A review by znnys
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
5.0
It is often said that humans, in all their destructive behavior, are not killing the world - they are killing themselves, and the world will just adapt after they are gone, as it always has. This book is essentially an exploration of that concept.
I loved this book. The imagery was so vivid to me that I could see it playing out in my head like a film - a bit like a darker Homeward Bound, or a slightly more lighthearted Plague Dogs. ST was a hilarious and adorable narrator, inherently birdlike but convinced that he was meant to be a human, or, one of the many unique colloquialisms he adapted from his eccentric owner, a "MoFo." And for someone who is not quite a MoFo, he has an impressive degree of character development. It was especially a pleasure to see his relationship with Dennis go from him thinking Dennis was an oafish nuisance to him loving Dennis as his dearest friend.
In the hands of any other writer I would find the revelation that the "zombification" of humans came from to be heavy-handed and preachy, a bit on the level of Black Mirror's more on-the-nose episodes. However, through the perspective of the human-loving ST, the book feels like less of a condemnation of humanity's faults, and more of a celebration of it's virtues - and a mourning of what was wasted, and what could have been. But beyond humanity, it's a celebration of life in all forms. Birds, pets, zoo animals, bugs, fish, trees... everything has a conscience that thrives and survives even after humanity's downfall. I was surprised by what a genuinely hopeful book this was, considering it's subject matter, but ST is a hopeful narrator. And as he himself says, "The crow in me had loyalty and passion. The MoFo in me, hope."
I loved this book. The imagery was so vivid to me that I could see it playing out in my head like a film - a bit like a darker Homeward Bound, or a slightly more lighthearted Plague Dogs. ST was a hilarious and adorable narrator, inherently birdlike but convinced that he was meant to be a human, or, one of the many unique colloquialisms he adapted from his eccentric owner, a "MoFo." And for someone who is not quite a MoFo, he has an impressive degree of character development. It was especially a pleasure to see his relationship with Dennis go from him thinking Dennis was an oafish nuisance to him loving Dennis as his dearest friend.
In the hands of any other writer I would find the revelation that the "zombification" of humans came from