Dogs of War

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Paperback

English language

Published Sept. 21, 2017 by Head of Zeus.

ISBN:: 978-1-78669-390-7

(33 reviews)

Rex is seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics especially designed to instil fear. He's part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Campeche, Mexico. As a genetically engineered Bioform, Rex is a dealy weapon in a dirty war. But all he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and kill a lot of enemies. But who, exactly, are the enemies? What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? Do Rex and his fellow Bioforms even have a right to exist? And what happens when Rex slips his leash?

3 editions

Alex reviewed Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Dogs of War, #1)

Intelligence rights

4 stars

Overall theme was about when a non-human intelligence should be given human-like rights in the society and how blurry that border is.

I liked the main protagonist, how he was portraited as a dog/human hybrid and how one like that might think and behave, struggling with life as a slave soldier and then life without a master.

Smaller chapters from the perspective of a secondary protagonist gave nice and interesting insights to the book's world and was a great touch.

The ending where the pro-/antagonist just dissipates into nothingness was quite unsatisfying and just leaves you there being... what? Why?