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inkandplasma 's review for:
The Left Hand of Dog
by Si Clarke
Full review live on my blog, 6th September 2021: https://inkandplasma.com/2021/09/06/the-left-hand-of-dog/
Thanks to SI Clarke for the eARC of this book. It has not affected my honest review.
This was such a strange book. I'd recommend it for fans of SJ Whitby and Becky Chambers, and I'm so glad I read this delightful story. It's a quick read, not least because once you get started it's too much fun to put down. Honestly, once you hit the part where Spock (who is the best dog in the world ever) starts talking to Lem, her owner (companion? master? spouse?), I challenge anyone to put it down again before you've finished.
I'm a sucker for first contact books, and while this isn't quite that, we certainly get a lot of that energy. Lem is abducted by adorable intergalactic bounty hunters, and they are completely out of their depth. What a way to find out aliens are real. One of my absolute favourite things about this book was the translation software. A universe that is used to different species colliding would have to have a solution for the language problem, and in The Left Hand of Dog we have this incredible system that translates into not only a language each individual will understand, but words that they will understand. I loved the miscommunications this caused, but also the way that this allowed me to suspend my disbelief without complicated sci-fi bullshit.
It also let SI Clarke fill this book with pop culture references galore, as Lem tried to compare the universe around them with the world they know from TV and books. The pop culture references were so fun and handled in a way that made them fun to spot without ruining the narrative when I occasionally didn't get one or two. There's an art form to that which SI Clarke pulled off really well, making them fun without being overwhelming or annoying. Each alien culture was so different and varied, and I adored them all. Particularly one planet, where the native species didn't have the concept of questions in their society, and how this repeatedly tripped up our main cast.
The main cast itself was perfect. I absolutely adored them all. Each member of this rag-tag escape team had their own quirks and strange habits, and they gave me such strong found family vibes that I fell completely in love with them all. I can't wait for the next book in the Starship Teapot series.
Thanks to SI Clarke for the eARC of this book. It has not affected my honest review.
This was such a strange book. I'd recommend it for fans of SJ Whitby and Becky Chambers, and I'm so glad I read this delightful story. It's a quick read, not least because once you get started it's too much fun to put down. Honestly, once you hit the part where Spock (who is the best dog in the world ever) starts talking to Lem, her owner (companion? master? spouse?), I challenge anyone to put it down again before you've finished.
I'm a sucker for first contact books, and while this isn't quite that, we certainly get a lot of that energy. Lem is abducted by adorable intergalactic bounty hunters, and they are completely out of their depth. What a way to find out aliens are real. One of my absolute favourite things about this book was the translation software. A universe that is used to different species colliding would have to have a solution for the language problem, and in The Left Hand of Dog we have this incredible system that translates into not only a language each individual will understand, but words that they will understand. I loved the miscommunications this caused, but also the way that this allowed me to suspend my disbelief without complicated sci-fi bullshit.
It also let SI Clarke fill this book with pop culture references galore, as Lem tried to compare the universe around them with the world they know from TV and books. The pop culture references were so fun and handled in a way that made them fun to spot without ruining the narrative when I occasionally didn't get one or two. There's an art form to that which SI Clarke pulled off really well, making them fun without being overwhelming or annoying. Each alien culture was so different and varied, and I adored them all. Particularly one planet, where the native species didn't have the concept of questions in their society, and how this repeatedly tripped up our main cast.
The main cast itself was perfect. I absolutely adored them all. Each member of this rag-tag escape team had their own quirks and strange habits, and they gave me such strong found family vibes that I fell completely in love with them all. I can't wait for the next book in the Starship Teapot series.