find Princess Emma before the volcano erupts? Or will Volkaania be consumed by flames?
Atop the volcano at the southern tip of Hollandos lies the volcanic city of Volkaania. Here, an ancient force begins to awaken, threatening to plunge the entire city into fire and ash. Only one long-lost device can prevent the coming catastrophe: the Kazàncore.
Bente, Stars, and Luna return to Hollandos in response to a girl’s cry for help. They set out on a rescue mission across the kingdom, hoping to find the missing princess. Their journey takes them across treacherous seas, where they face ruthless pirates, survive mythical beasts, and discover that their search may hold the key to saving Volkaania.
Can they find Princess Emma before the volcano erupts? Or will Volkaania be consumed by flames?
- GenresYoung AdultFantasy
423 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication November 17, 2026
About the author
P.R.M. Hamer
2 books13 followersHey! My name is Pepijn R.M. Hamer, and I’m a writer and designer who lives in the Netherlands with my lovely wife, Sterre, my number one fan. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies and series, playing board games, and dreaming up new ideas for Hollandos.
With my background in designing amusement park rides and web shops, I try to blend my creativity with my love for storytelling. My mission is to turn my ideas into fun, adventurous stories inspired by history, magical worlds, epic fantasies, and my own life experiences.
I believes in the power of personal connections and stories that feel grounded. Through my writing, I invite you, the reader, to join me on exciting adventures that spark imagination and discovery.
With my background in designing amusement park rides and web shops, I try to blend my creativity with my love for storytelling. My mission is to turn my ideas into fun, adventurous stories inspired by history, magical worlds, epic fantasies, and my own life experiences.
I believes in the power of personal connections and stories that feel grounded. Through my writing, I invite you, the reader, to join me on exciting adventures that spark imagination and discovery.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2026
4.5/5 Spoiler-free, Beta-reader
Tldr: A great sequel where we find our characters grow, struggle, and go above and beyond themselves. A fascinating Y.A. book that, despite being a fantasy book, doesn’t shy away from confrontations with reality. To describe this second part in one word: growth.
If you look for an easy read in a quirky magical world embraced by Dutch culture, where young characters believe in themselves while struggling with real and mental monsters, I can absolutely recommend this book (But read the first one first! You don't want to miss out! :-) ).
In this second instalment of the Hollandos series, P.R.M. Hamer takes us deeper into this magical world beyond the Mill. We’re presented with growing world-building, characters, tensions, and definitely growing stakes. ‘Vessel of the Kazancore’ ramps up from where ‘Eyes of the Prince’ left off. It raises the stakes and intensity compared to the first book, and has– I won’t spoil, but I have been incredibly excited and giddy about something later on in the book. (It made me read with the speed of light, because I needed to know what would happen!)
The characters prove that growth doesn’t just have to be linear, or even upwards. We learn more about them and their actions fit their personalities. They push through, face the odds and prove to have character. Where in book one, we were sometimes only superficially introduced to our heroes, in this book the reader gets to know all of them on a much more intimate level. The interactions feel real and yet in that way where I, at times, became frustrated about actions of characters. And frustration is good, because that means these characters felt real to me. Because they’re not perfect and the reader is lead along their journey through life. To me, it feels as if the writing has grown along with the characters intentionally and I enjoyed experiencing it as such. The first book drew me in and held my curiosity, this one has me hooked and the series has my permanent attention.
I love how the universe expands in all directions. The Vessel of the Kazancore has a well rounded story, while it at the end of the book also drags the reader straight into book three. And then to add that epilogue: A jaw dropping slap in the face. Excellent!
I can feel mr. Hamer’s planning well beyond the book itself and I long for more. As the series’ intensity ramps up, I feel like I’m staring at the road ahead and clouds are gathering for the next book. The stakes are upped and it raises the entire series to a new level. It makes me thrilled for book three and I am excited for what is yet in store!
Tldr: A great sequel where we find our characters grow, struggle, and go above and beyond themselves. A fascinating Y.A. book that, despite being a fantasy book, doesn’t shy away from confrontations with reality. To describe this second part in one word: growth.
If you look for an easy read in a quirky magical world embraced by Dutch culture, where young characters believe in themselves while struggling with real and mental monsters, I can absolutely recommend this book (But read the first one first! You don't want to miss out! :-) ).
In this second instalment of the Hollandos series, P.R.M. Hamer takes us deeper into this magical world beyond the Mill. We’re presented with growing world-building, characters, tensions, and definitely growing stakes. ‘Vessel of the Kazancore’ ramps up from where ‘Eyes of the Prince’ left off. It raises the stakes and intensity compared to the first book, and has– I won’t spoil, but I have been incredibly excited and giddy about something later on in the book. (It made me read with the speed of light, because I needed to know what would happen!)
The characters prove that growth doesn’t just have to be linear, or even upwards. We learn more about them and their actions fit their personalities. They push through, face the odds and prove to have character. Where in book one, we were sometimes only superficially introduced to our heroes, in this book the reader gets to know all of them on a much more intimate level. The interactions feel real and yet in that way where I, at times, became frustrated about actions of characters. And frustration is good, because that means these characters felt real to me. Because they’re not perfect and the reader is lead along their journey through life. To me, it feels as if the writing has grown along with the characters intentionally and I enjoyed experiencing it as such. The first book drew me in and held my curiosity, this one has me hooked and the series has my permanent attention.
I love how the universe expands in all directions. The Vessel of the Kazancore has a well rounded story, while it at the end of the book also drags the reader straight into book three. And then to add that epilogue: A jaw dropping slap in the face. Excellent!
I can feel mr. Hamer’s planning well beyond the book itself and I long for more. As the series’ intensity ramps up, I feel like I’m staring at the road ahead and clouds are gathering for the next book. The stakes are upped and it raises the entire series to a new level. It makes me thrilled for book three and I am excited for what is yet in store!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Review of advance copy from the Author.
I really enjoyed Hollandos: Vessel of the Kazàncore. I’d definitely give it five stars.
One of my favourite things about this book was how different the tone felt compared to the first book. While the first book had a lot of fun and adventurous moments, this one felt much deeper and more emotional. It explored the characters more closely and gave them more room to deal with the consequences of everything that happened before. I especially liked seeing how the events of the first book continued to affect the characters rather than simply being left behind.
I also really enjoyed all the callbacks to the first book. There are quite a few moments where previous events, characters, and decisions come back into the story, and I thought that made the world feel much more connected. It was especially satisfying seeing how the characters had changed since their first adventure.
Overall, I think Vessel of the Kazàncore is a great sequel. It keeps the fun and imaginative world of the first book while giving the story and characters more depth. It feels like the story has grown alongside its characters, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the next book takes them.
I really enjoyed Hollandos: Vessel of the Kazàncore. I’d definitely give it five stars.
One of my favourite things about this book was how different the tone felt compared to the first book. While the first book had a lot of fun and adventurous moments, this one felt much deeper and more emotional. It explored the characters more closely and gave them more room to deal with the consequences of everything that happened before. I especially liked seeing how the events of the first book continued to affect the characters rather than simply being left behind.
I also really enjoyed all the callbacks to the first book. There are quite a few moments where previous events, characters, and decisions come back into the story, and I thought that made the world feel much more connected. It was especially satisfying seeing how the characters had changed since their first adventure.
Overall, I think Vessel of the Kazàncore is a great sequel. It keeps the fun and imaginative world of the first book while giving the story and characters more depth. It feels like the story has grown alongside its characters, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the next book takes them.
Review of advance copy received from Author
As expected, better than the first book in the series, but the second installment still has its quirks.
The author clearly tries to bring more drama and higher stakes into the story, and while it works sometimes—introducing unexpected twists or showing raw emotion—it also occasionally clashes with the otherwise light-hearted and fairytale-like core of the story and its characters. The transition from the fully innocent first book, to a bit more grown-up second book could be smoother.
The plot is simple and clearly set up. The protagonists split and follow their own plot lines throughout the larger part of the book.
While I quite enjoyed Stars’s plot line for the most part—and surprisingly that of Maxiem, more or less—I didn’t really feel attached to the other duo. Luna and Bente’s big goal drives them forward for about half the chapters, after which it dissipates into chaotic scrambling for better things to do, with no clear motivation—the “why”. It makes the rest of their chapters seem unfocused and mechanically driven by the author’s need to pull the threads of plot all together, rather than by characters’ actions and causation.
On top of that, I have a distinct feeling that certain plot points and character arcs have been retconned since the previous novel, which frequently confused my perception of events.
I don’t remember the king being quite as hated by everyone (although I do remember him being shady, and the protagonists being suspicious of him).
I don’t remember Tinka having so much darkness in her (although I do remember her being quite boisterous).
I don’t remember Luna showing growth enough to start acting like a human being instead of a sulky storm cloud (although I do remember her liking Hollandos in the end).
—And so on.
Character motivations, in general, remain probably the most painful point in the novel.
And a reason for that is perhaps the way all the character arcs seem to be extremely outstretched.
Yes, I do believe that all will become clear in later books. No, I don’t want to wait for all the answers to questions posed in Book One to be answered in Book Four.
Much of character behavior is based on emotions and traumas that are known to the author only and might be divulged in later books (but I need them now to form attachment to characters!). For example, I learned that Bente is perhaps a bit ADHD from a reel on the author’s Instagram. It never occurred to me while reading that she might be. Not to say that I need to see the diagnosis typed out literally, but some more pointers would be helpful and would explain her impulsiveness.
That said, it did feel like this book had a new editor or some other change in writing approach, since the language is much evolved compared to the previous novel.
Certain locations are explored in more detail and show the creative mind behind the worldbuilding. I am convinced Starfall Academy is one of the most creative iterations of a magic school out there. I’d like to see a good illustration of the trees that comprise it one day.
Overall, it’s a decent novel, all things considered, attempting to delve deeper into the protagonists’ emotions and taking on a more serious tone.
My criticism comes mainly from the desire to see this idea be the best it can be, since it’s such a rare thing—a fantasy based on the Netherlands.
The author clearly tries to bring more drama and higher stakes into the story, and while it works sometimes—introducing unexpected twists or showing raw emotion—it also occasionally clashes with the otherwise light-hearted and fairytale-like core of the story and its characters. The transition from the fully innocent first book, to a bit more grown-up second book could be smoother.
The plot is simple and clearly set up. The protagonists split and follow their own plot lines throughout the larger part of the book.
While I quite enjoyed Stars’s plot line for the most part—and surprisingly that of Maxiem, more or less—I didn’t really feel attached to the other duo. Luna and Bente’s big goal drives them forward for about half the chapters, after which it dissipates into chaotic scrambling for better things to do, with no clear motivation—the “why”. It makes the rest of their chapters seem unfocused and mechanically driven by the author’s need to pull the threads of plot all together, rather than by characters’ actions and causation.
On top of that, I have a distinct feeling that certain plot points and character arcs have been retconned since the previous novel, which frequently confused my perception of events.
I don’t remember the king being quite as hated by everyone (although I do remember him being shady, and the protagonists being suspicious of him).
I don’t remember Tinka having so much darkness in her (although I do remember her being quite boisterous).
I don’t remember Luna showing growth enough to start acting like a human being instead of a sulky storm cloud (although I do remember her liking Hollandos in the end).
—And so on.
Character motivations, in general, remain probably the most painful point in the novel.
And a reason for that is perhaps the way all the character arcs seem to be extremely outstretched.
Yes, I do believe that all will become clear in later books. No, I don’t want to wait for all the answers to questions posed in Book One to be answered in Book Four.
Much of character behavior is based on emotions and traumas that are known to the author only and might be divulged in later books (but I need them now to form attachment to characters!). For example, I learned that Bente is perhaps a bit ADHD from a reel on the author’s Instagram. It never occurred to me while reading that she might be. Not to say that I need to see the diagnosis typed out literally, but some more pointers would be helpful and would explain her impulsiveness.
That said, it did feel like this book had a new editor or some other change in writing approach, since the language is much evolved compared to the previous novel.
Certain locations are explored in more detail and show the creative mind behind the worldbuilding. I am convinced Starfall Academy is one of the most creative iterations of a magic school out there. I’d like to see a good illustration of the trees that comprise it one day.
Overall, it’s a decent novel, all things considered, attempting to delve deeper into the protagonists’ emotions and taking on a more serious tone.
My criticism comes mainly from the desire to see this idea be the best it can be, since it’s such a rare thing—a fantasy based on the Netherlands.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I had the honour of reading "Hollandos: Vessel of the Kàzancore" as a beta reader.
The bottomline of my review is that it's a great adventurous story that definitely goes deeper on an emotional level and when looking at the growth all characters make in the story. I'll delve deeper into how I experienced this novel (without going into spoilers).
Hollandos, as a world, is still as colourful as ever. I've said it in my review of "Hollandos: Eyes of the Prince" that the world is so lively and incorporates typical Dutch things into a blend of culture, magic, mysticism and more. It's whimsical, and in this second novel set in Hollandos, Pepijn manages to explore the world even further, taking us to place we haven't seen before.
It's hard not to compare this novel to the previous one, you kind of have to. There's load of breadcrumps to follow throughout all the chapters of familiar characters. Nearly every chapter raised questions for me, as where the story might go. I love how a sense of mystery is woven into the differente storylines that ultimately get paid of. There's loads of callbacks to the first novel in here. It's great to see how things that are mentioned in that first installment are incorporated in this second part of the series, enrich the world and add to the overall experience.
That leaves me to the character side. Where I thought that, in the first novel, the initial stepts into Hollandos felt somewhat rushed, you can clearly see Pepijn takes his time to let events unfold, show the impact of these events on characters and lets them deal with the consequences of those actions. There are multiple moments in this novel that gave me chills (especially with a specific character, Pepijn will know who I'm talking about, and so will you, dear review reader when you've read this novel), and I feel like this and the other things I've said before show the growth he has made in writing this series since he first started it with "Eyes of the Prince". You can see he has taken feedback on his first novel to heart, and combined it with his love for this world to make the second installment an even better experience.
With all these things in mind, I'm certain to give this at least 4,5 stars as a rating. Loads of things worked for me, and I am very curious to see how Hollandos and the characters develop during the next five installments. I'll be reading them for certain.
The bottomline of my review is that it's a great adventurous story that definitely goes deeper on an emotional level and when looking at the growth all characters make in the story. I'll delve deeper into how I experienced this novel (without going into spoilers).
Hollandos, as a world, is still as colourful as ever. I've said it in my review of "Hollandos: Eyes of the Prince" that the world is so lively and incorporates typical Dutch things into a blend of culture, magic, mysticism and more. It's whimsical, and in this second novel set in Hollandos, Pepijn manages to explore the world even further, taking us to place we haven't seen before.
It's hard not to compare this novel to the previous one, you kind of have to. There's load of breadcrumps to follow throughout all the chapters of familiar characters. Nearly every chapter raised questions for me, as where the story might go. I love how a sense of mystery is woven into the differente storylines that ultimately get paid of. There's loads of callbacks to the first novel in here. It's great to see how things that are mentioned in that first installment are incorporated in this second part of the series, enrich the world and add to the overall experience.
That leaves me to the character side. Where I thought that, in the first novel, the initial stepts into Hollandos felt somewhat rushed, you can clearly see Pepijn takes his time to let events unfold, show the impact of these events on characters and lets them deal with the consequences of those actions. There are multiple moments in this novel that gave me chills (especially with a specific character, Pepijn will know who I'm talking about, and so will you, dear review reader when you've read this novel), and I feel like this and the other things I've said before show the growth he has made in writing this series since he first started it with "Eyes of the Prince". You can see he has taken feedback on his first novel to heart, and combined it with his love for this world to make the second installment an even better experience.
With all these things in mind, I'm certain to give this at least 4,5 stars as a rating. Loads of things worked for me, and I am very curious to see how Hollandos and the characters develop during the next five installments. I'll be reading them for certain.
September 13, 2026
I enjoyed this book more than the first one for sure!
I think this second installment improved a lot in terms of language use and writing style, and it is really intriguing to see events from the previous book tied into the storyline of this novel. There are also some more fun Dutch lore instances that made I appreciated and made me chuckle.
That being said, I personally feel the shift in tone between the whimsy, fairytale-esque first book and the heavier, darker themes in this book is quite harsh. I think the transition could’ve been a little more gradual, as the books feel targeted to middle-grade/younger readers to me. There is more happening, and both physical and emotional stakes are increased in this novel, but I feel these moments aren’t utilised to their full potential. Many tensions between important (main and side) characters are resolved if they aren’t villains, so they all end up on good terms, whereas I actually really enjoyed the disagreement and exposure of people not liking certain characters and how they deal with it.
In addition, I’m still having a hard time connecting to the characters. I noted that, in the first book, characters sometimes acted seemingly out of character and that the relationships seemed more like titles. While I still experience this to some degree, I mostly struggled with the older protagonists behaving painfully similar to the younger protagonists on an emotional/internal scale. Now, it is too clear cut to say that it isn’t realistic and never happens, but I personally would expect more growth and perhaps different internal dialogue and thinking when imagining teenagers vs. young adults. I think the story might rely a lot on the character arcs that are coming in future books – which the author himself has fully fleshed out in his head – but as a reader, it all fell a bit flat and I had a hard time relating to or enjoying the characters again.
I think this second installment improved a lot in terms of language use and writing style, and it is really intriguing to see events from the previous book tied into the storyline of this novel. There are also some more fun Dutch lore instances that made I appreciated and made me chuckle.
That being said, I personally feel the shift in tone between the whimsy, fairytale-esque first book and the heavier, darker themes in this book is quite harsh. I think the transition could’ve been a little more gradual, as the books feel targeted to middle-grade/younger readers to me. There is more happening, and both physical and emotional stakes are increased in this novel, but I feel these moments aren’t utilised to their full potential. Many tensions between important (main and side) characters are resolved if they aren’t villains, so they all end up on good terms, whereas I actually really enjoyed the disagreement and exposure of people not liking certain characters and how they deal with it.
In addition, I’m still having a hard time connecting to the characters. I noted that, in the first book, characters sometimes acted seemingly out of character and that the relationships seemed more like titles. While I still experience this to some degree, I mostly struggled with the older protagonists behaving painfully similar to the younger protagonists on an emotional/internal scale. Now, it is too clear cut to say that it isn’t realistic and never happens, but I personally would expect more growth and perhaps different internal dialogue and thinking when imagining teenagers vs. young adults. I think the story might rely a lot on the character arcs that are coming in future books – which the author himself has fully fleshed out in his head – but as a reader, it all fell a bit flat and I had a hard time relating to or enjoying the characters again.
Review of advance copy received from Author
I had the privilege of being a Beta reader for this book.
Rating 4.5./5⭐
I struggled a bit to write down into words what made this so much better for me than book one and I think it is the growth of the author as a professional writer. Book 1 already had a fantastic setting and world-building down to the small details, but struggled in some areas that I have seen the author improve at five fold. Without spoiling too much, Maxiem's character Arc is a great marker of this. It shows that there much more complexity to the characters and to Hollandos than readers might have assumed.
Do not get me wrong, it is still a book that will resonate most with youthful readers and lovers of YA. It is written in a pleasant, accessible style, rather than an overly lyrical or "high brow" one and those expecting a traditional fantasy might still be disappointed. To me, it feels like something along the lines of Narnia with a Hollandaise sauce and as a Dutch proverb goes: "It tastes like more" (the Dutch are weird sometimes)...
Considering P.R.M Hamer still has 5 books to go, I have no doubt that this is all leading up to a strong, full 5⭐, finish.
Rating 4.5./5⭐
I struggled a bit to write down into words what made this so much better for me than book one and I think it is the growth of the author as a professional writer. Book 1 already had a fantastic setting and world-building down to the small details, but struggled in some areas that I have seen the author improve at five fold. Without spoiling too much, Maxiem's character Arc is a great marker of this. It shows that there much more complexity to the characters and to Hollandos than readers might have assumed.
Do not get me wrong, it is still a book that will resonate most with youthful readers and lovers of YA. It is written in a pleasant, accessible style, rather than an overly lyrical or "high brow" one and those expecting a traditional fantasy might still be disappointed. To me, it feels like something along the lines of Narnia with a Hollandaise sauce and as a Dutch proverb goes: "It tastes like more" (the Dutch are weird sometimes)...
Considering P.R.M Hamer still has 5 books to go, I have no doubt that this is all leading up to a strong, full 5⭐, finish.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews