ehmannky's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5/5 There's so much to like in this book--S.T. is a delightful narrator, Dennis is such a great depiction of a hound dog, the depictions of grief and nature and connecting outside of the human world were beautiful, and it was very funny for the most part.
My main issue is that I hate the idea behind the Not Zombies in this book that the reason that humanity as a whole was doomed was because we just couldn't look up from technology to respect nature. I loved the idea of connecting with deep, natural times (and I love the idea of the the Aura), but I just felt like...this just sort of conflates the ecological problems with big tech/environmentally destructive industries/etc. with individuals. Like...it felt like Buxton should have either made the zombies a metaphor for humanity's over-reliance on social media/phones (a la Warm Bodies) or it should have focused on environmental problems caused by by big corporations. Pushing the two together was just sort of messy.
My main issue is that I hate the idea behind the Not Zombies in this book that the reason that humanity as a whole was doomed was because we just couldn't look up from technology to respect nature. I loved the idea of connecting with deep, natural times (and I love the idea of the the Aura), but I just felt like...this just sort of conflates the ecological problems with big tech/environmentally destructive industries/etc. with individuals. Like...it felt like Buxton should have either made the zombies a metaphor for humanity's over-reliance on social media/phones (a la Warm Bodies) or it should have focused on environmental problems caused by by big corporations. Pushing the two together was just sort of messy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, and Violence
virtualdragonkitty's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.0
I really loved this story, even if at times the pacing felt weird. It was fun reading a book about a zombi apocalypse from the eyes of the animals
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Gore, and Vomit
melethwi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, and Blood
starrysteph's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
We’ve all read zombie apocalypse stories focused on the survivors - the hardy group of humans fighting for a better new world.
But what if nobody made it out?
What if every human was infected?
What if the only survivors - were other animals?
That’s what goes down in the opening scenes of Hollow Kingdom, and we’re left to follow human-adoring crow S.T. and his bloodhound sidekick Dennis as they navigate the wake of tragedy, try to figure out what happened, and rescue other domestic animals.
This book had the curious ability to make me laugh out lou and roll my eyes at the raunchy absurdity, but also weep in a ball on the couch.
We do mostly follow S.T., but we also get beautifully-crafted chapters between his narratives from all sorts of different animals. Though sometimes a little cheesy and -and often romanticizing animal interactions - these interludes were some of my favorite parts of the novel.
At times the plot became too repetitive without seeming to move forward. It felt like large sections of the novel could have been chopped without a loss, and that made my reading experience a little antsy. The humor also occasionally rubbed me the wrong way. I also didn’t love the measly background we got around the cause of the zombie infection. It’s a trope that bothers me.
Overall though, I enjoyed this journey. Be prepared for some heartbreak, folks. Especially if you are an animal lover like me.
CW: animal death, human death (all ages), gore, body horror, violence, animal cruelty, cannibalism, confinement, vomit, drug use, suicide, ableism, sexism, fatphobia, war, Harry Potter references
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Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Fatphobia, Drug use, Child death, Confinement, Vomit, Suicide, Ableism, Sexism, War, Cannibalism, Death, and Body horror
beccwoolsey's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
I really wanted to like this book.
When this book was recommended to me, the premise immediately had me hooked. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi featuring a crow named Shit Turd and his loyal dumb dog? Are you kidding? Sign me up. But, I feel like the idea was better than the execution.
Hollow Kingdom brings a unique perspective and much-needed twist to the zombie genre, but it holds itself back with unnecessarily excessive descriptive prose, characters that are hard to connect to, and critical plot points that just don't make sense.
I'm typically all for flowery prose-- it's my favorite. Most of my 5 star reads are written with some degree of flowery prose, but it usually fits the genre and is enough that it contributes some emotion to the story, but short enough that it doesn't pull away from the narrative. Hollow Kingdom took purple prose to the next level, and it felt additionally out of place because of it's genre. I found myself skipping whole paragraphs of the book regularly because it was just a wall of description with no substance to the plot, using the biggest words it could possibly find to describe a simple object. I nearly DNF'd 30% into the book because I found it such a slog to get through. Thankfully, the plot picked up enough that I was able to tolerate it, but this was an issue throughout the whole book.
The main character, S.T., was hard to connect to or care about. In his defense, I can't really relate to a crow in a zombie apocalypse, but I should be able to relate to his feelings of grief, loss of identity, and desire for a purpose. But, those feelings were often surface level or moved past quickly, and so I felt it difficult to care. We don't really get to know the other characters well enough to attach to them, either. There was minor character development, but it didn't make a huge impact. Honestly, I felt myself looking forward to the few short chapters we got from other characters because I found them far more interesting and compelling than S.T.'s perspective.
Finally, there were some plot points that regularly had me going "... Huh?". I feel like I'm usually pretty willing to make crazy leaps in logic for sci-fi and fantasy-- it's fiction, it doesn't have to be realistic. But it does have to make sense within the narrative. Most of the confusion came from the virus itself: where it came from, how it worked, and why it was there.
I understand the characters are all animals and can't possibly really know what's going on at a molecular level and explain it reasonably to the audience. If the author had just left it at "We're animals, we don't know", I would have been okay with that. But, they went out of their way to deliver that information through a talking parrot and it just... It didn't make sense, and it still doesn't, to me at least.
My final issue with the plot is this:
The book wasn't all bad. It was genuinely funny at times (I particularly enjoyed the running joke about squirrels). The communication systems of Aura, Echo, and Web were creative and thought out. My favorite parts of the book were the short chapters we got from some of the other animals-- specifically Genghis Cat and Angus the Highland Cow. Those chapters were witty, had amazing voice, and gave that really unique perspective I was looking for. I loved them.
Overall, though, it was okay. Unique and funny. I understood the points it was trying to make, I just don't think it was well-executed in getting there. I have the second book, Feral Creatures, but I honestly don't know if I'll read it. I might, just to say I did and to see if it clears any of the issues up from the first book, but seeing as it's longer than the first and I barely made it through... Probably not.
When this book was recommended to me, the premise immediately had me hooked. A post-apocalyptic sci-fi featuring a crow named Shit Turd and his loyal dumb dog? Are you kidding? Sign me up. But, I feel like the idea was better than the execution.
Hollow Kingdom brings a unique perspective and much-needed twist to the zombie genre, but it holds itself back with unnecessarily excessive descriptive prose, characters that are hard to connect to, and critical plot points that just don't make sense.
I'm typically all for flowery prose-- it's my favorite. Most of my 5 star reads are written with some degree of flowery prose, but it usually fits the genre and is enough that it contributes some emotion to the story, but short enough that it doesn't pull away from the narrative. Hollow Kingdom took purple prose to the next level, and it felt additionally out of place because of it's genre. I found myself skipping whole paragraphs of the book regularly because it was just a wall of description with no substance to the plot, using the biggest words it could possibly find to describe a simple object. I nearly DNF'd 30% into the book because I found it such a slog to get through. Thankfully, the plot picked up enough that I was able to tolerate it, but this was an issue throughout the whole book.
The main character, S.T., was hard to connect to or care about. In his defense, I can't really relate to a crow in a zombie apocalypse, but I should be able to relate to his feelings of grief, loss of identity, and desire for a purpose. But, those feelings were often surface level or moved past quickly, and so I felt it difficult to care. We don't really get to know the other characters well enough to attach to them, either. There was minor character development, but it didn't make a huge impact. Honestly, I felt myself looking forward to the few short chapters we got from other characters because I found them far more interesting and compelling than S.T.'s perspective.
Finally, there were some plot points that regularly had me going "... Huh?". I feel like I'm usually pretty willing to make crazy leaps in logic for sci-fi and fantasy-- it's fiction, it doesn't have to be realistic. But it does have to make sense within the narrative. Most of the confusion came from the virus itself: where it came from, how it worked, and why it was there.
Spoiler
It's supposed to be a biological virus, like most zombie novels, and in this case sent as a punishment from Mother Nature, but it comes from... Phone screens? I get it, it's a social commentary on technology addiction. But having a naturally created virus that's caused and triggered by technology feels... Disjointed. The book also emphasizes that the virus was a consequence of humanity "missing their chance to evolve" and be better, Nature's way of restoring balance by forcing humans into extinction. But, by the time we get to the end, some of the infected have evolved into not one, but two different "species" of humans as a way to survive the virus? One evolving into a type of man bird, and the other into a man spider? In what I assume is, at the very least, less than 5 years time (since time is not clear)? If the point is that humans missed the opportunity to evolve, that Nature isn't fair, and that evolution takes GENERATIONS, how did they evolve into two new advanced species in such a short period of time? The book tries to explain that this advanced evolution is a last ditch effort at survival and is caused by cancer. Again... What?I understand the characters are all animals and can't possibly really know what's going on at a molecular level and explain it reasonably to the audience. If the author had just left it at "We're animals, we don't know", I would have been okay with that. But, they went out of their way to deliver that information through a talking parrot and it just... It didn't make sense, and it still doesn't, to me at least.
My final issue with the plot is this:
Spoiler
Dennis' death was pointless and didn't make sense. I'm not upset that it happened; I knew that it would at some point, it was inevitable. I'm upset at the way it happened. He could've died saving the murder during that lake scene, and it would've been a hero's death. But instead, he smelled a UPS truck from inside the compound where they'd been living for weeks, saw that it was swarming with zombies, and just... Went feral on the truck and got eaten to death? Are you joking? I literally put my Kindle down and said "This is the dumbest thing I've ever read." I get that they were trying to make a commentary on a dog's instincts to attack the mailman, but 1) the truck wasn't running, 2) it had been sitting there for weeks (I presume) in an area they regularly patrol, and 3) was swarming with zombies. But you're telling me he hadn't seen it before, and his "natural" instinct to attack the package truck overrode his instinct to avoid predators?? Absolutely pointless death. Meant nothing and didn't make the commentary the author was hoping it would. Cinnamon's death had more meaning than that.The book wasn't all bad. It was genuinely funny at times (I particularly enjoyed the running joke about squirrels). The communication systems of Aura, Echo, and Web were creative and thought out. My favorite parts of the book were the short chapters we got from some of the other animals-- specifically Genghis Cat and Angus the Highland Cow. Those chapters were witty, had amazing voice, and gave that really unique perspective I was looking for. I loved them.
Overall, though, it was okay. Unique and funny. I understood the points it was trying to make, I just don't think it was well-executed in getting there. I have the second book, Feral Creatures, but I honestly don't know if I'll read it. I might, just to say I did and to see if it clears any of the issues up from the first book, but seeing as it's longer than the first and I barely made it through... Probably not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Blood
Moderate: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Grief, and Violence
Minor: Drug use and Suicide
miraclesnow's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Death
leguinstan's review against another edition
I was really delighted by S. T.'s crass sense of humor when I first started reading the book and it was a joy to read from the perspective of character with such a distinctive voice and with such a strong personality. I found myself laughing so much during the first ~100 pages of the book.
Unfortunately, I felt that the humor got old really quickly. At a certain point I found myself getting more excited about the sporadic chapters from the perspective of other animals since they provided a break from S. T.'s incessantly vulgar roasting of other characters. The personality of the animals are just as colorful as S. T.'s personality and they were funny in their own unique ways.
Like I previously said, S. T. made me laugh at the start but I just don't think he's 300+ pages worth of funny and the plot was not nearly gripping enough to make the comedic loss worth it. More specifically, S. T.'s main objective kept changing so much that the overall plot feels unfocused. It's hard to get invested when you have to keep reminding yourself what the characters are currently trying to achieve.
The final nail in the coffin was the moment when one of the characters warns S. T. & co that. Some may feel differently about this but I tend to get stupendously bored with lengthy descriptions of . The little bit of investment I had left vanished in an instant and I simply could not bring myself to read another page.
It's such a shame it didn't work out because I think the author is very imaginative and talented (especially when it comes to narrative voice!). Perhaps it would've done better as a novella instead of a full-length novel?
Unfortunately, I felt that the humor got old really quickly. At a certain point I found myself getting more excited about the sporadic chapters from the perspective of other animals since they provided a break from S. T.'s incessantly vulgar roasting of other characters. The personality of the animals are just as colorful as S. T.'s personality and they were funny in their own unique ways.
Like I previously said, S. T. made me laugh at the start but I just don't think he's 300+ pages worth of funny and the plot was not nearly gripping enough to make the comedic loss worth it. More specifically, S. T.'s main objective kept changing so much that the overall plot feels unfocused. It's hard to get invested when you have to keep reminding yourself what the characters are currently trying to achieve.
The final nail in the coffin was the moment when one of the characters warns S. T. & co that
Spoiler
a war is brewing between different animal factionsSpoiler
battle prep and large-scale warfareIt's such a shame it didn't work out because I think the author is very imaginative and talented (especially when it comes to narrative voice!). Perhaps it would've done better as a novella instead of a full-length novel?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Cursing
Moderate: Violence, Gore, and Excrement
Minor: Rape
rape: so there's a scene in the book where a pack of male dogsSpoiler
chase down a female dog in heat and the actions of the male dogs are treated like a barbaric attempt at gang-rape instead of an act of animal instinctvalhecka's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
Smartest zombie story I've ever read
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Animal death, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
wordinessa's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I picked this up as a tattered copy at a used bookstore last summer, and I'm so glad I did.
What happens to your pets after the zombie apocalypse? Well, sadly, you'll probably eat them after you turn (sorry). But if ST, a foul-mouthed crow, has anything to do with it - they might just be saved, and join the crusade to save other domestics and remember humanity's legacy.
ST is such a lovable protagonist. He's a pet crow who's loyalty to his human, Big Jim, never waivers - even after Big Jim has succumbed to the mysterious illness. Along with Big Jim's lovable oaf of a bloodhound, Dennis, he's on a mission to find out what happened and save the pets who have been left behind. But this book so quickly becomes much more than that. ST has such a strong appreciation for humanity that he's blocked out a lot of his natural instincts. Along the way, he learns how to balance both sides, tapping into the natural networks and forming new friendships and alliances while making sure other animals never forget how great humans were and all the things they gave him. This is a book of love, appreciation, adventure, danger, grief, and hope, wrapped up in a zombie apocalypse from an unlikely narrator.
Check the content warnings, especially if you're sensitive to animal death. But if you like humour, dystopia, animals, and a finding glimmer among the rubble, this is a wonderful and worthwhile tale.
What happens to your pets after the zombie apocalypse? Well, sadly, you'll probably eat them after you turn (sorry). But if ST, a foul-mouthed crow, has anything to do with it - they might just be saved, and join the crusade to save other domestics and remember humanity's legacy.
ST is such a lovable protagonist. He's a pet crow who's loyalty to his human, Big Jim, never waivers - even after Big Jim has succumbed to the mysterious illness. Along with Big Jim's lovable oaf of a bloodhound, Dennis, he's on a mission to find out what happened and save the pets who have been left behind. But this book so quickly becomes much more than that. ST has such a strong appreciation for humanity that he's blocked out a lot of his natural instincts. Along the way, he learns how to balance both sides, tapping into the natural networks and forming new friendships and alliances while making sure other animals never forget how great humans were and all the things they gave him. This is a book of love, appreciation, adventure, danger, grief, and hope, wrapped up in a zombie apocalypse from an unlikely narrator.
Check the content warnings, especially if you're sensitive to animal death. But if you like humour, dystopia, animals, and a finding glimmer among the rubble, this is a wonderful and worthwhile tale.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Gore
alphabetseeds's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a unique take on the classic mindless infected apocalypse stories around. ST guides us through a horror-stricken Seattle, desperate to find remnants of humanity with his trusty bloodhound companion, Dennis. This is an apocalypse fueled by the upheaval of humanity in favor of unbridled nature, determined to right itself.
The emotional core of this book is identity - how we identify ourselves and how others identify us. ST, a domesticated crow, struggles with his dual identity as a MoFo and a crow, especially as he and Dennis encounter increasingly disturbing groups of infected humans and need to rely more on the natural world for guidance and protection.
The plot takes a while to get going. I struggled with the slower pace of the first half, when ST and Dennis aren't sure what to do with their zombiified owner, Big Jim, and ultimately need to escape when ST finds Big Jim's iPhone. Their initial exploration of Seattle is slow but the MoFo encounters are definitely freaky.
The second half picks up a lot once ST and Dennis join up with the college crows, the stakes raise, and ST is more comfortable with himself. I enjoyed the other animal characters as well, especially Genghis Cat and Migisi the adventure eagle. ST's ingenuity in freeing trapped domesticated animals is enjoyable and heart-pounding, and the payoff of his perseverance was heartwarming.
The source of the MoFos' sudden transformation into mindless infected blobs of blood and horribleness isn't fully explored, but this is the first in an alleged trilogy, so I do wonder where it's all headed.
Could this have been a little shorter? At just over 300 pages, this does drag at times, but it's also due to ST's narration and distraction, especially in the first half of the book. But throughout the book, Buxton's prose is insightful, mournful, and hopeful, and I found myself lingering on sentences that spoke to a bigger truth about the world around us.
The emotional core of this book is identity - how we identify ourselves and how others identify us. ST, a domesticated crow, struggles with his dual identity as a MoFo and a crow, especially as he and Dennis encounter increasingly disturbing groups of infected humans and need to rely more on the natural world for guidance and protection.
The plot takes a while to get going. I struggled with the slower pace of the first half, when ST and Dennis aren't sure what to do with their zombiified owner, Big Jim, and ultimately need to escape when ST finds Big Jim's iPhone. Their initial exploration of Seattle is slow but the MoFo encounters are definitely freaky.
The second half picks up a lot once ST and Dennis join up with the college crows, the stakes raise, and ST is more comfortable with himself. I enjoyed the other animal characters as well, especially Genghis Cat and Migisi the adventure eagle. ST's ingenuity in freeing trapped domesticated animals is enjoyable and heart-pounding, and the payoff of his perseverance was heartwarming.
The source of the MoFos' sudden transformation into mindless infected blobs of blood and horribleness isn't fully explored, but this is the first in an alleged trilogy, so I do wonder where it's all headed.
Could this have been a little shorter? At just over 300 pages, this does drag at times, but it's also due to ST's narration and distraction, especially in the first half of the book. But throughout the book, Buxton's prose is insightful, mournful, and hopeful, and I found myself lingering on sentences that spoke to a bigger truth about the world around us.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Violence