What it Takes to be a Good Dog
Dogs of War grabs you with action, then pulls off sharp pivots into a more contemplative legal and political thriller—never. I’m a sucker for stories with lean, exponential plots, and Tchaikovsky delivers.
While mainstream debates about AI are stuck in endless useless sound bites, this novel explores what nonhuman intelligence might look like. Tchaikovsky moves past the usual “ai versus humans” noise, and the result is smarter and fresher.
There’s also a different angle I could set down: the plot doubles as a blunt metaphor for our own need for hierarchy. Most of us, if we’re honest, spend our lives just trying to be “good dogs.”
I tore through this in one—coughing, sleepless, night. Honestly, I liked it more than his other series, and it serves as a great filler while sick.