⭐⭐⭐⭐
Probably more of a 3.5, but I rounded up due to originality--Hollow Kingdom is the story
of a post-apocalyptic world told from the point of view of animals,
mostly that of S.T., a domesticated crow who's lived with Big Jim (and a
hound named Dennis) in Seattle. Somethings has affected humans, and
S.T. starts a quest to help pets escape the homes they're trapped in now
that their humans aren't caring for them.
I don't know that I
would've picked up a post-apocalyptic book right (this was a book club
choice), but it's a lot funnier and heart-warming than it might first
appear. I appreciated S.T.'s journey of accepting the crow part of
himself after a lifetime of living with a Mofo (as he calls humans) and
learning to join the animal world. I also loved the glimpses into his
life in the Before Times, finding out how he gained the knowledge that
he has and seeing the misconceptions he has. Author Kira Jane Buxton also intersperses
shorter chapters from other animals' POVs, some of them in Seattle and
some around the world, giving us a broader perspective on what happened
and what is happening.
I knocked it down a bit, though, because I
found it slightly repetitive (though in a way that seems pretty
realistic; there were a lot of fight scenes, some animal/animal, some
animal/human, and I just tend to not attend to battle scenes very well)
and I felt like it could've been tightened up a bit.
Ultimately, a book I enjoyed reading but not one I was ever particularly itching to pick back up and continue. There is a sequel, but I don't know that I'll ever feel motivated to read it.
No comments:
Post a Comment