Into the Wild (novel) on feral cats". Though troubled on what to write about at first, Holmes realized she could add human themes and issues into the book such as "war, politics, revenge, doomed love, religious conflict". An interviewer has described the plot as "Shakespearian: a mad leader, intra-clan betrayal, war, star-crossed lovers, death". Reviews have also called the story an "animal adventure". The novel was picked to be part of the young adult fantasy genre due to its increasing popularity. Cherith Baldry feel that the growth of genre is due to the fact that "fantasy is something very deeply rooted in the human
Animal Land on their own." Kirby deemed the characters "interesting", and the world "fantastically different." Brown also praised the characters, especially Taroza, whose growth he appreciated to accompany. Green commented that "It doesn't get there in the first volume, but "Animal Land" is going somewhere. It turns into a really weird epic that isn't going to prompt shounen readers to question whether they're reading something for a particularly young crowd." Animal Land Raiku chose the animal world as the main theme of the series because he wanted a topic that had never been attempted before in a "shōnen" manga. The animals are