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Dogs of Mars: Dog from the Machine
Set in a retro-future populated by canines, Dogs of Mars follows the travails of Sasuke Hattori and his crew of prototype super-soldiers, known as the X-dogs. Created by Mars to defend her during the war with Earth, the X-dogs face a new threat in this peaceful age; a rampant alien bio-weapon dubbed simply 'the Mold'. Armed with Sasuke’s latest invention, the RIG, the X-dogs must not only navigate Mold-infected space stations, but also the demands and foibles of a society that shuns them.
708 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 18, 2022
Unlike author Adam Browne's 'Imperium Lupi', 'Dogs of Mars' occurs in a universe in which canines alone substitute humans. The prologue occurs fifteen years before the main action of the novel, with Shep being a zero-model X-dog. The "present" action begins with an environmental malfunction on a spaceship, with automutts, or robotic canines, going rogue, the vessel destined for self-destruction. The first few chapters follow the scientist Sasuke, Shep, and another X-dog named Bryce, attempting to evacuate the doomed Sojourn, with another ship known as the Capricious providing a potential means for escape.
The action picks up eight years later, with an older Holly Hunter, daughter of the ill-fated Katre Hunter, traveling to Mars with Oscar from Olympus Tech, initialized O.T. A powerful collar known as the Rig, standing for Regenerative Intracellular Gestalt, receives its introduction, playing a critical role in the final chapters. The novel occasionally bounces between past and present, with notable backstory chapters numbered with lowercase Roman numerals instead of Arabic numbers. The X-dogs ultimately find themselves battling an entity known as the Mold, its nature revealed later on in the book.
Overall, the book is an admirable effort and doesn't come across as verbose, but it has issues such as the difficulty at many points of keeping track of the breeds of the various canines throughout the text, given the absence of the Kindle's X-Ray feature, with illustrations given no captions occurring only between the major sections, and actual notated images of the characters provided only after the primary chapters. There are also frequent acronyms throughout the narrative such as P.T. that don't receive definition, and while I didn’t have much trouble following the overreaching plot, most characters like the X-dogs come across as interchangeable, and I can only hesitantly recommend the book.
The action picks up eight years later, with an older Holly Hunter, daughter of the ill-fated Katre Hunter, traveling to Mars with Oscar from Olympus Tech, initialized O.T. A powerful collar known as the Rig, standing for Regenerative Intracellular Gestalt, receives its introduction, playing a critical role in the final chapters. The novel occasionally bounces between past and present, with notable backstory chapters numbered with lowercase Roman numerals instead of Arabic numbers. The X-dogs ultimately find themselves battling an entity known as the Mold, its nature revealed later on in the book.
Overall, the book is an admirable effort and doesn't come across as verbose, but it has issues such as the difficulty at many points of keeping track of the breeds of the various canines throughout the text, given the absence of the Kindle's X-Ray feature, with illustrations given no captions occurring only between the major sections, and actual notated images of the characters provided only after the primary chapters. There are also frequent acronyms throughout the narrative such as P.T. that don't receive definition, and while I didn’t have much trouble following the overreaching plot, most characters like the X-dogs come across as interchangeable, and I can only hesitantly recommend the book.
January 21, 2020
One New Year's Resolution. Check!
I bought it on Google Play. In fact, Adam Browne can write any book Furry and I'll buy it.
Let's be clear that this novel is not Imperium Lupi in any way. There might be 'easter eggs' hiding in there, but the story is completely different. Don't go on a search hunt for my beloved Rufus Valerio, he is not there, physically: but the same "Dayfly"-philosophy is hidden between the pages. The inevitable death is not the focus this time, but rebirth, regeneration, starting all over again. And you have teenagers or kindred-spirits never growing old (if they stay alive, that is).
Without spoiling too much of the plot - the scenes I certainly enjoyed the most are the analepsis/flash back(s), perhaps because it offers a sneak peek into exclusive classified information. We are in the know. Everything in life has its starting point - and even this is classified or unknown on Mars.
While the puppers and anyone else are oblivious to what is really going on, the reader sees the bigger picture. Exactly the same faces, but slightly different personalities, histories and relationships. It's like walking into a now completely deserted or understaffed (and derelict) office, bubbling with life only twenty years prior. And knowing exactly what happened back then. You can never be part of that group, sharing the same bond; but you know. Things will never be the same again. The most striking image was Katre Hunter passing by a small room, with Rai comforting Einen (my goodness, I do like the predecessor!), with Hugo actually speaking, only just one word! Toby asking exactly the same question as his successor, same implanted words. Only then you understand. It's like walking through a parallel universe or something, heavily surreal. Or serial?
I got exactly the same (eerie) feeling when I was doing some genealogy research or reading a book lavishly quoting from Latin texts (or any text for that matter from pre-1800): we are making exactly the same mistakes over and over and over again, the same mistakes will be forever repeated - a vicious cycle - because of ignorance (and because your ancestors/predecessors never had the time writing a diary, and hand it down).
But, like Sasuke said to Dexus: Even if you had all this knowledge at your disposal, you still need the experience first-hand to really understand.
Perhaps another example from experience (I don't want to bore anyone): the Cape Leopard, for example. Back in the days the different species were categorised by hair colour, hair-thickness and physical size. So one day, some zoologist decided in the early-1800's by only one melanistic exemplar or two, this species should be Panthera pardus melanotica. And so the "Cape leopard" was born. Numerous scientists in the following century believed it to be rubbish, even long before DNA-analysis was in its prime. And still scientists are battling to prove the poor animal, due to its smaller size (and 'dwindling numbers'), must be different from its other African brothers and sisters. Even an NGO was established for the cause. One small (outdated) mistake; one huge blind tradition nobody would ever bother to question. It is only when you start digging into history, actually reading the scientific articles, that you start wondering how many bullshit stories are floating out there as the truth...
Then imagine Mars having the same problemo.
Like Imperium Lupi, the characters are extremely vivid, although it would be difficult showing the relationship between every single brother (and sister) with each other. The formula would be x²-x; 10 X-dogs would therefore mean 90 relationships (e.g. not only how Shep feels towards Bryce, but also Bryce towards Shep). And, that is extremely difficult, especially with a third person narrator and a mute Hugo. So the best way was to "split" them into two or three manageable groups (the 'old' and the 'fresh' stock; or teams), which I think was a wise decision. Even more tricky would be the "past" relationships, adding even more tension.
Strangely enough, no serious "bitch fights" ever occured (what a pity!). If so, I can't recall any. Not even between 'Raine' and 'Doppel R'.
The "cold war" between Earth and Mars has absolutely nothing to do with politics, as we might have expected. Instead, it's very, very personal. And it revolves around a dead bitch, a love triangle, and two males, or is it three?
The origin of the A.I.-computer Braun was an enormous surprise to me [it was unexpected, well done], but the origin of Holly Hunter became quite clear as the story progressed - even by the way she walked! All the signs were there, I've seen it, registered it, but I didn't want to believe it until the very last line of Chapter X. How could he? Why wouldn't he save his own bloody daughter? Didn't it bother him at all what happened to her after her mother died? Where is the love? He of all dogs should've known better! And I thought Herr Doktor was a skunk...
Dexus has absolutely nothing to complain about - but I think our sweet little miss Holly has more than an axe to grind with a few dogs...
Both a prequel and/or sequel would be nice.
I bought it on Google Play. In fact, Adam Browne can write any book Furry and I'll buy it.
Let's be clear that this novel is not Imperium Lupi in any way. There might be 'easter eggs' hiding in there, but the story is completely different. Don't go on a search hunt for my beloved Rufus Valerio, he is not there, physically: but the same "Dayfly"-philosophy is hidden between the pages. The inevitable death is not the focus this time, but rebirth, regeneration, starting all over again. And you have teenagers or kindred-spirits never growing old (if they stay alive, that is).
Without spoiling too much of the plot - the scenes I certainly enjoyed the most are the analepsis/flash back(s), perhaps because it offers a sneak peek into exclusive classified information. We are in the know. Everything in life has its starting point - and even this is classified or unknown on Mars.
While the puppers and anyone else are oblivious to what is really going on, the reader sees the bigger picture. Exactly the same faces, but slightly different personalities, histories and relationships. It's like walking into a now completely deserted or understaffed (and derelict) office, bubbling with life only twenty years prior. And knowing exactly what happened back then. You can never be part of that group, sharing the same bond; but you know. Things will never be the same again. The most striking image was Katre Hunter passing by a small room, with Rai comforting Einen (my goodness, I do like the predecessor!), with Hugo actually speaking, only just one word! Toby asking exactly the same question as his successor, same implanted words. Only then you understand. It's like walking through a parallel universe or something, heavily surreal. Or serial?
I got exactly the same (eerie) feeling when I was doing some genealogy research or reading a book lavishly quoting from Latin texts (or any text for that matter from pre-1800): we are making exactly the same mistakes over and over and over again, the same mistakes will be forever repeated - a vicious cycle - because of ignorance (and because your ancestors/predecessors never had the time writing a diary, and hand it down).
But, like Sasuke said to Dexus: Even if you had all this knowledge at your disposal, you still need the experience first-hand to really understand.
Perhaps another example from experience (I don't want to bore anyone): the Cape Leopard, for example. Back in the days the different species were categorised by hair colour, hair-thickness and physical size. So one day, some zoologist decided in the early-1800's by only one melanistic exemplar or two, this species should be Panthera pardus melanotica. And so the "Cape leopard" was born. Numerous scientists in the following century believed it to be rubbish, even long before DNA-analysis was in its prime. And still scientists are battling to prove the poor animal, due to its smaller size (and 'dwindling numbers'), must be different from its other African brothers and sisters. Even an NGO was established for the cause. One small (outdated) mistake; one huge blind tradition nobody would ever bother to question. It is only when you start digging into history, actually reading the scientific articles, that you start wondering how many bullshit stories are floating out there as the truth...
Then imagine Mars having the same problemo.
Like Imperium Lupi, the characters are extremely vivid, although it would be difficult showing the relationship between every single brother (and sister) with each other. The formula would be x²-x; 10 X-dogs would therefore mean 90 relationships (e.g. not only how Shep feels towards Bryce, but also Bryce towards Shep). And, that is extremely difficult, especially with a third person narrator and a mute Hugo. So the best way was to "split" them into two or three manageable groups (the 'old' and the 'fresh' stock; or teams), which I think was a wise decision. Even more tricky would be the "past" relationships, adding even more tension.
Strangely enough, no serious "bitch fights" ever occured (what a pity!). If so, I can't recall any. Not even between 'Raine' and 'Doppel R'.
The "cold war" between Earth and Mars has absolutely nothing to do with politics, as we might have expected. Instead, it's very, very personal. And it revolves around a dead bitch, a love triangle, and two males, or is it three?
The origin of the A.I.-computer Braun was an enormous surprise to me [it was unexpected, well done], but the origin of Holly Hunter became quite clear as the story progressed - even by the way she walked! All the signs were there, I've seen it, registered it, but I didn't want to believe it until the very last line of Chapter X. How could he? Why wouldn't he save his own bloody daughter? Didn't it bother him at all what happened to her after her mother died? Where is the love? He of all dogs should've known better! And I thought Herr Doktor was a skunk...
Dexus has absolutely nothing to complain about - but I think our sweet little miss Holly has more than an axe to grind with a few dogs...
Both a prequel and/or sequel would be nice.
March 12, 2020
It’s very tempting to compare Dogs of Mars to Imperium Lupi instead of analyzing it like its own thing, especially if you loved Lupi as much as me. The author does cement the style developed in Lupi: multiple storylines that follow certain characters, morally-complex scenarios where the different ‘teams’ have valid but opposing views, and easy-to-read prose that every once in awhile shows something deeper. However, there are a number of things that are vastly different between both books, including some that could’ve been just a bit better in my opinion.
The book starts with a lot of fast-paced action. This means that you’re immediately caught by the plot, but character development is left aside for a while. Reading the first three parts, I often felt like I was reading a sequel instead of the first part of a series (and judging by the Epilogue, this IS the first part of a series). The characters are thrown into life-threatening scenarios and their unity is broken right away, but since we don’t really know these characters so well yet and we haven’t had time to bond with them, it was hard for me to be worried about them or their unity, at least initially. In the beginning, only Bryce and Holly get to have some quiet time where we get to see their personalities. Flashback chapters manage to flesh out the backstory and fill in some holes and questions left by the beginning. While most adventure stories (including Lupi) begin by setting up a status-quo and presenting the characters (step 1), then introduce events that upset that status-quo and send the characters on their trails (step 2), and end with the characters on a new sort of status-quo (step 3), DoM does step 2 before step 1. This is quite original, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea for the reasons I just mentioned.
However, the cast gets much better defined after that, and we end up with a bunch of colorful, unique, and deliciously imperfect X-dogs that subvert many of the super-soldier tropes. Instead of the classic one-man-army super soldier that is perfect at everything and doesn’t need anyone, each X-dog has its strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately they’re all dependent on someone. It’s in these quiet, character-centered sections of the book that DoM shows its greatest thing for me: the amazing, irreverent, and just delicious dialogue between characters. Dialogue is much more central in DoM than Lupi, and it’s used brilliantly for characterization, world-building, and comedy. I particularly loved an exchange between Oscar and Holly, where we get to know a lot about the differences and tensions between Mars and Earth in a completely organic way through their dialogue. Although the dialogue is better here than in Lupi, there are aspects of Lupi’s writing that I didn’t like at all and that came back to haunt me. The use of literal sound effects (Crack! Fssshhh! Bang! etc) and stretching out a word during a scream or cry (Nooohoho! Awoooooo!) feels very cartoony and campy for a book that’s pretty serious. This was particularly jarring for me during the death of two characters near the end and it spoiled a lot of the emotional impact. I know that it comes down to personal taste, but going through the reviews of Lupi it’s clear I’m not the only one that feels this way. There are also a considerable amount of typos, at least in my edition.
I do have to congratulate the author on making the world of DoM feel oddly realistic, blurring the line between soft and hard sci-fi. He avoids a lot of the pesky scientific inaccuracies of soft sci-fi (laser light isn’t visible unless it’s scattered by something, there is no sound in a vacuum, and moons do have atmospheres… lovely). Even so, besides the use of anthro dogs instead of humans, this feels like a pretty standard and classic sci-fi setting. Also, since the history of that world is supposedly identical or at least very similar to ours, using anthro dogs brings up a lot of very awkward questions. There’s a silver cross that gets handed down between characters. So, Christianity is a thing. Thus, dog Jesus must exist. Was there a dog World War Two, with a dog Hitler? In the end, the less I think about this world’s history, the better, and that is a shame.
All this makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book that much; that’s not true. I really enjoyed the story. Over time I found myself caring for the characters, especially Dexus and Sasuke. A lot of thought went into the plot, which feels like a heist sometimes, and it fits together very nicely. When Dexus cried near the end, I had to hold back a tear, and I will read the sequel once it’s out. Part of me wanted to give this book 5 stars, especially because I feel bad ruining its perfect streak, but I can only do that if a book is the best it can possibly be. And even though Dogs of Mars was a very good read, in my opinion, it could’ve been even better. I wish the author a lot of luck in his future works, and I’m eager to read them.
The book starts with a lot of fast-paced action. This means that you’re immediately caught by the plot, but character development is left aside for a while. Reading the first three parts, I often felt like I was reading a sequel instead of the first part of a series (and judging by the Epilogue, this IS the first part of a series). The characters are thrown into life-threatening scenarios and their unity is broken right away, but since we don’t really know these characters so well yet and we haven’t had time to bond with them, it was hard for me to be worried about them or their unity, at least initially. In the beginning, only Bryce and Holly get to have some quiet time where we get to see their personalities. Flashback chapters manage to flesh out the backstory and fill in some holes and questions left by the beginning. While most adventure stories (including Lupi) begin by setting up a status-quo and presenting the characters (step 1), then introduce events that upset that status-quo and send the characters on their trails (step 2), and end with the characters on a new sort of status-quo (step 3), DoM does step 2 before step 1. This is quite original, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea for the reasons I just mentioned.
However, the cast gets much better defined after that, and we end up with a bunch of colorful, unique, and deliciously imperfect X-dogs that subvert many of the super-soldier tropes. Instead of the classic one-man-army super soldier that is perfect at everything and doesn’t need anyone, each X-dog has its strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately they’re all dependent on someone. It’s in these quiet, character-centered sections of the book that DoM shows its greatest thing for me: the amazing, irreverent, and just delicious dialogue between characters. Dialogue is much more central in DoM than Lupi, and it’s used brilliantly for characterization, world-building, and comedy. I particularly loved an exchange between Oscar and Holly, where we get to know a lot about the differences and tensions between Mars and Earth in a completely organic way through their dialogue. Although the dialogue is better here than in Lupi, there are aspects of Lupi’s writing that I didn’t like at all and that came back to haunt me. The use of literal sound effects (Crack! Fssshhh! Bang! etc) and stretching out a word during a scream or cry (Nooohoho! Awoooooo!) feels very cartoony and campy for a book that’s pretty serious. This was particularly jarring for me during the death of two characters near the end and it spoiled a lot of the emotional impact. I know that it comes down to personal taste, but going through the reviews of Lupi it’s clear I’m not the only one that feels this way. There are also a considerable amount of typos, at least in my edition.
I do have to congratulate the author on making the world of DoM feel oddly realistic, blurring the line between soft and hard sci-fi. He avoids a lot of the pesky scientific inaccuracies of soft sci-fi (laser light isn’t visible unless it’s scattered by something, there is no sound in a vacuum, and moons do have atmospheres… lovely). Even so, besides the use of anthro dogs instead of humans, this feels like a pretty standard and classic sci-fi setting. Also, since the history of that world is supposedly identical or at least very similar to ours, using anthro dogs brings up a lot of very awkward questions. There’s a silver cross that gets handed down between characters. So, Christianity is a thing. Thus, dog Jesus must exist. Was there a dog World War Two, with a dog Hitler? In the end, the less I think about this world’s history, the better, and that is a shame.
All this makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy the book that much; that’s not true. I really enjoyed the story. Over time I found myself caring for the characters, especially Dexus and Sasuke. A lot of thought went into the plot, which feels like a heist sometimes, and it fits together very nicely. When Dexus cried near the end, I had to hold back a tear, and I will read the sequel once it’s out. Part of me wanted to give this book 5 stars, especially because I feel bad ruining its perfect streak, but I can only do that if a book is the best it can possibly be. And even though Dogs of Mars was a very good read, in my opinion, it could’ve been even better. I wish the author a lot of luck in his future works, and I’m eager to read them.
May 7, 2022
There are few books that manage to captivate me to the degree that they take up all my focus and attention every day until i've finished them. Two such examples are Imperium Lupi and Dogs of Mars, both by Adam Browne
It's hard to pick a favorite between the two but i dont think that's neccesary since they're both different genres. Browne takes what makes Imperium Lupi great and does it with Sci-fi.
Every character is different and they are all amazingly written. There's no real protagonist, instead the POV shifts to just about every person in the novel at some point. So when characters' goals differ from each other, i had no clue who to root for as i wanted the best for everyone. No character is 100% black and white, good or evil. And as a reader i emphasised with 90% of all characters.
Browne is also a master of cliffhangers. Say a chapter ends with one group being in mortal peril. The next chapter will feature someone who's mostly safe.
I mostly just read fantasy and ive never really liked sci-fi too much. Even so, this is one of my favorite books ive ever read. So if you're not much for sci-fi, i'd say still give it a shot. And f**k me, there better be a sequel with that cliffhanger of an ending. Even after 700 pages, i still want more.
Now i need to look though "similar books" on all this novel's store pages xD
It's hard to pick a favorite between the two but i dont think that's neccesary since they're both different genres. Browne takes what makes Imperium Lupi great and does it with Sci-fi.
Every character is different and they are all amazingly written. There's no real protagonist, instead the POV shifts to just about every person in the novel at some point. So when characters' goals differ from each other, i had no clue who to root for as i wanted the best for everyone. No character is 100% black and white, good or evil. And as a reader i emphasised with 90% of all characters.
Browne is also a master of cliffhangers. Say a chapter ends with one group being in mortal peril. The next chapter will feature someone who's mostly safe.
I mostly just read fantasy and ive never really liked sci-fi too much. Even so, this is one of my favorite books ive ever read. So if you're not much for sci-fi, i'd say still give it a shot. And f**k me, there better be a sequel with that cliffhanger of an ending. Even after 700 pages, i still want more.
Now i need to look though "similar books" on all this novel's store pages xD
April 24, 2020
Wow, is the only word that pushes against my tongue to get out and describe this book. Adam Browne is truly a remarkable writer, creating his works with great profundity and diligence regarding every conceivable detail. Dogs of Mars, despite being a standalone position, at least for now, has a great deal of yet untapped potential only waiting to be written about. Now, I can only wait for a book whose story covers the time during the war, or maybe the awaiting future of the crew or yet maybe the one of OT! There are still many possibilities and I hope that Adam Browne will discover and nurture every one of them.
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