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Fierce Kingdom: A Novel Kindle Edition
“Warning: you'll finish this in one sitting.” —TheSkimm
“Expertly made thriller . . . clever and irresistible.” —The New York Times
An electrifying novel about the primal and unyielding bond between a mother and her son, and the lengths she’ll go to protect him.
The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.
Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.
A masterful thrill ride and an exploration of motherhood itself—from its tender moments of grace to its savage power—Fierce Kingdom asks where the boundary is between our animal instinct to survive and our human duty to protect one another. For whom should a mother risk her life?
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateJuly 25, 2017
- File size1584 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“A heart-thumping thriller . . . The story flies by like a gazelle being chased by a lion and is easily consumed in a single sitting.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Heart-stopping . . . A stunning novel you'll be talking about all summer long.”
—Bustle
“A shot of pure adrenaline. But it’s not just the action that will keep you turning pages: Fierce Kingdom is a moving story too.”
—Entertainment Weekly
“Gin Phillips’s heartpounding novel will have readers questioning what lengths a mother would go to in order to save her child . . . or someone else’s.”
—Real Simple
“A page-turning, adrenaline-soaked read.”
—The Guardian
“A fast-paced read for fans of thrillers . . . At a deeper layer, it’s also a rumination on motherhood—the monotony and thrill, the duty and risk, the incredible, sometimes indescribable fear and joy of raising a child.”
—Goop
“Extreme heart-pounding adventure, right this way. Fierce Kingdom is the perfect summer thriller.”
—HelloGiggles
“The premise of this novel will send chills down the spine of any parent—and keep them turning pages into the wee hours.”
—Newsday
“Fierce Kingdom is gripping and almost impossible to put down.”
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Because we make fun of helicopter parents for the lengths they go to to keep perfectly safe children even safer, we can can forget that, for children, safety is a kind of love—and that makes Fierce Kingdom a terrifying book, but more importantly, a beautiful one.”
—NPR
“By introducing the threat of violence, the book amplifies everyday domestic concerns, producing a kind of crystallization of the experience of parenthood.”
—The New Yorker
“Fierce Kingdom unfolds at a rapid-fire pace with each chapter upping the tension and danger.”
—BookPage
“A powerhouse of a read that balances empathy and fear as it poses complex questions about human nature.”
—Washington Independent Review of Books
“This heroine proves that a mom protecting her son is indisputably the fiercest creature in the animal world.”
—RedBook
“Fierce Kingdom is a novel that crackles with tension and danger. . . . Do yourself a favor and devour this book before the inevitable movie premiere.”
—New York Journal of Books
“This adrenaline-fueled thriller shows the animal instinct of one mother's love and the ferocity with which she fights to protect her son.”
—Read it Forward
“It tore at every maternal fiber in my body. I couldn’t put it down.”
—Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow
“Fierce Kingdom is a bold exploration of the ferocity of a mother’s love—riveting and beautiful, and all too real. You’ll find yourself asking, what would I do? It’s brilliant.”
—Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
“I devoured it in one breathless sitting. Outstanding.”
—Clare Mackintosh, New York Times bestselling author of I Let You Go
“This is an elegant, taut, and tense survival story that explores the boundaries of parental love. By pitting love against fear, Gin Phillips questions the opposing forces of family bonds and shows how fierce one mother’s love can be.”
—Claire Cameron, author of The Last Neanderthal and The Bear
“I loved this book not only as a mother, but as a woman—and a feminist—living in a world teeming with pressing domestic details along with unpredictable, casual violence.”
—Susanna Daniel, award-winning author of Sea Creatures
“Phillips’ characters are exquisitely rendered, her prose is artful and evocative . . . Poignant and profound, this adrenaline-fueled thriller will shatter readers like a bullet through bone.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“A searing exploration of motherhood at its most basic.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Phillips manages to combine beautiful imagery with heart-pounding, nerve-fraying intensity. . . . Fans of literary page-turners, like Sunil Yapa’s Your Heart Is a Muscle the Size of a Fist, won’t want to miss this.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Fierce Kingdom is stunning and extraordinary; keep the defibrillator handy.”
—Shelf Awareness (starred review)
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
For a long while Joan has managed to balance on the balls of her bare feet, knees bent, skirt skimming the dirt. But now her thighs are giving out, so she puts a hand down and eases onto the sand.
Something jabs at her hip bone. She reaches underneath her leg and fishes out a small plastic spear-no longer than a finger-and it is no surprise, because she is always finding tiny weapons in unexpected places.
"Did you lose a spear?" she asks. "Or is this one a scepter?"
Lincoln does not answer her, although he takes the piece of plastic from her open hand. He apparently has been waiting for her lap to become available-he backs up, settling himself comfortably on her thighs, not a speck of sand on him. He has a fastidiousness about him; he never did like finger painting.
"Do you want a nose, Mommy?" he asks.
"I have a nose," she says.
"Do you want an extra one?"
"Who wouldn't?"
His dark curls need to be cut again, and he swipes them off his forehead. The leaves float down around them. The wooden roof, propped up on rough, round timber, shades them completely, but beyond it, the gray gravel is patterned with sunlight and shadows, shifting as the wind blows through the trees.
"Where are you getting these extra noses?" she asks.
"The nose store."
She laughs, settling back on her hands, giving in to the feel of the clinging dirt. She flicks a few wettish grains from under her fingernails. The Dinosaur Discovery Pit is always damp and cold, never touched by the sun, but despite the sand on her skirt and the leaves stuck to her sweater, this is perhaps her favorite part of the zoo-off the main paths, past the merry-go-round and the petting barn and the rooster cages, back through the weedy, wooded area labeled only woodlands. It is mostly trees and rocks and a few lonely animals back here along the narrow gravel paths: There is a vulture that lives in a pen with, for some reason, a rusted-out pickup truck. An owl that glares at a hanging chew toy. Wild turkeys that are always sitting, unmoving; she is not positive that they actually have legs. She imagines some cruel hunter's prank, some sweat-stained necklace strung with turkey feet.
She likes the haphazard strangeness of these woods, which are always shifting into some halfhearted try at an actual attraction. Currently a zip line is strung through the trees, although she never sees anyone zip-lining. She remembers animatronic dinosaurs here a couple of years earlier, and once there was a haunted ghost trail. There are hints at more distant incarnations: large boulders that she assumes are real but possibly are not, plus split-log fences and a pioneer cabin. No obvious purpose to any of it. Empty cement pools might have been watering holes for large mammals. There are occasional efforts at a nature trail, random signage that makes a walk feel less anchored rather than more-one tree labeled sassafras while the twenty trees around it go nameless.
"Now, let me tell you something," Lincoln begins, his hand landing on her knee. "Do you know what Odin could use?"
She does, in fact, know a great deal about Norse gods lately.
"An eye store?" she says.
"Yes, actually. Because then he could stop wearing his eye patch."
"Unless he likes his eye patch."
"Unless that," Lincoln agrees.
The sand around them is scattered with small plastic heroes and villains-Thor and Loki; Captain America, Green Lantern, and Iron Man. Everything comes back to superheroes lately. Pretend skeletons lurk beneath them in this sand pit-the vertebrae of some extinct animal protrude from the sand behind them, and there is a bucket of worn-down paintbrushes for brushing off the sand. She and Lincoln used to come here and dig for dinosaur bones, back in his former life as a three-year-old. But now, two months after his fourth birthday, he is several incarnations past his old archaeologist self.
The dinosaur pit is currently the Isle of Silence, the prison where Loki, Thor's trickster brother, has been imprisoned, and-when questions of extra noses don't arise-the air has been echoing with the sounds of an epic battle as Thor tries to make Loki confess to creating a fire demon.
Lincoln leans forward, and his epic resumes.
"The vile villain cackled," Lincoln narrates. "But then Thor had an idea!"
He calls them his stories, and they can last for hours if she lets them. She prefers the ones where he invents his own characters. He's concocted a villain named Horse Man, who turns people into horses. His nemesis is Horse Von, who turns those horses back into people. A vicious cycle.
Joan is half-aware of Lincoln's voice changing tones and inflections as he takes his different characters through their paces. But she is pleasantly drifting. In the mornings these paths would be crowded with strollers and mothers in yoga pants, but by late afternoon most visitors have cleared out. She and Lincoln come here sometimes after she picks him up from school-they alternate between the zoo and the library and the parks and the science museum-and she steers him to the woods when she can. Here there are crickets, or something that sounds like crickets, and birds calling and leaves rustling but no human sounds except for Lincoln calling out his dialogue. He has absorbed the patter of superhero talk, and he can regurgitate it and make it his own.
"There was a secret weapon on his belt!"
"His evil plan had failed!"
He is vibrating with excitement. Every part of him is shaking, from the balls of his feet to his chuffy fists. Thor bobs through the air, and Lincoln bounces, and she wonders if he loves the idea of good conquering evil or simply an exciting battle, and she wonders when she should start making it clear that there is a middle ground between good and evil that most people occupy, but he is so happy that she does not want to complicate things.
"Do you know what happens then, Mommy?" he asks. "After Thor punches him?"
"What?" she says.
She has perfected the art of being able to listen with half of herself while the other half spins and whirls.
"Loki has actually been mind-controlling Thor. And the punch makes him lose his powers!"
"Oh," she says. "And then what?"
"Thor saves the day!"
He keeps talking-"But there's a new villain in town, boys!"-as she curls and straightens her toes. She thinks.
She thinks that she still needs to come up with a wedding present for her friend Murray-there is that artist who does dog paintings, and one of those seems like a thoughtful choice, so she should send an e-mail and see about placing the order, although "order" is probably an insulting sort of word to an artist. She remembers that she meant to call her great-aunt this morning, and she thinks that maybe instead-she is solving problems left and right here, having a burst of mental efficiency as Loki gets buried in sand-maybe instead she will mail her great-aunt that hilarious paper bag monkey that Lincoln made in school. Surely the artwork is better than a phone call, although there's a certain selfishness to it, since she hates to talk on the phone, and, all right, it is a cop-out-she knows it-but she settles on the paper bag monkey regardless. She thinks of the squash dressing her great-aunt makes. She thinks of the leftover plantain chips in the kitchen cabinet. She thinks of Bruce Boxleitner. Back in junior high she was slightly obsessed with him in Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and she has discovered that the show is available in its entirety online, so she has been rewatching it, episode by episode-it holds up well for a 1980s show, with its Cold War spies and bad hair-and she can't remember whether Lee and Amanda finally kiss at the end of the second season or the third season, and she has six more episodes to go in the second season, but she could always skip to the third.
A woodpecker hammers somewhere nearby, and she is pulled back to here and now. She notices that the wart on Lincoln's hand is getting bigger. It looks like an anemone. There is that beautiful shifting of shadows on the gravel, and Lincoln is doing his evil villain laugh, and it strikes her that these afternoons with her son's weight on her legs, the woods around them, are something like euphoric.
Thor falls against her foot, his plastic head landing on her toe.
"Mommy?"
"Yes?"
"Why doesn't Thor wear his helmet in the movie?"
"I think it's harder to see with a helmet on."
"But doesn't he want his head protected?"
"I suppose sometimes he wears it and sometimes he doesn't. Depending on his mood."
"I think he should protect his head all the time," he says. "It's dangerous to battle without a helmet. Why do you think Captain America only wears a hood? It's not good protection, is it?"
Paul gets bored with this superhero chatter-her husband would much rather talk football formations and NBA lineups-but Joan doesn't mind it. She was once obsessed with Wonder Woman. Super Friends. The Incredible Hulk. Who would win in a fight, she once asked her uncle, Superman or the Incredible Hulk? He'd said, Well, if he was losing, Superman could always fly away, and she'd thought that a blindingly brilliant answer.
"Captain America has his shield," she tells Lincoln. "That's what he uses for protection."
"What if he can't get it over his head in time?"
"He's very fast."
"But still," he says, unconvinced.
"You know, you're right," she says, because he is. "He really should wear a helmet."
Some sort of man-made rock forms the back wall of the pit, beige and bulging, and a small animal is rooting around behind it. She hopes it is not a rat. She imagines a squirrel but makes a point not to turn her head.
She opens her purse to peer at her phone. "We probably need to start heading toward the gate in around five minutes," she says.
As he often does when she says it's time to stop playing, Lincoln acts as if she has not spoken at all.
"Does Dr. Doom always wear a mask?" he asks.
"Did you hear me?" she asks.
"Yes."
"What did I say?"
"That we're about to leave."
"Okay," she says. "Yes, Dr. Doom always wears a mask. Because of his scars."
"Scars?"
"Yeah, the scars he got in the lab experiment."
"Why would he wear a mask because of them?"
"Because he wants to cover them up," she says. "He thinks they're ugly."
"Why would he think they're ugly?"
She watches a bright orange leaf land. "Well, they made him look different," she says. "Sometimes people don't want to look different."
"I don't think scars are ugly."
As he's speaking, a sharp, loud sound carries through the woods. Two cracks, then several more. Pops, like balloons bursting. Or fireworks. She tries to imagine what anyone could be doing in a zoo that would sound like small explosions. Something related to the Halloween festivities? They've strung up lights all over the place-not here in the Woodlands but all over the more popular pathways-so maybe a transformer blew? Is there construction going on, a jackhammer?
There is another bang. Another and another. It sounds too loud to be balloons, too infrequent to be a jackhammer.
The birds are silent, but the leaves keep skittering down.
Lincoln is unbothered.
"Could I use my Batman for Dr. Doom?" he asks. "He wears black. And if I use him, can you make him the right kind of mask?"
"Sure," she says.
"What will you make it with?"
"Tinfoil," she suggests.
A squirrel scrabbles across the roof of the dirt pit, and she hears the soft whoosh of its impact when it leaps to a tree.
"And what will we use for the scarves?" Lincoln asks.
She looks down at him.
"Scarves?" she repeats.
He nods. She nods back, considering and replaying. She gives herself over to deciphering the workings of his brain: it is one of the bits of mothering that has delighted her all the more because she did not know it existed. His mind is complicated and unique, weaving worlds of its own. In his sleep sometimes he will cry out entire sentences-"Not down the stairs!"-and there are windows to his inner machinery, glimpses, but she will never really know it all, and that is the thrill. He is a whole separate being, as real as she is.
Scarves. She works the puzzle of it.
"Do you mean the scarves on his face?" she asks.
"Yes. The ones he thinks are ugly."
She laughs. "Oh. I was saying 'scars'-you know, like the one on Daddy's arm where the water burned him when he was little? Or the one on my knee from when I fell down?"
"Oh," he says, sheepish. He laughs, too. He is quick to get a joke. "Scars, not scarves. So he doesn't think scarves are ugly?"
"I don't really know how Dr. Doom feels about scarves," she says.
"He doesn't have them on his face."
"No. Those are scars."
She listens, half considering whether she could have handled the idea of scars more tactfully, half wondering about gunshots. But they could not have been gunshots. And if they had been, she would have heard something else by now. Screams or sirens or a voice coming over a loudspeaker making some kind of announcement.
There is nothing.
She has been watching too many battles.
She checks her phone. They only have a few minutes until the zoo closes, and it is entirely possible that they might be overlooked back here in the woods. She has imagined the scenario more than once: camping in the zoo overnight, maybe even intentionally hiding back here, going to visit the animals in the pitch-black of midnight-children's books are written about such situations. It's ridiculous, of course, because there surely would be security guards. Not that she has ever noticed a security guard here.
They should get moving.
Product details
- ASIN : B01NBAP3NS
- Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint edition (July 25, 2017)
- Publication date : July 25, 2017
- Language : English
- File size : 1584 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 285 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0857525018
- Best Sellers Rank: #584,737 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,219 in Women's Crime Fiction
- #2,736 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
- #3,877 in Mothers & Children Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Gin Phillips has written six novels, and her work has been sold in 29 countries.
Her debut novel, The Well and the Mine, won the 2009 Barnes & Noble Discover Award. Her novel Fierce Kingdom was named one of the Best Crime Novels of 2017 by the New York Times Book Review. It was also named one of the best books of the year by NPR, Publishers Weekly, Amazon, and Kirkus Reviews. A Kirkus starred review called it “poignant and profound,” adding that "this adrenaline-fueled thriller will shatter readers like a bullet through bone.” The New York Times called the novel “expertly made…clever and irresistible,” noting that “Phillips…beautifully captures the quirks, tedium and magic of parenting a young child.”
Gin’s novels also have been named as selections for Indie Next, Book of the Month, and the Junior Library Guild.
Born in Montgomery, Al., Gin graduated from Birmingham-Southern College with a degree in political journalism. After time spent in Ireland, New York, and Washington, D.C., she currently lives with her family (plus a schnoodle and a mini golden mountain doodle) in Birmingham.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They appreciate the well-written writing style and believable plot twists. The story provides insights into motherhood and survival instincts that are relatable for mothers. The focus on the mother-son relationship is appreciated. Overall, customers describe the book as an exciting, fast-paced page-turner. However, opinions differ on the suspenseful nature of the story, with some finding it intense and fast-paced, while others say the ending was abrupt.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book engaging. They describe it as a thrilling story with heart and soul. However, some readers felt the middle part dragged a bit. Overall, the focus on the characters works well for them.
"I absolutely LOVED this book and couldn't stop reading once I started, but I found myself having to put it down for a few moments at a time anyway,..." Read more
"...There is an incredible focus in this book that works very well. Just like the characters, the reader feels cut off from the rest of the world...." Read more
"...Thank you for this awesome read!!!!" Read more
"...was scary and probably all too real, so overall, this is a very worthy read and one that will keep you up most of the night if you're as slow a..." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written, easy to read, and relatable for mothers. The perilous hours are believable and thought-provoking, with neat twists in the writing and action sequences that work well. Readers appreciate the third-person narration and inner dialogue. They also enjoy the reality of the book and find it a quick read full of insights on motherhood.
"...There are some neat twists in the writing and the action sequences that work well...." Read more
"...cruel, but taken in the context of protecting her son, they seem perfectly legitimate and what any mother might have done...." Read more
"...It is very much an internal monologue by the mother. Her thoughts are odd to me...." Read more
"...choices the mother had to make during these perilous hours were both believable and thought- provoking." Read more
Customers appreciate the mother-son relationship in the book. They find it relatable and full of insights on motherhood and survival instincts. The book depicts the ferocity and choices of motherhood accurately. There is also a sense of sisterhood and friendship in the story.
"...of motherhood, as Joan struggles to keep Lincoln alive and psychologically intact, trying to protect him from the terror around them; and there are..." Read more
"...It's a suspense novel with the main plot about a mother protecting her child, and boy does she protect her child...." Read more
"...very heartfelt book for mother’s out there, it really calls on multiple aspects of motherhood as a whole...." Read more
"...some suspense, but what really pulled me in were the spot-on descriptions of motherhood and the bond between a mother and a young son/child...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's focus. They find it engaging and fast-paced, grabbing their attention from the beginning. The story keeps them hooked with its good character development and relatable issues.
"...There is an incredible focus in this book that works very well. Just like the characters, the reader feels cut off from the rest of the world...." Read more
"I had completely immersed myself in this book. I could feel the love this mother has for her son...." Read more
"...I loved it and thought it was a real page turner and that it focused on an issue that is truly relevant in our society today, mass shootings...." Read more
"Very fast moving book that grabbed my attention at the very beginning. Fast read, great story line but Horrible ending." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and fast-paced. They describe it as a great read that keeps them hooked until the end.
"...I loved it and thought it was a real page turner and that it focused on an issue that is truly relevant in our society today, mass shootings...." Read more
"Animal Kingdom is a page-turner; the tension is practically nonstop...." Read more
"...desperate situation of the protagonist and her young son, it is a real page turner...." Read more
"This was a page turner. I enjoyed this fast and easy read. It's mostly well written and brings out a few interesting moral questions." Read more
Customers have mixed reviews about the book's suspenseful story. Some find it intense and fast-paced, with exciting moments and thought-provoking content. Others feel the ending is abrupt and leaves unanswered questions.
"...I appreciated the chapters of different perspectives and thought they worked well to demonstrate the different mentalities of the other characters..." Read more
"...Overall,the action is the most effective action writing I've read since Hunger Games; after a slightly slow start, when Joan and Lincoln spend a bit..." Read more
"This is the most intense book I have ever read. The heroine is portrayed as all too human and, at times, inhuman!..." Read more
"...The mind of the shooters was scary and probably all too real, so overall, this is a very worthy read and one that will keep you up most of the night..." Read more
Customers have different views on the pacing of the book. Some find it fast and easy to read, with an uninterrupted action sequence. Others feel the beginning is slow and drags on, feeling like it takes a long time to get anywhere.
"...spend a bit too much time hiding in one spot, it reads like an uninterrupted action sequence...." Read more
"As described, this was a very quick read that kept you on the edge of your seat. It moved so fast I felt like a very abrupt end...." Read more
"...I was really looking forward to this book but feel misled. It is not fast paced. If you've read the Kindle sample that is the tone of the book...." Read more
"Oh wow. This is a really quick and easy read, really engaging and reflective of ongoing issues inside of the US...." Read more
Customers have different views on the character development. Some find the characters believable and engaging, weaving together their inner thoughts seamlessly. Others feel the characters lack depth and are overly humanized or weak-minded.
"...Both mother and son were well -developed characters , as were others whom they encountered during their flight from armed killers...." Read more
"This is the most intense book I have ever read. The heroine is portrayed as all too human and, at times, inhuman!..." Read more
"...He is so bright, so loving, such a real little person that the reader wants him to survive just as much as his mother." Read more
"...I did like the mother-son relationship, and the characters were believable...." Read more
Reviews with images
Fierce Kingdom has it all - page-turning plot, authentic characters, and lovely writing
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2017I absolutely LOVED this book and couldn't stop reading once I started, but I found myself having to put it down for a few moments at a time anyway, just to catch my breath. Joan's fight to protect her son at all costs made for an incredible ride, and the beauty of this book is that the suspense permeated every single page, even when there didn't seem to be much happening. I appreciated the chapters of different perspectives and thought they worked well to demonstrate the different mentalities of the other characters in contrast to Joan's as a mother.
You definitely want to read this one.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2017Joan and her toddler son, Lincoln, are hurrying to make it out of the zoo before closing time when Joan hears a clatter of gunfire and comes across bodies on the ground. She picks up Lincoln and starts running, and the entire book takes place in the next four hours, as Joan, Lincoln, and a few other people try to stay alive and evade the gunmen hunting them in the park. There is an incredible focus in this book that works very well. Just like the characters, the reader feels cut off from the rest of the world. Nothing before the zoo matters, nothing outside the zoo matters. Only the zoo matters, and the survival of these few people. The sense of place, a sprawling zoo, with its primate zone and monkey house and winding paths and train tracks and sand pits, is fantastic; you feel that you are in a park with dark spreading around you, and killers waiting around every corner. Overall,the action is the most effective action writing I've read since Hunger Games; after a slightly slow start, when Joan and Lincoln spend a bit too much time hiding in one spot, it reads like an uninterrupted action sequence.
There's also a nice depiction of motherhood, as Joan struggles to keep Lincoln alive and psychologically intact, trying to protect him from the terror around them; and there are some moral questions around what (and who) is a mother willing to sacrifice to save her son. There are some neat twists in the writing and the action sequences that work well.
BUT there is one big caveat and a detraction to my enjoyment: be warned that Fierce Kingdom has a frustrating ending - almost a cliffhanger. If the entire novel is about what happens to a mother and son trapped in a zoo with terrorists, shouldn't we know what happens to the mother and son trapped in a zoo with terrorists, when the book is done? To leave it ambiguous felt like a shot at some sort of vague literary ambition, and it made me just irritated.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2024Betcha they make a TV movie of this one. Wasn't thrilled, maybe the movie would be better.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2017I listened to this book on audible. As the caption says, I looked down on my phone at how much time I had left in the book, and without spoilers, let's just say I was shocked to see that I had only 42 seconds left. I don't think I can recall a book in recent memory that has kept me riveted to the very last sentences. I connected with this book on many levels -- in fairness I had just finished reading a very famous female writer's book -- actually her memoir of sorts. Without naming names and being mean, this middle aged and learned author was sharing her life's wisdom, and discussed in detail the deep love she had for her dog and her unceasing devotion and care for it, disclosing that she never wanted children, but only a dog. The problem was NOT that she loved her dog, or never wanted to be a parent. Totally get that of course. The problem was an unwitting, chilling kind of disdain for and disconnect with children that oozed out of the pages. Enter Fierce Kingdom, where the opposite happened. Phillips is wise without having to convince us she is. I was so happy -- maybe happy is not the right word -- but more of a YES! now THIS is an author who has no agenda -- not trying to prove anything to anyone with writing dexterity or in this case the virtues of BEING a mother. She simply was able to tap directly into raw primal emotions and the decisions that might result, and put them down on paper for us to all consider. If you want to FEEL down to your core like a mother bear whose child has been threatened -- - and wonder how you might react -- this is about as good as it gets.
I've heard there is a movie on the way -- I don't know how it could compare to the book but I'll be there in the theatre to watch it.
Thank you for this awesome read!!!!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2017There are so many things to love about this book, so I'll start with the good things. It's a suspense novel with the main plot about a mother protecting her child, and boy does she protect her child. Joan takes her four year old son to the zoo every week, and to the library and other places, but the zoo in definitely a high point--until it's not. Nestled in the woods of the zoo, resting, Joan hears what she thinks are fireworks going off, and as she gatheres her young son up to leave the zoo, she finds out that it's not fireworks, but gun fire. Now Joan must hide in a place she knows well, from whoever is shooting both humans and beasts in one of the safest places on earth, the zoo.
The author must have children because she writes about the mother-child bond with such authority, and compassion. I felt as if I were there with this mother, ready to 'splatter brains on pavement' to protect her son. The portrayal of at this mother is spot-on. Hearing her listen to her son's chatter is priceless, as it is to the character who loves this young boy.
The tension never lets up as Joan must make decisions that might seem cruel, but taken in the context of protecting her son, they seem perfectly legitimate and what any mother might have done.
I was a little disappointed that the book ended so abrutly and left out the fate of some of the other visitors to the zoo. The mind of the shooters was scary and probably all too real, so overall, this is a very worthy read and one that will keep you up most of the night if you're as slow a reader as I am.
Top reviews from other countries
- Read, Watch & Drink CoffeeReviewed in the United Kingdom on November 6, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful story that is paced perfectly.
Fierce is a powerfully captivating story with an intriguing premise that’s sure to have you gripped from page one.
I love books that explore the lengths a parent will go to to protect their child, but also the difficulties of teaching them the balance between what’s right and wrong. And with many obstacles along the way, you can constantly feel Joan’s inner struggle of what’s the right thing to do with what will get them out alive.
There’s a line at the start of the book that really struck me:
“Such a system of clocks and balances – parenting – of projections and guesswork and cost-benefit ratios.”
From this point on, I was fully immersed in Joan’s situation. I often visit the zoo with my boys so I could really picture the setting and atmosphere, and I loved the interactions with the different animals, adding even more threat with their nervous presence. And Phillips writes it so well that you really feel like you’re trapped there with her.
It’s such a powerful story and, told over a few hours, is paced perfectly. I easily read it in one sitting as I had to know how it would end. There are a few things left unanswered, but the climactic end is sure to leave you breathless. Now I’m off to see what else Gin Phillips has written!
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on May 17, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Read it in one sitting !
- old crowReviewed in Canada on August 4, 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
good, easy summer read
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FroschköniginReviewed in Germany on December 18, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars Wenn das Unvorstellbare eintritt
Der Nachmittag verläuft harmonisch und friedlich. Wie so oft ist Joan mit ihrem Sohn Lincoln in den Zoo gegangen. Nicht nur wegen der Tiere, auch, weil der Vierjährige, abseits der Hauptwege, so ruhig und zufrieden spielen kann. Haarsträubende Abenteuer der nordischen Götter Thor und Loki sind gerade angesagt, die Lincoln mit kleinen Actionfiguren nachspielt. Wie fast immer, müssen sich Mutter und Sohn auch heute beeilen, um rechtzeitig vor Toreschluss den Haupteingang zu erreichen.
Kurz vor dem Eingang sieht Joan mehr aus den Augenwinkeln, als sofort wirklich zu realisieren, was sie da sieht, mehrere Personen reglos am Boden liegen. Gleichzeitig wird einem Teil von ihr bewusst, dass die seltsamen Geräusche, die sie seit einiger Zeit von der Richtung des Haupteingangs her gehört hatte, keine Feuerwerkskörper waren oder zerplatzende Glühbirnen. Sondern Schüsse.
Von dem Moment an ist Joan gezwungen, rein nach Instinkt zu handeln und alle Überlegungen, die nicht unmittelbar dazu führen, ihren kleinen Sohn und sich selbst in Sicherheit zu bringen, auszublenden. Vorrang hat nur ihrer beider Überleben, und Joan muss erkennen, wie brüchig die Balance zwischen eigenem Überlebenswillen und Mitgefühl sein kann in Extremsituationen.
Es ist ein Szenario, von dem jeder weiß, dass er theoretisch selbst einmal davon ereilt werden kann: Bewaffnete dringen in einen gut besuchten, öffentlichen Bereich ein und eröffnen das Feuer. Gleichzeitig passsiert soetwas immer nur anderen, und wie man selbst sich in so einem Moment verhalten würde, kann wahrscheinlich niemand sagen, bevor diese furchtbare Situation wirklich eintritt.
Etwas ist anders als in den Szenarien, die Joan und alle anderen aus den Nachrichten kennen: statt der erwarteten Hundertschaften von Polizei und Hubschraubern bleibt die Szene gespentisch ruhig. Die Täter sind keine wild um sich schießenden Amokläufer. Sie sind gezielt auf der Jagd nach den Personen, die sich noch auf dem Zoogelände befinden, jeden einzelnen, den sie ausfindig machen können, und sie lassen sich bei der Inszenierung ihres irrsinnigen „Spiels“ viel Zeit.
Auch deshalb umgeht Gin Phillips in ihrem Roman das Problem, dass sich das alptraumhafte Szenario ungewollt zu einem Actionthriller entwickeln könnte. Statt ihre Protagonisten atemlos durch das Zoogelände hetzen zu lassen – das Cover ist da etwas irreführend – besteht für Joan und die anderen Gejagten die einzig mögliche Überlebenstrategie darin, möglichst unsichtbar und lautlos zu sein. Das ist zum Glück nicht spannend. Es lässt der Autorin genügend Raum, die humanen und emotionalen Facetten für die Protagonisten in einer solchen Extremsituation auszuleuchten, die das Geschehen für den Leser umso eindringlicher machen. Das ist aber zugleich extrem nervenzehrend. Wie erklärt man einem gerade einmal Vierjährigen, dass es überlebenwichig ist, sich mucksmäuschenstill zu verhalten. Lincoln versteht zwar, dass die Situation, in der seine Mutter und er sich befinden, gefährlich ist – aber das Problem ist: Gefahr, Lebensgefahr, ist für ihn noch ein abstrakter Begriff, der Unterschied zwischen der echten Bedrohung durch Menschen mit wirklichen Gewehren zu seinen gespielten Kämpfen mit den Actionfiguren ist dem Jungen noch nicht klar.
Die beklemmende Wirkung, die diese introspektive Perspektive hat, wird noch dadurch verstärkt, dass Phillips es versteht, den Leser, ob er will oder nicht, durch ihre Beschreibung der Szenerie direkt an den Ort des Geschehens zu versetzen - man sieht förmlich jeden Grashalm, jede Laterne, die den Pfad viel zu sehr erleuchtet, und jedes Schutz bietende Gebüsch vor sich.
Ein Buch, das mich den Atem anhalten ließ und das zutiefst menschlich ist. Und auch ein Buch, das einen über die fast alltägliche Instrumentalisierung von Gewalt- zu puren Unterhaltungszwecken – nachdenken lässt. Diese zieht sich nämich wie ein roter Faden durch das Buch: da sind die harmlosen – oder als harmlos empfundenen – Actionspielchen mit Lincolns kleinen Plastikmonstern, die sofort wieder aufstehen, nachdem er sie für tot erklärt hat. Da sind aber auch solche Filme wie „Predator“, den Lincoln (was ich nicht wirlich verstehe) sich mt seiner Mutter anschauen durfte. Da ist Joans jagdbegeisteter Vater mit einem Arsenal an Waffen, der mit Hingabe Tauben den Hals undreht. Da sind die zutiefst menschenverachtenden Killerfilme, die sich die Täter angeschaut haben. Gin Phillips vermeidet es, moralische Zeigefinger zu erheben und Überlegungen darüber anzustellen, ob Banalisierung oder Verherrlichung von Gewalt letztendlich Hemmschwellen senkt oder Gewaltbereitschaft fördet. Auf jeden Fall lässt „Fierce Kingdom“ den Leser nachdenklich zurück.
- L.Reviewed in Canada on March 5, 2018
3.0 out of 5 stars Fierce kingdom
It was entertaining. The suspense is well built. I didn't expect multiple point of views, and that was interesting. All in all this was an enjoyable read.