Hollow Kingdom

In this hilarious, "dazzling" romp, a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive a zombie apocalypse-think Watership Down meets Dawn of the Dead (Mona Awad, author of Bunny).

S.T. is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his human owner, Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. ""those idiots""), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos (R). But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right.

With no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis (a loyal but dimwitted dog), S.T. discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV-What could possibly go wrong?

Includes a Reading Group Guide.

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Published Jul 7, 2020

336 pages

Average rating: 7.05

155 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

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Groundhogcat

Oct 24, 2025

8/10 stars

The zombie apocalypse from the animal's point of view.

The setting is in Seattle and the main character is Shit Turd aka ST a crow raised by a human.

I enjoyed this book and also how the author weaved the science of animal behavior (and plant intelligence) into this novel. Cleavrly done.

I'll be reading volume 2.

DramaLLama188

Jan 13, 2026

10/10 stars

I laughed a lot when reading this book. And then I also cried more than I thought I would.
A different perspective on an apocalyptic world. Great writing with humor that I could relate to.

Luna Atmosphere

Dec 15, 2025

5/10 stars

RIP Seattle, you would have loved crows

LeyviReads

Dec 11, 2025

9/10 stars

Fun read with a creative story.

abookwanderer

Oct 09, 2025

8/10 stars

So I had this book as an ARC back in 2019, but I put it aside, unable to push through the darker apocalyptic setting. Thanks to a prompt on my reading challenge AND a prompt on a readathon (to finish a book you DNFed), I picked it back up. It's very well-written, hilarious, but also still a little soul-crushing. The first half of the book was my favorite, while the last half was a little harder to get through. The ending was great, though! I just wish there had been more cats in the story. I'm convinced they could have gotten things done. Ha! And I don't think I'll ever look at a crow the same way.

#popsugarreadingchallenge2023 (advanced prompt #6 - A book with a pet character)

****

Original review - DNF 8/2019

I was provided an advance copy of this novel from the publisher through Netgalley.

I firmly believe this was a case of it's not you, it's me. There's nothing wrong with this novel. It's timely, witty, well-written. But I just couldn't get into it. It sent me straight into a hit-the-brakes, full-on reader's slump. I just didn't want to pick it up. Maybe the concept was too real for me in the current climate?? Everything is too depressing and I'm just not ready to laugh about it yet. I'm hoping I'll want to pick it up again later on down the road. It very much reminded me of [b:Warm Bodies|15842439|Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies, #1)|Isaac Marion|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394072655l/15842439._SY75_.jpg|10090210] which I loved, but had more of a feeling of hope for human kind. So don't let me dissuade you. If this is your typical genre, pick it up and give it a try!