A crowdfunded civil war is Azerbaijan’s only hope against its murderous dictatorship. The war is Edane Estian’s only chance to find out if he’s more than what he was designed to be.
He’s a clone soldier, gengineered from a dog’s DNA and hardened by a brutal training regime. He’d be perfect for the job if an outraged society hadn’t intervened, freed him at age seven, and placed him in an adopted … an adopted family.
Is he Edane? Cathy and Beth’s son, Janine’s boyfriend, valued member of his MilSim sports team? Or is he still White-Six, serial number CNR5-4853-W6, the untroubled killing machine?
By joining a war to protect the powerless, he hopes to become more than the sum of his parts.
Without White-Six, he’ll never survive this war. If that’s all he can be, he’ll never leave it.
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Read for 2021 SPSFC
Overall Thoughts
This is a very thought-provoking book with some great worldbuilding and character moments. That said, it’s not a very happy book. It’s not going to make you cheer for the protagonist over the villain—there’s not always a clear definition of who those are—but it is a very well-written book. This is set about eighty-five years in the future, and it’s easy to tell that from who the characters are and what technology is available, but this is also one of those stories that could work equally well now, or in WWII, or in the renaissance, or in the crusades, talking anthropomorphic dogs notwithstanding.
What’s that? Oh yes. Most of the character in this are basically actualized furries (and even called that a couple times), created through genetic engineering. It’s one of the parts I actually like the best, because we get a great vehicle for seeing the human species, while also dealing with the concept of the outsider and how many people see themselves cut off from others. It’s something experienced by people in the furry community, from the little bit I know, and it comes across powerfully in the story.
Plot
I would say this is the weakest of the three categories, only because this is such a strongly character-driven book. The first half of the book deals with main character, Edane (though only one of several viewpoints), coming to terms with what he wants in life after a serious injury on a military operation in a Middle-Eastern/Central Asian country. The anthropomorphic dogs in the story are all clones, bred specifically as owned soldiers, which as you might think, messes with their psyche. Fortunately they have been emancipated, and many play in augmented reality military simulations as sports. The second half of the book, in my opinion, goes a little long, as it covers a new military operation, but in the end, the story sticks the landing and gives the bittersweet resolution I was looking for.
Setting
There’s a lot of interesting and subtle worldbuilding that goes along with the story. This is set on future Earth, so extrapolated from our geopolitical situation currently. I thought it a little ironic that the conflict is all set around the Middle East, and I was reading this during the aftermath of the US pullout from Afghanistan after twenty years. I want to hope we’re not fighting the same battles there next century, but I can’t say I’d be surprised if we were.
The other big component is the ability (and evident acceptability) of gene modding humans, and mixing them with animals. The clone dogs are the biggest characters, but there are mentions of a few other types of species mixes as well. The hybrids seem to have the same capacity as humans, though there are several excellent passages showing how the dogs think differently, and have trouble grasping some concepts such as humor, sexual pleasure, and why humans do so much political maneuvering.
Advanced technology also plays a big part in the story, from fully augmented reality, to decentralized decision making, advanced 3D printing technology, and smart(er) weapons. In all, the world here seems very real, and very possible.
Character
This is the big one for this book. Edane’s story is very moving, and though I have no experience with the military, seems like it is deeply rooted in the how soldiers feel coming home from a violent life of snap decisions to live in the comparatively cushy life of a citizen. There are a lot of adjustments to make, especially when one is a gene modded dog hybrid who was an owned asset for much of his life and not taught some basic concepts like laughing, the concept of gender, or how to use one’s initiative.
There was some great LGBTQIA representation as well, in Edane’s adoptive mothers, and in himself, as he is functionally ace/demi sexual. It factors into his relationships and how he approaches trying to live in a society where he has trouble grasping some of the basic concepts and accepted “normal” rituals of everyday life.
The other characters don’t have quite the extent of character arc Edane does, but still have satisfying ends to their stories. As said above, I felt the middle of this book went a little long, but in the end, the story stuck the landing and provided resolutions to all those questions proposed in the beginning of how to live in society when you are different physically and in personality. Even if that answer is, “I’m still searching.”
Score out of 10 (My personal score, not the final contest score)
Temporary score until more books in the contest are read: a great and thought provoking read, though not an upbeat story in many places. A lot of military focused action, but an excellent character story. 9/10