Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Hollow Kingdom is Kira Jane Buxton’s debut novel. It’s a genre-bending novel about the zombie apocalypse from the perspective of a domesticated crow named Shit Turd (S.T. for short). It’s sad, gruesome, hilarious, and surprisingly humanistic for a novel in which there are no living humans. It’s also ironic that this book (published before the Covid-19 pandemic) describes the events of a virus-induced apocalypse primarily in Seattle, which was one of the first cities hit hard by Covid. 

I can understand why this book may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the reasons people may not like it are also what makes the book unique and interesting. There is a gratuitous amount of swearing - like a lot; even for me, someone who swears worse than a sailor. It’s hard to place this book in a genre. There is some gore and some scenes a reader may find disturbing or scary, but I certainly wouldn’t classify this as a horror book. However, there’s enough that someone who doesn’t like horror would want to avoid this book. Buxton also goes on tangents and likes to list out a lot of (objectively) unnecessary details. As a nature nerd, I love hearing about the twenty different accurately-described bird species that S.T. comes across and their hunting methods, but some people could be turned off by this. But in true S.T. fashion, I say: “Fuck that. I fucking loved this book.” 

My favorite aspect of this book is how humanistic it is. I am someone who struggles to stay positive around humans and turns to nature for peace and comfort. Although it’s clear that Buxton also really loves nature, I love how she allocated time to how wonderful humanity can be. S.T. struggles with his crow identity and has a hard time adjusting to the world without his human, “Big Jim.” S.T. has such a deep love for his human, and it makes me feel like us humans aren’t all that bad when S.T. and other animals describe their relationships with humans and how much they love and miss them. The absolute best scenes (although heartbreaking) in the novel are when S.T. describes his previous life with Big Jim, even though Big Jim sounds like someone I would never hang out with in a million years. I pictured him as Carl (left) from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. 

If you’re looking for a mostly uplifting, somewhat emotional, somewhat funny, somewhat scary, easy read that may change the way you look at a tree or a crow, I highly recommend checking out Hollow Kingdom. It’s one of my favorite books I’ve read in 2024, and I’m currently reading the sequel, Feral Creatures. So far, it has just as much heart. 

Note on using Abu Dhabi as a location: I really wanted to write a review about this book, but I had already reviewed a book from Washington State. Abu Dhabi is mentioned during one of the shorter chapters narrated by someone other than S.T. A camel narrates their apocalyptic experience in the capital city of UAE. Another thing I really appreciated about this book was that Buxton took the time to detail and accurately describe human clothing and culture, in the same way she would go on tangents about nature and accurately describing the form and function of different animal species. 

Review by the Numbers

Overall: 5/5

Writing: 4/5

Message: 5/5

Plot: 4/5

Character Development: 5/5

Challenges Satisfied

- United Arab Emirates (Reading My Way Around the World Challenge)

- A Book that Features Dragons (2024 PopSugar Reading Challenge)

- A Book where the Whole World is in Danger (Shelf Reflection’s Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge)