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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
An ordinary day at the zoo with your son, many of us have been there. Suddenly the most unexpected and horrifying thing happens, and an afternoon at the zoo is about life or death. In a fast-paced story set in only a little over 3 hours, the author takes us through a character driven, dramatic and haunting story of Joan and her son Lincoln and their fight to survive. While it’s a story of survival, it is also a story of motherhood and what it means to protect your child. A very current and relevant theme in today’s world, and I highly recommend it.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
The premise of this one is fantastic and the book itself definitely delivers! This is a fast paced novel that just builds and builds and builds. There were times that I found myself tensing up as I read. It kept me on the edge of my seat. A shooting in a zoo and a mom hiding with her child is the basic story but it becomes so much more. I found the cascading emotion of Joan as she tries to protect them to be superbly done. The fear, the worry, the anger and the frustration just pours off the page. The dynamic of an average woman trying to protect herself and her child really resonated with me. I found the setting to be really interesting – to set the events in a zoo is really interesting and gave the author quite a bit of interesting material to work with. I’m not sure that I’ll ever see a zoo in quite the same way again. I really liked this one and I’m glad that I picked it up. Definitely recommend this one!
A very intense and quick read! Loved the mother’s perspective and intuition in ensuring safety for her son. I also enjoyed how the author weaved in history from multiple characters backstories’ (though the entire book takes place in real time at approx 2-3 hours). Some of the decisions Joan makes are questionable, though I doubt I would be reacting much better in a shooter situation.
I do wish more loose ends were tied up and more perspective shown from other character’s point of view. The shooter’s motive felt a bit weak to me and I’d wished the author spent more time separating them from each other. Solid 3.6 ⭐️
I do wish more loose ends were tied up and more perspective shown from other character’s point of view. The shooter’s motive felt a bit weak to me and I’d wished the author spent more time separating them from each other. Solid 3.6 ⭐️
The kind of book you'd take on a plane for light reading to pass the time. Interesting enough to be a page-turner, but not exactly dense.
meh, this was okay. It wasn't the most amazing thriller I've ever read
It is almost closing time, and Joan and her 4-year-old son Lincoln are getting ready to head home after one of their regular visits to the local zoo, when Joan hears a sound in the distance that reminds her of fireworks.
As they near the zoo entrance, and it becomes clear that the sound wasn't fireworks, Joan sets off a run with her son in her arms and her only thoughts focused on making a plan to keep him safe. She knows that she's not going to be able to run for ever, and for the next 3 hours Joan does everything she can think of to stay one step ahead of the shooters. Faced with physical danger and moral dilemmas, will Joan be able to bring them out alive?
Fierce Kingdom takes place over a span of three tense hours, which was about the time it took me to read the book. Though I can't say that I was hooked from the very first page, once I was hooked, I couldn't put the book down. The need to know the outcome kept me turning pages even during the slow part in the middle.
For the majority of the story, we follow the stream of consciousness point-of-view of Joan, though the book also takes the perspective of a few of the other characters, including one of the shooters. Through this perspective we feel Joan's fear and confusion as she tries to work through her limited knowledge, deals with the consequences of decisions she makes, and tries to keep her son quiet and occupied.
Joan's 4-year-old son, Lincoln, was very well written, and Phillips depicts, what seems to me to be a realistic portrayal of how a small child would react to being thrust into this situation. Lincoln doesn't stay quiet the entire time like his mother asks him to. He gets hungry and cranky and rebellious. He gets scared, and sometimes terrified, but he doesn't spend the entire book in a state of terror. He trusts his mother and because of this, he has periods of relative calm.
Another strength of Fierce Kingdom was how Phillips tackles the question of survival vs morality. Joan is frequently faced with questions over how she should react in a given situation - does she help the people who have crossed into her path, or does she stay separate and think only of herself and Lincoln? The way she answers that question, and then deals with the consequences of those choices, is a big part of the story.
I'm not going to say too much on this final point, because it will stray quickly into spoilers, but I can't review the book without mentioning my biggest criticism, which has to do with the ending. My criticism isn't with how the story ended, as such, but rather the way the various story lines were resolved, or not resolved. For a book that hinged so much on making the reader want to know the outcome, the ending was frustrating to say the least.
Overall I enjoyed the story and found myself on the edge of my seat for the majority of the book, but Fierce Kingdom wasn't a complete hit for me. If you are looking for a fast paced, fun, suspenseful read that tackles difficult questions of morality, paired with the survival instincts of a mother whose child is in danger, this book is an excellent choice.
I give this book 3.5 stars.
I received a copy of this book from Viking via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
As they near the zoo entrance, and it becomes clear that the sound wasn't fireworks, Joan sets off a run with her son in her arms and her only thoughts focused on making a plan to keep him safe. She knows that she's not going to be able to run for ever, and for the next 3 hours Joan does everything she can think of to stay one step ahead of the shooters. Faced with physical danger and moral dilemmas, will Joan be able to bring them out alive?
Fierce Kingdom takes place over a span of three tense hours, which was about the time it took me to read the book. Though I can't say that I was hooked from the very first page, once I was hooked, I couldn't put the book down. The need to know the outcome kept me turning pages even during the slow part in the middle.
For the majority of the story, we follow the stream of consciousness point-of-view of Joan, though the book also takes the perspective of a few of the other characters, including one of the shooters. Through this perspective we feel Joan's fear and confusion as she tries to work through her limited knowledge, deals with the consequences of decisions she makes, and tries to keep her son quiet and occupied.
Joan's 4-year-old son, Lincoln, was very well written, and Phillips depicts, what seems to me to be a realistic portrayal of how a small child would react to being thrust into this situation. Lincoln doesn't stay quiet the entire time like his mother asks him to. He gets hungry and cranky and rebellious. He gets scared, and sometimes terrified, but he doesn't spend the entire book in a state of terror. He trusts his mother and because of this, he has periods of relative calm.
Another strength of Fierce Kingdom was how Phillips tackles the question of survival vs morality. Joan is frequently faced with questions over how she should react in a given situation - does she help the people who have crossed into her path, or does she stay separate and think only of herself and Lincoln? The way she answers that question, and then deals with the consequences of those choices, is a big part of the story.
I'm not going to say too much on this final point, because it will stray quickly into spoilers, but I can't review the book without mentioning my biggest criticism, which has to do with the ending. My criticism isn't with how the story ended, as such, but rather the way the various story lines were resolved, or not resolved. For a book that hinged so much on making the reader want to know the outcome, the ending was frustrating to say the least.
Overall I enjoyed the story and found myself on the edge of my seat for the majority of the book, but Fierce Kingdom wasn't a complete hit for me. If you are looking for a fast paced, fun, suspenseful read that tackles difficult questions of morality, paired with the survival instincts of a mother whose child is in danger, this book is an excellent choice.
I give this book 3.5 stars.
I received a copy of this book from Viking via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5/5 from me for this heart pounding nightmare. Taking place over just a 3 hour span, Fierce Kingdom is “the story of a normal day at the zoo that turns into a nightmare when Joan and her four-year-old son, Lincoln, are trapped in the midst of a mass shooting” (google books) This was terrifying, suspenseful, exhilarating and unputdownable. Joan was written exquisitely; Phillips expertly captured a mother’s instincts, bond with her child, warped sense of logic and reason during crisis and her pure sense of fight or flight. I know I was probably the prime target market for this book, being the mother of a 4 year old son myself I could relate to Joan deeply which most definitely intensified this book for me. I read this book and listened to the audio version interchangeably and I found that I loved experiencing the story in audio form and Cassandra Campbell’s narration, I highly recommend listening to it if you get the chance. *Trigger warning for sure on this one, the story revolves around a public mass shooting.