First impressions review: Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton

            I picked up this story about a zombie apocalypse seen through the eyes of a sarcastic crow because I needed comfort. My eldest dog, who had been with me for 13 years, had just died, and none of the three books I had already started - an ideas-focused sci-fi; a biography of Humboldt that that was just getting to the bit where the adventurous, liberal scientist is getting old while the world turns reactionary; and one about how capitalism fuels climate change – seemed likely to provide. But this one, in which a crow named Shit Turd (S.T. for short) figures out something is off when his owner’s eyeball randomly falls out, leading to a quest with his bloodhound buddy to try and save the humans, seemed just the right level of goofy and heartwarming. And it was, even though there are some scenes that are likely to leave dog lovers bawling even if they are otherwise having a good day, and even if (as a biology nerd) I can’t help nitpicking a few things.

            S.T. was raised by MoFos - that’s how his owner, Big Jim, used to refer to his own species – and identifies with us more strongly than with other birds. He loves TV and Cheetos and Hot Pockets, and so is quite distressed when all the humans in the neighborhood start bashing their decomposing heads against thing and trying to eat their own pets. As for Dennis the bloodhound, he almost sinks into a fatal depression before S.T. manages to rouse him with mimicry (“Dennis! Here, boy!”) and they set out to try and find help. On the way, they encounter an angry mother bear, an oracular octopus, a mole who knows the ways of the Other World down among the roots, and a flock of “college crows” that make S.T. question his own identity, among others. I was a little confused at the start when S.T. kept referring to “murder”, until I remembered that a group of crows is called a murder and realized he is thinking of himself and the dog as a murder of two. Aww!

We also get alternating perspectives from other animals including a previously-pampered poodle, a mother polar bear, a very Scottish highland cow, a former racing camel in Dubai, a herd of elephants in Bangkok, and – most memorably – the gloriously arrogant Ghengis Cat:

My Mediocre Servants still never seem to leave the home. I believe, if it it’s at all possible, that they have devolved…But I have always known them to be a lower life form, no better than slug-tongued, alopecia-stricken bears with epically shitty balance…For a while I persisted with this ill-fated relationship by bringing them mice, moles, rats, sparrows…the Mediocre Servant with the skin drawings tried to bite me, ocher nubby fangs narrowly missing my tail…I made my decision to leave the home. It’s true that I shall miss the toasty laps and the dehydrated fish blobs…Most especially I will miss the cheese. But not as much as they will miss me. I am incredible.

            There are some beautiful parts here about the resilience and diversity of nature. For instance: I am Mother Tree. Part of something greater than my one. We…are connected through swirling root…We warn neighbors of drought and danger with out scent song and send quick, silvery messages through Web, fungal lattice…Listen…I am fighting the greatest battle of my years. A bark beetle army has declared war on my body…Listen; life is worth a fight. Expectation must be shed like winter leaves. Even in death there is wondrous beauty. And death is not The End.

I also liked how S.T. and Dennis find meaning in rescuing other domestic animals that have been trapped in their homes. They aren’t just saving lives, but saving the only animals that remember humans fondly, and carry the best of us with them.

            However, while the author clearly loves animals and has a really good understanding of some of them – including crows, which she has a good bit of personal experience with, according to the interview at the back – there are several plot points that are a bit biologically weird, which I’ll try to discuss without too many spoilers. First, which animals fear or make friends with which others doesn’t always make sense. For instance, large predators are treated as a big threat. I initially figured this was because S.T. was scared for Dennis rather than himself, and that certainly was how their first predator encounter with the grizzly played out. But the college crows are planning to go to war with these big predators for territory and…what? Something like a tiger or a wolf is not a threat to a crow unless they happen to be injured and sitting on the ground right in front of them. Most birds are too small to interest a big mammal as prey and they can’t get to them when they are in flight or in the tree-tops anyway, so birds are generally not that fussed about them. And crows are carrion birds! In the wild, ravens and crows often hang around wolf packs, and may even lead them to prey because then they get to eat the leftovers. Crows instead fear mid-sized predators, particularly ones that can climb or fly. Similarly, ants might fear regular spiders, but they shouldn’t be scared of human-sized web-spinning things, since the webs are likely targeting something much larger and juicier. It feels like there are some human biases slipping in here! And speaking of anthropoid apes, we know that the zoo had both gorillas and orangutans. We see the orangutans act as a kind of patriarchal nuclear family…which is not what they do in the wild at all, but these guys have been living together in the zoo for years so – sure, whatever. But gorillas are naturally social, probably smarter, and strong as fuck…so why aren’t they the ones that survive?

            Second, the explanation for the zombie apocalypse is super confusing. If it had just been a viral pandemic, that would have been fine; very standard zombie lore. The source could be left somewhat mysterious and hand-waved, since it would be unlikely that the animals would figure it out in the first place. However, Buxton tries to make some points about humanity’s disconnection from nature and addiction to screens by implying that that was somehow involved in triggering this and…huh? Humans can’t catch computer viruses and, even if we could, why would it then affect remote rural populations where people are decidedly not screen addicted?

Also, there is this bit: “The changes you’ve seen…is some sort of unprecedented phenotypic plasticity…Our genes are changing faster than we imagined possible. Much in the way cancerous tumors can adapt or acclimate to chemotherapy, humans are rapidly evolving to survive the virus.”

I won’t say what zombie stuff this is referring to, but…no. That’s not how either phenotypic plasticity or evolution (which are decidedly not the same thing) work, even for cancers. Phenotypic plasticity – body form or function altering itself in response to the environment without changes to the genes – is relatively limited in effect. That's why trees won’t be able to save themselves from climate change by just flowering earlier in the year or altering the amount of heat-shock proteins in their leaves...although they are doing that, and it helps a bit. Evolution, on the other hand, is a multi-generation process, and these things aren’t reproducing!

            My last nitpick is this: The writing of female characters is a bit odd, considering that the author is a woman. There aren’t very many of them, for starters, and only one has a central speaking role, for only one chapter. The female orangutan is just a shadow of the male, instead of them being collectively They Who _______[avoiding a spoiler here!]. There’s a crow who tells S.T. she doesn’t like the name the other crows have given her – Survivor – because all females are survivors, which is a weird remark given how egalitarian crow society is. Males and females are the same size and color, both participate in defending the nest and feeding the chicks, and the murder certainly doesn’t have a singular male leader. Conversely, whatever Oneida the octopus might imply, being female doesn’t give you psychic powers! I dunno. I just wish that S.T.’s wise parrot friend could have been a girl, or that the spunky little pomeranian Cinnamon or the “adventure eagle” would have actually talked to S.T. about their thoughts on this whole situation, or at least had more time to express them non-verbally like Dennis does.

            I don’t want to imply that these things spoiled the experience of this book. Far from it! I’m just a nerd and a professor: If, instead of indicating “There are zombies/inherited memories/space wizards. Just go with it, it’ll be fun!” a writer gives me a science explanation for a phenomenon, I will grade it in my head! I still really enjoyed the perspectives and banter of the various critters, as well as the concept aura, echo, and web – referring to the way organisms communicate through air, water, and soil, respectively.

 

Overall recommendation: If you love animals and enjoy not-so-serious takes on the end of the world like ‘Shaun of the Dead’ or ‘Good Omens’, you will probably enjoy this book. There's some animal death, though, so keep that in mind when judging if you are in the mood for this story.