Feral Creatures

The postapocalyptic adventures of bighearted, irreverent crow S.T. continue in Buxton’s eventful follow-up to 2019’s Hollow Kingdom. In the 13 years since a screen-transmitted virus infected all of humanity and turned them into rapidly evolving, nightmarish chimeras called Changed Ones, S.T. has raised Yup’ik Dee, the last uninfected human, in a remote region of Alaska with the help of the owls and his eagle friend, Migisi. When Dee discovers the hideous, larva-like beings her family has become, she sets fire to the cabin she shares with S.T. and flees into the ocean where a pod of orcas carry her and S.T. (flightless after an injury) back to S.T.’s old stomping grounds near Seattle. There, they reconnect with his old murder, other friends like Orange the orangutan, and nemeses including a trio of tigers escaped from the zoo. But the area’s animals are all hunkered down to avoid the singularly destructive Changed Ones stalking the region. After Dee goes missing, she displays an uncanny knack for communicating across species to fight the Changed Ones and tests S.T.’s strong desires to protect her. Buxton balances the snarky humor and moving tenderness of her delightful protagonist with genuine tension. Fans of postapocalyptic dangers and witty narration will eat up this charming story. [em]Agent: Bill Clegg, the Clegg Agency. (Aug.) [/em]