and Dennis leave their small craftsman home in Ravenna, Washington and set out to find a cure for their pal when it becomes clear that the problem is more widespread than their own backyard. Things, physical and mental things, start happening to Big Jim. Their family includes a bloodhound named Dennis, and we soon realize that, utopian as this sounds, all is not well.

He was raised from a chick by the Seattle based electrician known as Big Jim. He is a crow that has left the natural world behind. If you don’t agree with him by the end of chapter one, give it a couple more pages. is a damn delight and an exceedingly handsome crow to hear him tell it. In Hollow Kingdom we meet S.T., an American crow and narrator of our story. Her first novel is the culmination of “research + passion + experimental fiction.” Buxton calls Kingdom “a humorous literary dystopian novel,” and, at the heart of it, her love letter to the natural world. It seems that she has created a novel that doesn’t fit into any category, and it is all the better for it.

Hollow Kingdom: Image courtesy of the author’s website.Īpocalyptic fantasy fiction? Eco-Dramedy? Environmental fiction with a socially conscious narrative? Horror-humor? Buxton’s first book flutters out of any buttonhole. “…and when I thought of the things I was capable of, well, then and only then did a plan start to form.” from Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton. I tore through her hilarious, heartbreaking, joyous, serious, dystopian, and important debut novel and started recommending it to anyone who would or wouldn’t listen. When it finally arrived, I was blown away by the unique voice Buxton brings to the literary world. I ordered the book immediately, not knowing that I still had a four month wait until it was delivered to my doorstep.

I can’t remember what website it was (unfortunate because I owe them a debt of thanks) that informed me that if I liked The Trees (I most emphatically did), I would love Hollow Kingdom (I most emphatically did). “What an extraordinary luxury to cast a shadow.” from Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton.Īdmittedly, I was unaware of a writer named Kira Jane Buxton, author of 2019’s Hollow Kingdom and the sequel Feral Creatures, !!!Available today from Grand Central Publishing!!!, before I read The Trees by Ali Shaw. Kira Jane Buxton and Ewok: Image courtesy of the author’s website.

Jane buxton book