On the HahaFiction shelf
Hollow Kingdom
Hollow Kingdom · Book 1 · 2019
S.T. has built a comfortable life as a pet crow in Seattle, with television, Cheetos and his owner Big Jim. Then Jim becomes ill, and the humans around them begin turning into zombies. S.T. and Dennis, a bloodhound, head outside and discover how many other animals need help in a world their owners can no longer run.
From the publisher’s blurb
“S.T. is a bird of simple pleasures”Read the full description at Grand Central Publishing synopsis
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What makes it funny?
S.T. loves human junk food and looks down on wild crows, which makes him an awkward ambassador for the animal world. His rescue work runs into a problem human heroes rarely have to consider: someone needs to open the doors. Readers in book groups enjoy his foul-mouthed viewpoint and describe laughing and crying within the same story.
The comedy at work
Buxton lets a bird explain the collapse of human civilization using habits and knowledge picked up from people and TV. S.T.'s confidence repeatedly meets the limits of what a crow can do.
Try this if…
A choice for readers who want an animal adventure with ecological concerns and a narrator who swears. Publishers Weekly emphasizes the mixture of comedy and tragedy, so expect emotional stakes alongside the crow's opinions.
Good to know
Profanity and zombie gore accompany the humor. One reader liked S.T. but found some descriptions excessive and other animal viewpoints slow; Kirkus also found the environmental lessons too insistent. Read this before the sequel, Feral Creatures.
A few distinguishing details
- A Cheetos-loving crow faces the collapse of human life
- Animal rescue complicated by locked doors
More funny zombie
Sources & further reading
- Series order
Book information
- Publisher: editions and synopsis
Publisher
- Readers in book groups (Muse report)
Reader discussion
- Publishers Weekly review
Review
- Kirkus review
Review
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