A review by sauvageloup
Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was a very interesting, gripping and moving speculative fiction book, highly readable. 

Pros: 

- The writing was brilliant, especially in how it changes so completely between [redacted], Rex and Honey’s POVs, amongst others. There’s a real sense of voice for all of them, and whilst Rex’s simplistic voice could have been annoying, it was skilfully done so that it wasn’t. I liked the change of POVs, too, as they kept things fresh and varied, as well as adding some extra intrigue with the mystery of who [redacted] is. 
- The idea of the whole thing is well done, with the socio-political complications laid out and looked out, and the insights into how something like Bioforms could affect everything from border control to medicine. The ingenuity and the SF reminded me strongly of Neal Stephenson’s work, especially the guard dog from Snowcrash who also aligns himself with humans. There was similar themes about tech and weapons in the wrong people’s hands, and the combining of tech with flesh, human and animal. 
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There was also emotion in there and I teared up when Rex died at the end. I really wanted him to survive, but it did fit the story that he didn’t and it was clear that his kind would continue.
- I loved the fundamental kindness of Rex’s personality, his loyalty and compassion to his fellow Bioforms. I wondered for some of it why Honey wasn’t the main character, considering she was the one conniving away and being much more intelligent than Rex, but the point is made that Rex has heart and he’s a leader. Intelligence isn’t everything, you need warmth too. 
- I loved a lot of the side characters too, the doctor and the lawyer who worked to help Rex. A bleak picture was painted by [redacted] for humanity, but there was some hope there too in how some humans were kind. 

Cons: 

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Only bit I didn’t like is that I felt like the book had reached a kind of end when Murray “died”. Of course it turned out that he hadn’t but things felt a little stale for a moment and I wondered where the author was going with it all.
 

 

Overall, a fascinating book and an excellent read. Would like to check out the sequel. 
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