A review by dlberglund
The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
Book list called this book "undeniably original", with which I won't disagree. The fantastic idea for the story is that Emer, born to a life turned upside down during the English invasion of Ireland, eventually becomes a pirate who gets the wrong people angry. Those people use some sort of voodoo magic on her to curse her to live out 100 reincarnated lives as a dog. She is finally reborn as Saffron, a human in the suburban United States in our present time, complete with all of the memories of the previous lives she has lived, and with one goal in mind: uncover her buried treasure. The narrative switches time and place between chapters, so you have to stay on your toes to follow the action through her lives (though we dont get much detail about all of those dog lives, which disappointed me a little-they're more of an aside here and there). It sounds like a winner, doesn't it?
I had a difficult time assigning stars to this book. One? Two? Three? Three point five? Some of the storytelling in this book was great, and I do love the idea of the story. But to me, some parts fell flat and some were disturbing, and not in that thoughtful, philosophize about humanity type way. The why-didn't-your-editor-take-this-out kind of way. It was interesting to see how Emer and Saffron carried the same soul but were really two different people. I didn't always love them, but they were strong, kick butt (literally) teenage girls that I'd like to introduce readers to. Unfortunately, I got to the horrible cold rape scene and thought to myself that I would never be able to really recommend this book to any teenage girl. Other parts of the book were similarly creepy, but that one scene doesn't belong in a YA book. I think it could have been edited down and still gotten the message across without the detail. Mature teenagers can and do handle the subject matter in other books, but this particular scene just stopped me cold because it was so jarring and, I thought, unnecessary. I didn't see that the main character-in any incarnation- really dealt with it as a traumatic incident, nor did it seem to be used as a point of character development. Therefore, I really felt that it crossed the line and prevents me from, in good conscience, recommending this to teenagers.
All of a.s. king's books are interesting and unique in some way. With so many great things out there to read, pick up any one of her other books rather than this one.
I had a difficult time assigning stars to this book. One? Two? Three? Three point five? Some of the storytelling in this book was great, and I do love the idea of the story. But to me, some parts fell flat and some were disturbing, and not in that thoughtful, philosophize about humanity type way. The why-didn't-your-editor-take-this-out kind of way. It was interesting to see how Emer and Saffron carried the same soul but were really two different people. I didn't always love them, but they were strong, kick butt (literally) teenage girls that I'd like to introduce readers to. Unfortunately, I got to the horrible cold rape scene and thought to myself that I would never be able to really recommend this book to any teenage girl. Other parts of the book were similarly creepy, but that one scene doesn't belong in a YA book. I think it could have been edited down and still gotten the message across without the detail. Mature teenagers can and do handle the subject matter in other books, but this particular scene just stopped me cold because it was so jarring and, I thought, unnecessary. I didn't see that the main character-in any incarnation- really dealt with it as a traumatic incident, nor did it seem to be used as a point of character development. Therefore, I really felt that it crossed the line and prevents me from, in good conscience, recommending this to teenagers.
All of a.s. king's books are interesting and unique in some way. With so many great things out there to read, pick up any one of her other books rather than this one.