This book had been sitting on my Kindle for years before I finally (virtually) cracked it open - and I’m so glad I did. I hugely enjoyed Children of Time by the same author, and I found many similar delights in this (much shorter) book. Tchaikovsky is clearly interested in questions of cognition, sentience, intelligence (however that may be defined), and who or what deserves to have rights. Rex, the part-dog “Bioform” protagonist of this book, may not be human, but he shares the concerns and desires that just about any human being would have: who am I, why am I, how can I tell right from wrong, how should I decide what to do, how responsible am I for my own actions - and what’s it all about anyway? His struggle for answers makes him tremendously appealing as a character. There’s a huge amount of humanity here - surprising for a book populated primarily by non-humans. A fun, moving read.

Further reading…