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Science fiction by Mat Coward: August 7, 2019
Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, The Girl In Red by Christina Henry, The Bone by Garden Heather Kassner and The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion
[Karen Nadine/Creative Commons]

NARRATED by ST, a foul-mouthed, snack-obsessed crow who identifies as human, Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton (Headline Review, £18-99) takes place in Seattle where a mysterious illness is causing hideous transformations in homo sapiens.

Now robbed of his owner-cum-housemate, and thus in sole charge of a daft dog, ST bravely ventures out in search of still-functioning people. He finds a world which is rapidly erasing all traces of its former masters, as the rest of nature takes over.

If he’s to be of any use to his beloved city, ST must combine his human and crow natures to find his true self.

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