I have always been fascinated by crows. They are known to be extremely smart and they can recognize and remember human faces. We have a lot of crows in our neighborhood, and I have been trying to befriend them. There is a bag of peanuts in their shells in our vestibule. When I see a crow perching on our roof or on the lamppost out by the street, I go get a couple of peanuts and put them outside while they can see me. No takers yet, no crow friends, but I will keep trying.

The protagonist of Hollow Kingdom is a domesticated crow. The crow is the narrator. The entire novel does not have a single human character. The only referenced human is Big Jim, who rescued the crow when he was just a chick and raised him as a pet. We know about Big Jim only based on flashbacks told by the crow.

Big Jim had named the crow Shit Turd, but he goes by S.T. (not surprisingly). His other pet is Dennis. S.T describes him this way:

Dennis is a bloodhound and has the IQ of a dead opossum. Honestly, I have met turkeys with more brain cells. I’d suggested to Big Jim that we oust Dennis because of his weapons-grade incompetence, but Big Jim never listened, intent on keeping a housemate that has zero impulse control and spends 94 percent of his time licking his balls.

Yes, S.T. thinks and talks like a human. In fact, all the animals in Hollow Kingdom talk, all the way from whales to spiders.

This book is about an apocalypse. All the humans get sick and eventually die of some virus, but not before they mutate in grotesque ways. Think of zombies that do nothing but eat each other and their pets. That’s got to suck if you are a dog or a cat trapped in a house with a sick human.

S.T. calls humans MoFos, based on the name Big Jim had for them. As he realizes that the MoFos are all going crazy, he goes on a mission to “free the domestics.” But how do you open doors and windows to let them out if you are just a crow, and your only friend is a (stupid) dog?

Hollow Kingdom reminded me a little of Stephen King’s The Stand. The premise in The Stand is that a manufactured disease kills off almost all of humanity. Only a very, very few survive to rebuild society. The entire story is based on a group of survivors trying to make a new world. In Hollow Kingdom, humanity disappears and nature comes back. Domesticated and wild animals try to make sense of what is happening.

Hollow Kingdom is a black comedy and satire, wrapped in a fable. It made me think about how fragile our society is, and how easily humanity could devolve.

Shit Turd’s point of view is delightful and comical. Overall, this book is unlike anything I have ever read before. Extremely readable, it’s also completely whacky.

I could not help but give it 4 stars.

Reading Hollow Kingdom is a whacky adventure.