Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creature by Kira Jane Buxton – Pooja Book Review

CBR16 Bingo: Earth Day – This series revolves around how the natural world starts asserting itself upon the planet when the human race dies out in a pseudo-zombie apocalypse.

Hollow Kingdom – 4 stars

ST, a domesticated crow, finds himself unexpectedly in the midst of the extinction of the human race, and must make the best of it.

I am an animal lover, and so I loved this book. As a pet owner, I found myself fascinated by the exploration of what may become of all of our domestic friends when those who domesticated them are no longer around. The combination of terror and humor kept me careening from one emotional extreme to another in a most satisfactory way. Dennis is indeed too pure for the world.

Maybe ST is made a bit obviously crass for comedic effect, and the world-building is a bit all over the place at times. I still plan to check out the sequel, if only to laugh at whatever ST considers parenting.

Feral Creatures – 3 stars

The world is much changed since the zombie apocalypse, but for former pet crow ST everything seems to have fallen in with place as he parents the last human baby, Dee. However, Dee has got a greater destiny, and ST can’t protect her forever.

This is the second book in the Hollow Kingdom series, which chronicles the transformation of the natural world when the human race goes extinct through the eyes of foul-mouthed, domesticated crow ST. Buxton managed to bring the same delight in the natural world and broad humor to this book, as well as more fleshed-out world building. The first half lagged on occasion, but at some point in the second part I found myself just as swept up as ever.

However, I did feel like we occasionally got lost in the sauce of lyrical writing, especially in the slow-moving first half of the book. The interludes from external viewpoints especially, while poetic, didn’t usually add to the main narrative. I also found myself less interested in characters introduced in this book, especially Dee, which is a bit of a problem considering how much both the story and ST’s character arc revolves around her.