By looking at both the view of Rex and those who are seeing the wider picture, Tchaikovsky gives such colour to the world he has popped his seven foot dog into. What could be just a stabby-dog story is elevated by Tchaikovsky. Honey is smarter than Rex, and Bees continues to grow, yet Rex is faced with being the face, and the fear, of all bioform weapons in the world. From just following orders to being a leader with full responsibility over his team and his actions. What is intriguing about this tale, though, is not the capabilities of these creatures, but the way Rex grows through it. Honey, a massive bear, the heavy weapons and Bees is, well, a bunch of bees with a shared intelligence. Dragon, a gila monster type lizard/chameleon, is the recon-sniper support.

Rex is essentially a tank, rolling into the centre of the action and creating destruction. They create fear in their enemy just by being, let alone by what they can do. Rex and his team are designed to do the dirty work people are not allowed to do. With the massive bio-engineered dog, armed with shoulder mounted machine guns, hands with razor sharp claws and armour covering his already dense skin, the telling of the tale is uncomfortable. The main tale is told from Rex’s perspective. But when things go wrong and the things Rex, Honey, Dragon and Bees, along with the other bioform packs, have been doing come to light in the wider world, their leash is slipped and Rex has to decide for himself what being good means.Īdrian Tchaikovsky’s novel is deeply nuanced. But what if Master is bad? Rex’s inbuilt hierarchy tells him he must do what Master says. Whether they are big human enemies or little human enemies, if Master has tagged them as bad, Rex and his team will deal with them, to be good. With his team, Honey, Dragon and Bees, they head out into the war torn Campeche province in Mexico and hunt down the bad guys. Rex, because he is a good dog, does the tasks he is given. When he is, his feedback chip makes sure he feels good. He lives for the moments when his master tells him he is a good dog.

Dogs of war book adrian tchaikovsky