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dargan18's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A fun , quick and creative concept for a book - a zombie apocalypse from the point of view of a crow. Parts of it get pretty gruesome - there is a lot of blood, dismembered body parts, descriptions of disturbing scenes. Also didn’t love some of the quirks of the writing style. Parts of it felt like it was trying a little too hard to be clever and/or heartfelt. But enjoyed reading this overall!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
skylar2's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Violence
traciereads's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Self harm, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol
bennettanneb's review against another edition
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Gore
jkunke's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.5
I love the premise and the fact that it’s set in Seattle and the surrounding area. I love that it’s an apocalyptic story told from the perspective of animals. The writing style didn’t speak to me; the voice felt forced and felt like it was trying too hard. Some of the storytelling was too on the nose, and it felt drawn out and repetitive (we went here and found it was destroyed and full of zombies, then we went there and found it was destroyed and full of zombies, then we went a third place and…) The majority of characters were male.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Medical content, and War
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual content
lavenderminty's review
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Violence
anomieus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is a horror novel.
But...
It’s also a wonderfully creative and exuberant novel of the zombie apocalypse as seen through the ever-observant eyes of the salty, intrepid crow named S.T. and his faithful companion Dennis the Dog. It is, in turn, parts whimsy, sobering social commentary, classic-zombie-horror, and love letter to the natural world.
When the human world around pet crow S.T. and his housemate, Dennis the bloodhound, seems to start disintegrating, he’s mystified by what might be wrong with his human, Big Jim - particularly when his eyeball falls out.
But...
It’s also a wonderfully creative and exuberant novel of the zombie apocalypse as seen through the ever-observant eyes of the salty, intrepid crow named S.T. and his faithful companion Dennis the Dog. It is, in turn, parts whimsy, sobering social commentary, classic-zombie-horror, and love letter to the natural world.
When the human world around pet crow S.T. and his housemate, Dennis the bloodhound, seems to start disintegrating, he’s mystified by what might be wrong with his human, Big Jim - particularly when his eyeball falls out.
“Big Jim’s eyeball fell out. Like, fell the fuck out of his head. It rolled onto the grass, and to be honest, Big Jim and I were both taken aback.”
S.T. realizes that his human best buddy has taken a turn for the worse and so he sets out with Dennis to see what’s what with the world and how to fix it, and Jim. His adventures are fraught with danger as he encounters the horrors of raging zombie humans and warring animals as the struggle for survival spreads throughout his city and around the world. This is a horror novel of survival in a disintegrating world cleverly mixed with the quixotic doings and nostalgic musings of a crow, a dog and all the new critters and life they meet along the way.
“So there we were. A rejected crow with an identity crisis partnering a bloodhound with the IQ of boiled pudding. We were perhaps the most pathetic excuse for an attempted murder on the face of the earth.”
The absolutely hysterical inner thoughts of the anthropomorphized S.T. and his interactions with other crows and species, all of whom are trying to figure out what to do with this new ‘MoFo’ (that’s people)-less world had me in laugh-out-loud stitches.
“Bald eagles are majestic as fuck.”
But to be clear, these moments of dry, droll corvid humour are mixed with truly tense, bloody horror as the humans tear into everything in their path. There are moments of sincere soul-searching and real wisdom about the nature of humanity and its appalling and narcissistic tendency towards inevitable destruction in this surprisingly spirited novel of the animals and world we will leave behind.
“Sometimes I have the thought that a lot of species are hardwired to refuse to listen to warnings. And that's how they end up extinct.”
If this is the world that survives our self-annihilation, I am perfectly content with that.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Animal death
brynnak's review against another edition
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
isacro's review against another edition
It wasn’t well written. The plot was slow and laborious without any reward. But the last straw for me was the gratuitous animal deaths.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
katharina90's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Loved the unique concept of non-human animals adjusting to a post-apocalyptic world as well as the overall message of interconnectedness, balance and resilience.
The plot was a bit weak, esp. towards the middle where I lost interest for a while, but then the ending is very sweet and hopeful.
I thought the narrator was hilarious even though it's a silly, immature type of humor I don't usually go for. I guess you can get away with it if you're a crow.
As someone who used to live in Seattle, I also greatly enjoyed the references to local geography, flora and fauna.
The plot was a bit weak, esp. towards the middle where I lost interest for a while, but then the ending is very sweet and hopeful.
I thought the narrator was hilarious even though it's a silly, immature type of humor I don't usually go for. I guess you can get away with it if you're a crow.
As someone who used to live in Seattle, I also greatly enjoyed the references to local geography, flora and fauna.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia