Parker’s Pages: Hollow Kingdom

The Evergreen Echo

There’s one thing you should know about me: I LOVE birds. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Which you can tell by my many articles that I’ve written and shared here at the Echo. So when I found this lovely little gem, narrated by a self-assured little crow named Shit Turd (S.T. for short), I was all in. Now, I can assure you that Hollow Kingdom by Seattle local, Kira Jane Buxton is a must read.

But don’t let me fool you! While this book is funny and having a fiery, cunning bird for a main character is delightful, this novel tugged at my heartstrings like no other. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans have turned into zombie-like shells of themselves, nature takes back the earth. With S.T. as our guide, a domesticated crow who is very fond of humans—or MoFos, as he calls them—we watch how animals, wild and tamed, survive in a world without people. S.T. races to figure out what has happened to his human, Big Jim, and keep an eye on his canine companion, Dennis, while fending off the humans-turned-zombies and wild, vicious animals that wish to take back their territory. This novel is chilling, heartwarming, fascinating, adventurous, and completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before—one of those ‘you’ve just got to read it’ kind of books. 

And not only is this book absolutely stellar (get it? Stellar like a Steller’s Jay?), it also feels like an homage to the Puget Sound and its natural inhabitants. With recognizable neighborhoods and landmarks, like Ravenna, Woodland Park Zoo, King Street Station, and the University of Washington Bothell Campus, I felt like I could walk alongside S.T. and Dennis, imagining myself in every location they stumbled upon. Even the animals felt familiar to me. The Bothell Campus crows, the Woodland Park orangutans, the opossums and moles, even the littlest sugar ant felt like someone I had met while wandering around the city. Buxton brought these creatures to life and made them feel as real to me as a group of close friends and neighbors. Each of their voices are unique and powerful. 

Though the animals within Hollow Kingdom are dreaming of survival and a big, blue world to reclaim, there is also something deeply human in their plight. This is something Buxton does particularly well—personifying the animals, giving them desires and ideas that feel human while maintaining a sense of otherness and wildness about them. There are ways in which our main character, S.T., acts like a human and ways in which he acts like a crow. He wants to protect the domesticated animals to keep the memory of humans alive, but he also furiously protects his murder (even if it is just himself and a very wrinkly dog). And S.T. himself feels stuck in the center of these two perspectives. At some points in the story he longs to be a human; at others, he longs to be a crow. This push and pull had me engaged the whole way through, rooting for him to find his place and his true family. 

The Evergreen Echo

Buxton doesn’t just appeal to those of us who love nature and animals though. Her work also has a lot of great moments for folks who like post-apocalyptic and horror elements. Not only is there a sense of thrill in this novel, there are also some particularly gruesome images and scenes. My heart definitely fluttered for some of the more tense moments, and I had to put the book down a few times to take a deep breath before diving in for more. For me, these scenes helped to balance the whimsical and humorous aspects of the book, settling it back into something more grounded. 

Hollow Kingdom, paperback

The Evergreen Echo

I must also praise Buxton for her masterful prose. Each sentence is beautifully crafted, and there are a few sections of exquisite poetry (told from the perspective of other animals across the globe). The descriptions and emotional depth of each scene are fabulous, and there is a clear grasp of ecology, biology, and other natural sciences at play in Buxton’s work. I was particularly floored by Buxton’s creation and explanation of a sort of “social network” between animals in the book. Aura for the above ground creatures, Echo for underwater denizens, and Web for the underground. These pathways provide a way for animals to connect and communicate with each other over long distances, like birds singing songs to each other, trees connecting via roots, and sea creatures talking through water. While obviously a creation of fiction, these pathways felt real to me, and after finishing my reading, I am finding myself imagining the little networks all around the city, both in its natural areas and its denser urban areas. 

Hollow Kingdom is a wonderful, speculative fiction novel, combining nature, post-apocalypse, and just a touch of magic. I highly recommend it as your next read along with its sequel, Feral Creatures. This book had me laughing, crying, reflecting, and biting my nails, solidifying itself as my No. 1 read for the summer.