The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Buxton, Kira Jane. Hollow Kingdom. Grand Central Publishing, 2019.

Buxton’s novel has 37 chapters, each subtitled with the narrator’s identity and the setting. Chapters that advance the main plot are narrated by S.T., a domestic crow. In addition, a few chapters that expand the reach of the story are narrated by other anthropomorphized animals.

S.T. first describes a startling event: his roommate, Big Jim, was weeding the lawn when his eyeball fell out. Afterward, Big Jim retired to the basement and no longer spoke. At the end of Chapter 1, S.T. reveals that he is not a MoFo—his and Big Jim’s word for “human”—but rather, he is a domesticated crow. He describes himself as an honorary MoFo and promises to explain what happened to humans.

S.T.’s Seattle neighborhood was silent. The crow reluctantly tuned in to Aura, the internet of the natural world, but Aura was silent as well. All MoFos exhibited the same symptoms as Big Jim: red eyes, extended necks, and humped backs. S.T. realized that he would have to take care of Dennis, Big Jim’s bloodhound.

Big Jim paced around the basement, slowly wearing his arm away. When S.T. found an iPhone and pressed the power button, the sound caused Big Jim to attack. After that, S.T. and Dennis had to leave, for their own safety.

Via Aura, S.T. heard stories of The One Who Opens Doors, and he asked where he might find Onida, The One Searched For. Trees whispered that he should beware. A grizzly attacked Dennis, mauling him on one side, and crows drove the bear and her cubs away.

Kraai, the leader of the crows, admired S.T.’s command over Dennis. Kraai was aware that S.T. had been living with a Hollow—the name for humans in the natural world. S.T. and Dennis followed Kraai’s directions to find Onida, passing crumbling structures and overgrown landscaping. Douglas firs pointed the way with their branches. At the Seattle Aquarium, S.T. found Onida the octopus. She told him about Echo, an underwater network connected to Aura. She said humans were going extinct because they had taken too much from the natural world. She added that many domestic animals needed S.T.’s help.

S.T. and Dennis continued searching for The One Who Opens Doors. They saw a hastily written message warning people not to use their phones. In a train station, S.T. saw a mauled gorilla. At a stadium filled with water, a hippopotamus ate a MoFo. Zoo animals were roaming the ruins of Seattle.

S.T. learned via Aura that The One Who Opens Doors was a Hollow with red hair. He also learned about another natural network, Web, run by the Mother Trees. S.T. vowed to save domestics and salvage what was left of MoFo civilization. S.T. and Dennis found a Pomeranian named Cinnamon trapped inside a house, and they promised to bring help.

At the zoo, S.T. searched for The One Who Opens Doors and accidentally flew into a window. Dennis carried the now flightless crow back to Cinnamon’s house. They found an iPhone to lure a pair of MoFos to Cinnamon’s house. S.T. hurled it at a window. The MoFos broke through the glass, and Cinnamon escaped. The three soon rescued other animals. They encountered a rabid dog, and Cinnamon sacrificed herself to save her friends.

Kraai and his murder rejoined the crow and dog. S.T. and Kraai fought about the superiority of MoFos, and S.T. wondered why he had been denying the part of him that is crow.

S.T. and Dennis were soon stalked by tigers, but the crows helped them escape. Kraai explained that all creatures were in a battle for territory since the Hollows were gone. With S.T.’s help, the crows hoped to occupy the Hollows’ homes. While in flight on an eagle’s back, S.T. saw his parrot friend, Ghubari, who said humans were being deformed by a virus that came through screens and connectivity.

S.T. could not tell the crows how to break glass, so he demonstrated at a house. He broke the glass, but the mother dog inside was too weak to escape with her pups. The mission seemed doomed until five orangutans arrived—The Ones Who Open Doors.

S.T. and Dennis soon lived on a college campus with the crows. One day, six crows were killed, and Aura reported that the attacker was The One Who Conquers. The crows left to find the killer, but S.T. and Dennis stayed behind. Suddenly, birds flew overhead, fleeing a group of MoFos with Jurassic features. Dennis ran off, then returned with an iPad to attract the creatures. He raced to the shore and began to swim, and the creatures followed and drowned. Dennis was a hero.

Ghubari said that the Hollows were evolving to avoid extinction, and Kraai realized that the fight against them would be ongoing. Dennis noticed a UPS truck, his sworn enemy, and bounded toward it. He was oblivious to MoFos nearby, and they killed him. The birds and animals held an elaborate funeral.

News arrived that The One Who Conquers, a pack of wolves, was nearby, and the crows attacked under Kraai’s command. Migisi and S.T. left the others to address a second threat, The Weavers, a spiderlike human mutation. Migisi and S.T. lured tigers to attack and kill The Weavers, then they gathered domestic dogs to help battle The One Who Conquers. The wolves dispersed at the sight of so many dogs.

One night, S.T.’s closest friends took him on a secret journey, far north to Alaska, where he suspected they would introduce him to a new bloodhound puppy. However, the surprise turned out to be a healthy baby MoFo, a girl, who was being cared for by owls. S.T. named her Dee, after Dennis. He vowed to protect her and tell her all of his stories. The entire narrative had been told to her as she was growing up.