Fierce Kingdom: A Novel

Joan 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.

I was expecting something a little different. Having said that I did enjoy the book. There were times I was holding my breath with Joan and Lincoln. My low score is due to the ending. HATED it. Left the story incomplete in my opinion.

I realize that that I’m probably not the target demographic author Gin Phillips was going for with her novel “Fierce Kingdom”. Her story of a trio of deranged young men who terrorize a zoo in a sadly familiar mass shooting incident is suspenseful enough but geared towards a female audience. Phillips pushes all the right buttons to work the maternal emotions of her woman readers. Not having any kids of my own I couldn’t fully relate to the peril of young mother Joan and her loquacious 4 year old son Lincoln as they literally run for their lives. Not having been exposed to many precocious toddlers I found this kid a little too verbose and with a vocabulary that nearly rivals William F. Buckley. When Joan deliberately tosses her cell phone to distract her pursuers giving up her link to the outside world and her anxious hubby left me shaking my head in wonder. Still “Fierce Kingdom” is an interesting enough read that will keep many readers on the edge of their chairs.

Oh wow. This is a really quick and easy read, really engaging and reflective of ongoing issues inside of the US. I don’t have any children, so it is a little bit difficult for me to personally relate to the main character, but I do root for her and her child the entire time. I can see this being a very heartfelt book for mother’s out there, it really calls on multiple aspects of motherhood as a whole. The joys and anxieties one may have, and facing the possibility of raising a child in today’s world. There is a real sense of sisterhood in this book too. It leaves so many questions unanswered though, I think that may be part of the book though - the mystery of it all. My heart is all over the place. I did have the joy of finding author’s notes within my book, I think maybe because the author knows this is a hard subject to cover, I found the notes comforting.

There 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.

I don't want to give away any spoilers in the event that you do choose to read this book. Some parts of the book move kind of slow and some parts are very exciting but overall, in my opinion, it just wasn't very good. I think some people like endings where nothing is resolved and you never actually know what happened to any of the characters but I like to see more of the loose ends tied up.

This is one of these books that really frustrated me because the plot was such a great idea and the execution of the story was sadly lacking. Joan and Lincoln are enjoying another afternoon at the zoo, and have to hurry towards the zoo exit to get out before it closes. As they come towards the exit Joan sees a man with a gun kicking in the door to the toilets and dead and dying bodies on the ground outside. She decides to flee back into the zoo, hopeful that she can hide and avoid the shooter long enough for the police to get the situation under control. She remembers that there is an empty exhibit in the primate area that used to house a porcupine and they climb into it, hiding behind some boulders in the centre of the enclosure. Able to briefly connect with her worried husband a couple of times, she takes up the challenge of getting Lincoln to keep quiet and hide.This was where the book started to go wrong for me. The idea that Joan had was solid-hide out of sight and wait for help to arrive. What it turns into is a bunch of chapters with Lincoln whining and having tantrums because he isn't getting his own way, Joan endlessly thinking of everything 'cute' that Lincoln ever did, the games they played, how amazing her child is, and it got very bogged down in detail that really didn't interest me. Add in the stupidity-Joan texts her husband Paul about them hiding from multiple gunmen so he decides then to phone her to 'hear her voice' which could have alerted the bad guys to her position! Joan doesn't call the police herself, letting Paul, who isn't there and knows nothing, do it for her. She loses the chance to tell the police where the gunmen are, their approximate age etc which would have alerted them to exactly what they were facing. Then she worries that the glow from the screen might give her away so instead of y'know, switching it off, she throws it away! Oh good one! There are countless times later that she could have used the phone to update her position and get the police to her quicker but she throws it away. Good one.Lincoln drives me mad because he just never shuts up. Joan has explained that bad guys want to kill them about a hundred times but he still continues to whine, shout, yell, sing and I just wanted to tell him to shut up and go to sleep! When he is awake he just yaps about nothing and asks questions all the time. When he finally does stop talking which is good for their survival, Joan thinks he is too quiet and starts getting him to talk again! She goes to all the trouble of getting him to a safe place and because he keeps acting up, decides they better go hunting for a vending machine. Yes sugar is exactly what this kid needs! Not! I also have to question why she let her four year old watch Predator and her claims that he wasn't bothered by the violence and gore yet tries to hide his eyes from the dead bodies in the zoo. I also wasn't convinced that he can't tell the difference between scars and scarves but can use words like apprehensive. Hmm.We get one brief chapter on Kailynn, who works at the park and had her phone confiscated by her mother for continually sleeping in. She is hiding inside one of the buildings. Outside is retired teacher Margaret who enjoys listening to audio books as she walks around the zoo for exercise. She is heading for the exit when she realises that something bad is going on. But we don't see these people again until about halfway through the book or beyond, which is frustrating! I wanted to know what they were doing and if they were ok. I'd rather have seen what was happening with them instead of Joan endlessly thinking about everything Lincoln did or being subjected to his constant whining and tantrums. Yes I get that kids would be like him under similar circumstances but it really was not fun to read about and it became very repetitive and annoying.We also get a brief look at the thoughts of Robby, one of the gunmen and following him would also have been more interesting especially when they were still hunting the few remaining survivors. That would have ramped up the tension more seeing him trying to find Joan and the others. Think how interesting it would have been having POV of the killers and the various people stuck inside the zoo like Kailynn, Margaret and the mother of the baby! I'd have also liked the POV of Paul, frantically waiting outside for news with the cops trying to decide what to do about the crisis. That would really have been really good and it would have kept the story moving along at a good pace and kept it exciting. Instead I just felt the plot kept dragging in between the odd interesting event.I also found Joan annoying. I can understand why Joan left the safe hiding place to get Lincoln food to keep him quiet. I understand her trying to leave a false trail for the killers but throwing away the phone when it was charged and could be used for updating Paul and the police about the survivors, where the killers are etc. It was crazy to just throw it away the way she did and I doubt anyone else in her position would do it. Just keep it turned off until you need to use it and you'll be fine! Duh. I also find it annoying that she berates Kailynn for her nervous chatter yet thinks it is fine for her son to constantly do it. Her attitude to the other survivors bugs me, she judges the baby mother yet then has to make the same choice, she is ungrateful for help and of course her annoying child puts them all in danger.My biggest annoyance with the book is not getting a fully resolved ending. We are left unsure about what happened to everyone including Joan herself. What happened to the baby and its mother? What about Margaret? Is the groundhog ok? I HATE not having all the answers at the end of the book! Especially the fate of the groundhog-I want to know!!!Overall I'd say that this book had a good idea but the pacing was poor with too many chapters bogged down by irrelevant details and not enough focus on the actual situation at the zoo. I wanted to see less repetition and more of the other characters. It just dragged a bit too much for me. I'm not sure I'd read anything else by the author.

A good premise but not thought out well enough .Very abrupt ending .Too much waffling /SPOILERSDon`t think author has children ,as even the brightest 4 year old does not know the stuff this child genius does,and most certainly does not behave like this child .His doting mother lets him watch Predator with all the gore ? come on -for real ??After a short while they leave comparative safety to collect snacks ? Really ?She is so bothered about her phone giving her hiding place away that she chucks it ,despite all the text messages on it,[ sent to her husband ,telling him where they were hiding.] How did she know the gunmen would not read them ?Why not just turn her phone off ?With all the lights still on and all the noise would a brief flash of light actually have been noticed by the gunman?A big build up to the 3rd gunman went nowhere .Joan and her son were irritating beyond belief ,preferred the survival of the teacher and the young girl .How come nobody but her could hear the baby crying, in its hiding place,,despite the gunmen passing the same area .Not likely.Not very well developed characters ,and any suspense negated by mindless waffle on past events ,whilst on the run .

This book is totally going to get made into a film, I could see it in my head as I was reading. Lincoln, 4, and his mother, Joan, visit the zoo one day. It's a normal, happy day as they wander about. But just before closing as they make their way back to the entrance all hell breaks loose. Gun men have taken over the zoo and seem to be playing a game of hunting with whatever they find. Joan must hide herself and Lincoln lest they become the hunted.It's an exciting read that you could easily lose yourself in for a couple of hours and finish it in one sitting. Phillips does a great job of ramping up the tension, especially as the authorities and Joan's husband are just over the zoo wall trying to resolve the situation without further deaths while she battles to save herself and her son. Fun read - would make a good movie.

There are some very good moments in this book, in fact I really loved the first half of the novel. That energy and engagement was enough to see me through to the end of the book...but then you start thinking back and remembering some of the heavy handed moralising moments, some loose ends and some times where your suspension of disbelief rubbed thin.One of the blurbs compare it to Room and I do think there is a valid comparison there. However, Room had a keychange in it. You had the section in the room and then you had the consequences of freedom. Where as there is no keychange in Fierce. I think the flaws come from extending a good idea past it's limits in order to extend it to a novel and part of me would have loved if it had been kept as a novella. Nevertheless it is a very good page turning thriller that I think many people would enjoy. I quite happily read it in one sitting. Nevertheless it is definitely worth a read.

I enjoyed this book although the content is something I am terrified of. I could relate to a lot of the thoughts and feelings of Joan as I have had the same fears. It has only got 4 stars as I felt the other viewpoints/characters could have been more rounded and finished off rather than feeling that they were there to bulk up the book. I only day this as I feel it ended abruptly and could have done with a couple more chapters of the different characters in the aftermath. That saying I read it in 2 sittings and was glued to the story. The tension was palpable and masterfully built by the author and I will definitely read another of Her books