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A review by hollowspine
Your Robot Dog Will Die by Arin Greenwood
2.0
What if scientists, given free reign to do whatever genetic manipulations they were interested in, decided to give the world dog 2.0? That's the premise here, scientists, driven (for some reason) to improve upon human's best friend, instead do the opposite, turn domesticated dogs back into wild creatures. Dogs no longer wag their tails when seeing humans, instead they attack! Generations of people grow up killing dogs on sight in fear of attack. Now the only wild dogs left are those on Dog Island, a wild dog sanctuary.
Nano has lived on Dog Island all her life. Dog Islanders are all completely vegan, they don't use animal products in anything, no milk, no leather shoes, no beeswax candles, nothing. Nano loves all animals and knows that humans need to protect animals, sometimes from other humans with less altruistic motives, but sometimes from themselves, or from the pain of suffering. And when Nano discovers a puppy that wags its tail, she finds herself questioning what she believes, which way is the right way?
Although I liked the concept of the book, and think there are some very good discussions to be had around the topics of the book (who has the right to make decisions for animals, is it ethical to keep animals as pets, is it ethical to put suffering animals 'to sleep,' or to keep them in pain in an attempt to save them, etc.), the book itself was not my personal cup of tea. I found the pacing was slow at the beginning, but then way too fast at the end. Nano's story wasn't one I was too invested in hearing (I think her older brothers story for example would have made more compelling reading). The world-building left a lot to be desired, and even if I was willing to suspend my belief that science suddenly turned domesticated dogs into rabid attacking monsters, it really didn't make much sense.
Nano has lived on Dog Island all her life. Dog Islanders are all completely vegan, they don't use animal products in anything, no milk, no leather shoes, no beeswax candles, nothing. Nano loves all animals and knows that humans need to protect animals, sometimes from other humans with less altruistic motives, but sometimes from themselves, or from the pain of suffering. And when Nano discovers a puppy that wags its tail, she finds herself questioning what she believes, which way is the right way?
Although I liked the concept of the book, and think there are some very good discussions to be had around the topics of the book (who has the right to make decisions for animals, is it ethical to keep animals as pets, is it ethical to put suffering animals 'to sleep,' or to keep them in pain in an attempt to save them, etc.), the book itself was not my personal cup of tea. I found the pacing was slow at the beginning, but then way too fast at the end. Nano's story wasn't one I was too invested in hearing (I think her older brothers story for example would have made more compelling reading). The world-building left a lot to be desired, and even if I was willing to suspend my belief that science suddenly turned domesticated dogs into rabid attacking monsters, it really didn't make much sense.