Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Hollow Kingdom

A funny dark comedy narrated by Crow who had imprinted or been saved by a human before the human zombification.. this dys opian world is different then any other, as the animals are the survivors. Not the humans... So, now so the animals are wandering around figuring out how to survive without humans.. Freeing domestic animals trapped in abandoned houses by figuring out how to get through glass windows then hope to open doors and so on through all the adventures of survival in this new world with mutant animals and a reformation of bones and groups of birds, animals and a new kind of wild world

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virtualdragonkitty's review against another edition

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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

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beccwoolsey's review against another edition

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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.

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:

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.

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valhecka's review against another edition

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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

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wordinessa's review against another edition

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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.

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scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I normally hate zombie movies/tv shows. I just can't deal with any of it. But this book had me absolutely drawn in. I found it to be absolutely hilarious and yeah, even if some of it seemed really immature, it was just the humor I needed in the time that I did. There will be animal death in this unfortunately and one animal that dies brought on a great deal of hurt feelings, so if that's not your jam, I'd stay away but if you can stomach it, I'd read this.

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zorhose's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I originally rated this 3.75 stars, but after giving it some time I had to knock it down a notch.

I really wanted to love this book. The cover is incredible and the story sounded like it could be as well. But actually reading it was another story.

Something about this book made my brain turn off, and my reading pace was half the speed it usually has (the same happens with me and Tolkien).

Maybe it were the constant local references that probably make this book fun for people who live there or know the area, but were quite meaningless to me.

Also, while I personally like stories with animal protagonists (especially if they're sarcastic little assholes) they have their own terms for certain human things and their different perspective requires getting used to, which didn't make the reading easier for me.

I probably won't read the sequel, but if this is ever adapted for TV, I think it could either be really cool series or a garbage fire and I'd be interested in watching either way.

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