Point of View

Hollow Kingdom is primarily narrated by S.T., a domesticated American crow who considers himself to be an honorary MoFo, or human. He uses the salty vocabulary that Big Jim, his human companion, taught him, and he disdains all things crow. S.T. straddles the line between MoFo and crow, so he loses his place in the world when all humans degenerate into vacant beings with outstretched necks, dislocated joints, and an affinity for buttons and shiny things.

Because S.T., the protagonist of the novel, thinks of himself as an honorary human, the reader identifies with him as he struggles to survive in a world where humans are no longer in control. S.T. views wild creatures and roaming zoo animals as annoyances and threats, not as allies. He also sees the newly flourishing plants and weeds as unwelcome overgrowth, ruining the humans’ buildings...