A review by bookishbehavior
The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King
5.0
My first foray into the world that lives within the mind of A.S. King. And I loved it.
Emer Morrisey, a 17th century pirate who has amassed a fortune along with the love of her life has it all suddenly swept away when she is killed and cursed with "the dust of 100 dogs." Now Emer must navigate over centuries, memories intact, in the bodies of 100 different canines. Fast forward 300 years to present day, a finally mortal Emer is living as teenager Saffron Adams...and she once again has the chance to collect her fortune.
I don't know what goes on in A.S. King's mind but I would sell my soul to possess even a tiny fraction of the creativity she has. I absolutely LOVE her writing. I was totally engulfed from the start and I found it so hard to put this book down. You're reading through what is essentially 2 different timelines with several peeks into our protagonist's many lives as dogs peppered throughout. Usually, when something like this is done, you tend to enjoy one story or timeline more than the other and, while I enjoyed reading about 17th century Emer a little more, present day Saffron still highly kept my attention. The story is so unique and so well structured with pacing that is near perfection.
Now, a WARNING to anyone sensitive to this sort of thing...there is quite a bit of animal abuse. Reality shows us constantly that not every dog on this Earth has a loving, comfortable life or home and King has portrayed this fact throughout the book. It's some pretty heavy and graphic stuff. I will say that I did enjoy how she used her voice and her platform to shed light on these topics, she did it very well. I was caught off guard by this, I was disturbed by it, it was upsetting along with the depictions of rape, abuse and assault. There are some extremely hard hitting topics. I also believe this is an example of great writing...to elicit a strong feeling from the reader. And she definitely did that.
I truly loved this book, I am now such a huge fan of King's writing and I cannot wait to pick up the rest of her work. She is quite the storyteller.
Emer Morrisey, a 17th century pirate who has amassed a fortune along with the love of her life has it all suddenly swept away when she is killed and cursed with "the dust of 100 dogs." Now Emer must navigate over centuries, memories intact, in the bodies of 100 different canines. Fast forward 300 years to present day, a finally mortal Emer is living as teenager Saffron Adams...and she once again has the chance to collect her fortune.
I don't know what goes on in A.S. King's mind but I would sell my soul to possess even a tiny fraction of the creativity she has. I absolutely LOVE her writing. I was totally engulfed from the start and I found it so hard to put this book down. You're reading through what is essentially 2 different timelines with several peeks into our protagonist's many lives as dogs peppered throughout. Usually, when something like this is done, you tend to enjoy one story or timeline more than the other and, while I enjoyed reading about 17th century Emer a little more, present day Saffron still highly kept my attention. The story is so unique and so well structured with pacing that is near perfection.
Now, a WARNING to anyone sensitive to this sort of thing...there is quite a bit of animal abuse. Reality shows us constantly that not every dog on this Earth has a loving, comfortable life or home and King has portrayed this fact throughout the book. It's some pretty heavy and graphic stuff. I will say that I did enjoy how she used her voice and her platform to shed light on these topics, she did it very well. I was caught off guard by this, I was disturbed by it, it was upsetting along with the depictions of rape, abuse and assault. There are some extremely hard hitting topics. I also believe this is an example of great writing...to elicit a strong feeling from the reader. And she definitely did that.
I truly loved this book, I am now such a huge fan of King's writing and I cannot wait to pick up the rest of her work. She is quite the storyteller.