Stardogs

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The core ideas are better than the execution. In fact, despite being confused by the too large and too undifferentiated cast and the timeline of the book the ideas were strong enough to see me through. They are also strong enough to get me to read a direct sequel or other material set in the same universe.First, the good. This book has the best version of living organic starships I've seen in a long time. It also has one of the best versions of psychic/emotional symbiotic relationships with an alien species. It has a slightly farfetched but fun version of how the first human interstellar empire arose. It also has an interesting twist on the spacefaring guild make popular in Dune. Here the navigators are not the aristocrats of the guild but their slaves. It also does a good job of creating a bifurcated grounder/spacer culture. I would have traded a great deal of the other characters to learn more about either the training and lives of the handlers of the titular star dogs or the culture of the space stations.Now, the bad. First, this book could be a case study in the problem of indie authors in that it could use both a proofreader and an editor. The number of typos is too high and in more than one place they caused some confusion. The cast is too large relative to the development. Characters who becomes important later are introduced in passing and so briefly that when they become important who is who is confused for a time. The introduction to the major characters and the time line in the early chapter are also confusing. With the extensive future history a timeline at the beginning or as an appendix would have been useful.I'm hoping that Mr. Freer makes enough to both write a sequel and to contract with an editor and proofreader so to make the sequel tighter. The ideas are too good in an era of rather boring science fiction to not be executed better.

I picked this book out of my TBR pile because I had wanted to read some of Dave's prose for a long time. I was drawn to the idea of organic entities who had adapted to space. It did start slow-- but, it reminded me of how Koontz takes several characters and threads them through a story until the path of these people intersect. Once I realized that there were several characters and personalities that needed to be understood (character development), I just sat back and instead of critiquing the story, I fell into the world. Some of my ideas of why I gave this book a five star rating.1. Character development - Knowing the background of each of the characters gave me an idea of how they would react to a stress environment. Still there were quirks and even surprises. These surprises start near the middle of the book.2. Grammar and spelling and other sentence constructions - Seriously, I had no idea. Usually I am a grammar Nazi, but I was so into the story, I didn't even notice anything wrong on that front.3. Story line - there are several conflicts between characters, nations, and the old conflict between the ancients.4. Living in the dream quotient - once I picked a character to root for (Princess Shari, in my case) I was invested emotionally. I could see, feel, and hear the story. Believe me, I have been a reader for a long time (since six years old) and to put me into the daydream of another world is hard. I was there-- I felt it.So yes, I would recommend this book to readers who like to read about the dissolution of civilization and the hope of a newer better one. Plus there are dogs.

unless that is you are going to bed really early or like the idea of staying reading until 3am. I'm glad to say that personally a combination of jetlag and lack of battery power in my tablet meant that I fell asleep mid book but I'm fairly sure that I would not have so done in other circumstances.The book is hard SF, with solidly thought out xenobiology and only a couple of bits of unobtainium (and those bits of unobtainium are explained even if the explanations slightly failed my handwavium test). Yet despite the solidity of the back story and the extremely interesting universe it is set in, as a reader you focus on the characters. This is because even though they are somewhat archetypal, they are not in any way cardboard cutouts but real people, with all their strengths weaknesses and foibles.Some other thoughts in no particular order:1) Like the characters, the plot is fascinating even if you can somewhat predict the end state. The journey to that point is not the direct run one might have expected but filled with interesting twists and turns.2) As with some of his other recent books, Dave Freer shows us his love for dogs and the loyalty that dogs and dog-owners inspire in each other which is a rare thing in books these days for some reason.3) This is a universe that starts out corrupt, decadent and miserable but by the end there are signs of rebirth.4) The end is entirely satisfying but there is plenty of opportunity for sequels and I look forward to reading them when they come out

There were a lot of grammatical / spelling mistakes...a lot.Fortunately, the story was OUTSTANDING!!! I am constantly amazed at the inventiveness of authors, and Mr Freer does not disappoint.Be advised, there is a good deal of backstory at the beginning. He covers the genesis of a human diaspora, the creation of the first Stardogs, AND the foundational backstory for several of the main characters before the real story begins. There are also several caricature stereotypes between the evil emperor and his security chief and the League upper echelon. I did struggle a bit with some of the early chapters, but the tangled plotting was amusing and I enjoyed how the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was remade into a secret shadowy revolutionary force....and then there were sample chapters of another of his novels...I am going to go broke at this rate. Even with mistakes I truly enjoyed Stardogs.

I've enjoyed other books by Dave Freer - most especially "Dragon's Ring" and "Dog and Dragon".He's also contributed - enough to be a named author - to various multi-author books that I have enjoyed.I did not, unfortunately, enjoy this one.There are lots of little errors that a line editor would have caught - this is obviously a solo effort on Amazon CreateSpace; I've done that myself with a book of the same length; the author really has to proof-read each sentence separately and not "read the story".The first quarter of the book is a "Novel of ideas" - very difficult to write at all well, it's "Tell, not Show" writing; that bit almost seems to be world-building notes for the rest of the book.After that inauspicious beginning, a consistent set of characters emerges and the rest of the novel follows them.There is a strong echo of Larry Niven's polemics against "Water Kingdoms"; whilst I agree with that, the unrelieved 'anti' aspect becomes wearing.Progress is also very like A. E. van Vogt - a new, hitherto unsuspected, concept is thrown in every thousand words or so, in order to drive the plot a bit further.A very Disneylike aspect is the killing-off of those who betray the others TWICE, just after the second such.It took me four days to struggle through it - this size of book, if gripping, would usually take me just three hours; twice I stopped to re-read a novella by LMB (the two 'Penric' stories) as pure relief.The next of Dave's books that I read was "Changeling's Island" - same length - took me just three hours to read, in one session.It's also recently occurred to me that the life-cycle of the stardogs is uncannily similar to Terry Pratchett's "sundogs" in "Dark Side of the Sun". Subconscious echo, I think.

All in all a very entertaining book. The characters were quite believable. The story was very well contrived with poor and subplots intertyning.I have become fond of Freer's works .

This is a good book. Tightly plotted characters who are a mixture of villain and heroes. But one of the most interesting themes of this book is the power of loyalty, love and friendship. If you have read Dave Freer's other works you know what you will get.Now, when is the next one coming out?

Folks, buy this Book! It is a much different view, of the possibiulities for the way a star-spanning Culture will grow.I shall not give away the Stardog's life cycle. The idea is superb.

An very good first story with a poetic background (the stardog-human relation) interweaved with ancient myths, by a promising author. Just read it,