Reviews

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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willjacks's review against another edition

5.0

Hypnotic, intellectual and completely original.

I can’t help but gush a little bit when it comes to books by Adrian Tchaikovsky, they just feel like they’re made for me.

Challenging, in a good way, it absolutely refuses to be cliché. Instead, there are so many twists and turns that drive the narrative and feel so organic. There’s nothing forced here, just great ideas.

Children of Time was my gateway, and this is book is right up there with it as my favourite current SF books.

angus_mckeogh's review against another edition

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3.0

Military “bioforms” have been created. Essentially battle hardened animals. How does this affect their previously subservient and domesticated nature and what does that mean concerning their own sentience, legal rights, and autonomy. Interesting read.

dmalinovsky's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

tashenone's review against another edition

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5.0

“I am a good dog”

Tchaikovsky had secured his position among the greats long ago, but with this novel he is making his way boldly towards a place among the legends. A gorgeously constructed work of speculative fiction that is not nearly as far future as the description would have you believe. It tackles some tough questions, even a few posed by one of the grandfathers of the genre (Asimov with The Bicentennial Man), addressing the issues with a modern voice that unlocks new directions and new answers. Dogs of War paints a strikingly realistic picture of our potential future. It is a picture that is almost too accurate which makes this book so much more than the sum of its parts, much like its main character. The way all of these elements of story, structure, emotion, speculation, and meta-commentary come together is inspiring and terrifying all at once. A triumph.

tweedsuitcase's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

biddibee's review

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

I liked Rex a lot - he was a good dog. I was pretty into the beginning of the book, but fuuuuck did that wear off fast. Did this book not have an editor? It was so damn boring so and insanely repetitive and it kept explaining every single thing as though the readers are complete idiots. The writing was ncredibly poor and filled with clichés. What a bad bad book. It felt like it was written by some edgelord teenager who think he's really deep.