blulibrarian's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I really like the core concepts of this story a lot - the nature of the company town at odd switch the neo-Mennonites, the ecosystem of the moon itself, the obvious baggage weighing on our leads. I really liked the bones of this story, I just feel like they were not as fleshed out as they could have been.
The beginning sets up a lot of things, but it doesn't pull the thread of the murder or the company intrigue as much as it could have, so that the latter half feels a bit sudden - after all that time learning nothing, we are suddenly swamped with murder information. I liked the depth that the quotes at the start of chapters brought, being passages of in-universe writing, and I thought the multiple perspectives really worked; I just wish it was a little more clearly formatted so as to indicate when we were hopping perspectives.
All in all, I will be lending this book out to friends, but I won't lose any sleep if it disappears. Solid, interesting stuff that left me a little hungry for the promise of what could have been than what I actually read.
The beginning sets up a lot of things, but it doesn't pull the thread of the murder or the company intrigue as much as it could have, so that the latter half feels a bit sudden - after all that time learning nothing, we are suddenly swamped with murder information. I liked the depth that the quotes at the start of chapters brought, being passages of in-universe writing, and I thought the multiple perspectives really worked; I just wish it was a little more clearly formatted so as to indicate when we were hopping perspectives.
All in all, I will be lending this book out to friends, but I won't lose any sleep if it disappears. Solid, interesting stuff that left me a little hungry for the promise of what could have been than what I actually read.
kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
The story of an anxiety-ridden communications engineer sent to a logging town on another planet (sorry, moon) where she encounters eco-terrorrists, a mennonite-like cult, and corporate cover ups didn't quite live up to its potential, I thought.
And the problem is, I'm not sure how much of that feeling was influenced by unmarked POV changes that due to formatting issues (Kindle edition) were really tricky to spot. The paragraphs were shoved right up against the prior POV paragraph with very little other than an odd capital letter to mark the change. It meant I often to to stop, go back to find the POV change, and then start rereading again. Very tiresome and happened often when I was JUST hitting my groove either with the voice of the mennonite women in her journal entries or with main character Standish the engineer. I wish we had just stuck with Standish (the other main POV is Pete the company biologist) and the journal entries since they were easy to spot changes (both because the tenor of the voice was entirely different and the italics). Pete wasn't as interesting to me.
Standish arrives in Canaan Lake just as her boss dies out in the woods alone. She's sure its a murder, but the local Sheriff, who may or may not be in the pocket of the corporation bankrolling the whole logging town, rules it most likely suicide. Standish starts to investigate and discovers mysterious, unmarked roads, a pack of wild dogs that is targeting the colonists' dead in the cemeteries no one wants to discuss, and strange behavior on the part of the local fauna.
Huginn is an interesting world. The sciencey bits about the local fungi, flora, and fauna were pleasingly extra-terrestrial. The "magical" bits about the dogs and Olive (young girl who spends most of her time in the woods and whose hair color changes) etc. tantalizingly borderline hallucination vs fantastical.
But some of that gets lost in the corporate logging interests vs ecoterrorists part that somehow has to do with Standish's friend back in the spaceport city? And then there's stuff about the Sheriff who seems to switch sides? Anyway, I guess I wanted more about Standish figuring out who she wanted to be and recovering from her trauma and uncovering the secrets of the faux mennonites and less logging stuff. Still, interesting take on extra-terrestrial world.
And the problem is, I'm not sure how much of that feeling was influenced by unmarked POV changes that due to formatting issues (Kindle edition) were really tricky to spot. The paragraphs were shoved right up against the prior POV paragraph with very little other than an odd capital letter to mark the change. It meant I often to to stop, go back to find the POV change, and then start rereading again. Very tiresome and happened often when I was JUST hitting my groove either with the voice of the mennonite women in her journal entries or with main character Standish the engineer. I wish we had just stuck with Standish (the other main POV is Pete the company biologist) and the journal entries since they were easy to spot changes (both because the tenor of the voice was entirely different and the italics). Pete wasn't as interesting to me.
Standish arrives in Canaan Lake just as her boss dies out in the woods alone. She's sure its a murder, but the local Sheriff, who may or may not be in the pocket of the corporation bankrolling the whole logging town, rules it most likely suicide. Standish starts to investigate and discovers mysterious, unmarked roads, a pack of wild dogs that is targeting the colonists' dead in the cemeteries no one wants to discuss, and strange behavior on the part of the local fauna.
Huginn is an interesting world. The sciencey bits about the local fungi, flora, and fauna were pleasingly extra-terrestrial. The "magical" bits about the dogs and Olive (young girl who spends most of her time in the woods and whose hair color changes) etc. tantalizingly borderline hallucination vs fantastical.
But some of that gets lost in the corporate logging interests vs ecoterrorists part that somehow has to do with Standish's friend back in the spaceport city? And then there's stuff about the Sheriff who seems to switch sides? Anyway, I guess I wanted more about Standish figuring out who she wanted to be and recovering from her trauma and uncovering the secrets of the faux mennonites and less logging stuff. Still, interesting take on extra-terrestrial world.
wisecraic's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
snazel's review against another edition
4.0
Oh man, that was compelling as hell. Definitely has some Horror logic, in that creepy stuff happens just because that happening would make your skin crawl, but yikes. Murder Horror mystery I read the first page of (where a man is dying), went "welp, that's the ride I'm on" and then kept reading without ceasing.
The timeline intermingling with quotes from diaries and scholarly works was just really masterfully done.
The timeline intermingling with quotes from diaries and scholarly works was just really masterfully done.
samsquanch's review against another edition
5.0
I don't have too much experience with science fiction but this was an amazing introduction. It was an interesting plot, mixing science fiction and a little bit of magic. I liked the direction it took with the intersections of capitalism, science, and religion. The book was refreshingly diverse and also dealt really well with the protagonist's anxiety and agoraphobia. I definitely want a dog after this.
thistlechaser's review against another edition
3.0
This book was many things, and while I liked most of them, some of them completely didn't work for me.
It was a (very very cool) scifi book. Set on another planet (or moon, to be exact), humans had been colonizing it for 100 years or so, but it was such a harsh, foreign place, they were just starting to get a toehold. The world was so interesting and different -- evolution went the route of fungi instead of mammals. And when you realize all the potential of that... wow, there was just so much to learn and experience! I loved the world so much!
An Oath of Dogs was also a horror book -- intermixed with the current timeline, we saw how bad things were in the first year in the new world. We saw people starving to death. We saw what these people had to do to live...
This book was also a murder mystery, and for me this was the part of it I liked least. A character died before the book started, so for me personally, I really didn't care about it because the reader had no attachment to him. Unfortunately this was the biggest part of the plot.
The story also had a plot about corporate greed/eco-terrorism, and like the murder mystery, it just didn't work for me. Sadly this was the second biggest part of the plot.
While I completely loved the first half of the book, the second half (more focused on the murder mystery/corporate greed plots) dragged some for me. By the last 10%, I was (sadly) ready for the book to be over so I could move on to the next one.
The 'dogs' in the title referred to literal dogs, the animals people can become when times are bad, and sentient dogs (sort of) found on the world this takes place in.
In addition to the moon setting being great, the main characters were really outstanding, too. Interesting, believable, I really enjoyed spending time with them. The main male character was gay and vegan, but that felt natural and not just shoehorned in.
Some of the minor characters... not so much. I have trouble believing that in the future, when we're far enough advanced to be able to live on multiple other worlds, that homophobic insults would still be around. I suppose it could be true, but if we can't put hatred behind us, can we really reach this far into space?
It was a (very very cool) scifi book. Set on another planet (or moon, to be exact), humans had been colonizing it for 100 years or so, but it was such a harsh, foreign place, they were just starting to get a toehold. The world was so interesting and different -- evolution went the route of fungi instead of mammals. And when you realize all the potential of that... wow, there was just so much to learn and experience! I loved the world so much!
An Oath of Dogs was also a horror book -- intermixed with the current timeline, we saw how bad things were in the first year in the new world. We saw people starving to death. We saw what these people had to do to live...
This book was also a murder mystery, and for me this was the part of it I liked least. A character died before the book started, so for me personally, I really didn't care about it because the reader had no attachment to him. Unfortunately this was the biggest part of the plot.
The story also had a plot about corporate greed/eco-terrorism, and like the murder mystery, it just didn't work for me. Sadly this was the second biggest part of the plot.
While I completely loved the first half of the book, the second half (more focused on the murder mystery/corporate greed plots) dragged some for me. By the last 10%, I was (sadly) ready for the book to be over so I could move on to the next one.
The 'dogs' in the title referred to literal dogs, the animals people can become when times are bad, and sentient dogs (sort of) found on the world this takes place in.
In addition to the moon setting being great, the main characters were really outstanding, too. Interesting, believable, I really enjoyed spending time with them. The main male character was gay and vegan, but that felt natural and not just shoehorned in.
Some of the minor characters... not so much. I have trouble believing that in the future, when we're far enough advanced to be able to live on multiple other worlds, that homophobic insults would still be around. I suppose it could be true, but if we can't put hatred behind us, can we really reach this far into space?
tyrshand's review against another edition
5.0
What a fascinating novel! I loved the ecology of the planet, the religion that morphed from it, the fact that both main characters came off as prickly but then you get to know them... There are several interesting twists as well.
I feel like I've got a lot to say about it, but so much would be spoilery so you'll just have to read it so we can discuss it.
Though the book is a complete tale, there are plenty of questions left unanswered. I don't know if this means there will be a sequel, but, if not, these aren't the kind of questions that would be maddening. They're interesting ones to ponder and debate, rather than cliffhangers.
I suppose what stands out to me most is that even though a lot of awful things happen on this far off moon, I still picture it as breathtaking and would love to visit.
I feel like I've got a lot to say about it, but so much would be spoilery so you'll just have to read it so we can discuss it.
Though the book is a complete tale, there are plenty of questions left unanswered. I don't know if this means there will be a sequel, but, if not, these aren't the kind of questions that would be maddening. They're interesting ones to ponder and debate, rather than cliffhangers.
I suppose what stands out to me most is that even though a lot of awful things happen on this far off moon, I still picture it as breathtaking and would love to visit.
spiraldots's review against another edition
4.0
Review originally written for my blog
I received this as an e-Arc from the publisher as I'm a big fan of Angry Robot and as soon as I saw the cover for this, I just had to read it. It's a sci-fi novel set on the planet Huginn which is earth-like but with very different native flora and fauna. Kate arrives to find her boss dead and so she slowly tries to figure out what happened as she learns more about the society which compromises mill workers and a group of religious people called Believers.
Kate's story is also interspersed with entries from the diary of one of the Believers back when they first settled on the planet and these are very fascinating as one aspect of Sci-Fi that I love is the early settler period where they are discovering all the differences from earth and trying to figure out how to make a living on the planet.
The characters are all fantastic and I just adore Kate. She has a service dog, Hattie, who is by far one of my favourite characters because I adore dogs. I'm breaking my no-spoilers policy here to mention that Hattie does not die. I spent a lot of the book worrying about that and I would have enjoyed it much more if I'd known that going in, and I also know that some people might not want to read it unless they had that guarantee so don't worry - the dog lives! The other characters are all very interesting too and the Believers in particular are very interesting to read about - especially as you slowly learn more of their history through the diary.
I really enjoyed this novel, it's exactly the kind of Sci-Fi that I adore with strange alien biology, stories of settlers trying to make a living and it has an adorable dog in it. I would definitely recommend this novel to those that enjoy Sci-Fi as it's just excellent and I can't wait for it to be released to I can make my friends read it.
I received this as an e-Arc from the publisher as I'm a big fan of Angry Robot and as soon as I saw the cover for this, I just had to read it. It's a sci-fi novel set on the planet Huginn which is earth-like but with very different native flora and fauna. Kate arrives to find her boss dead and so she slowly tries to figure out what happened as she learns more about the society which compromises mill workers and a group of religious people called Believers.
Kate's story is also interspersed with entries from the diary of one of the Believers back when they first settled on the planet and these are very fascinating as one aspect of Sci-Fi that I love is the early settler period where they are discovering all the differences from earth and trying to figure out how to make a living on the planet.
The characters are all fantastic and I just adore Kate. She has a service dog, Hattie, who is by far one of my favourite characters because I adore dogs. I'm breaking my no-spoilers policy here to mention that Hattie does not die. I spent a lot of the book worrying about that and I would have enjoyed it much more if I'd known that going in, and I also know that some people might not want to read it unless they had that guarantee so don't worry - the dog lives! The other characters are all very interesting too and the Believers in particular are very interesting to read about - especially as you slowly learn more of their history through the diary.
I really enjoyed this novel, it's exactly the kind of Sci-Fi that I adore with strange alien biology, stories of settlers trying to make a living and it has an adorable dog in it. I would definitely recommend this novel to those that enjoy Sci-Fi as it's just excellent and I can't wait for it to be released to I can make my friends read it.
allisonk's review against another edition
4.0
loved this book. lots of interesting ideas about off-world colonization and the inherent differences of new planets coupled with a tense and absorbing thriller. plus, dogs :)
krush77's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely little surprise from a mystery box. It immediately strikes me from a premise of between the word for world is forest by ursla k leguin and aliens film by James Cameron, with a douse of mystery. Though not as finely written as the former as the ending came on a bit rushed it was cathartic still for the colony of huggin to continue. Also the representation of the PTSD of Kate Standish never felt like a hinderence to her doing things in the plot nor did it felt like it was dealt with in the story as a proper arc. In all a plesent read though a little slow.