{Synopsis} – In the mid-21st century, dogs are all but extinct. An experiment gone awry caused every canine on Earth to become hyperintelligent. When as a species they stopped wagging their tails, hysteria ensued—followed by a program of mass euthanasia. Now the only surviving dogs are relegated to a sanctuary off the coast of Florida: Dog Island. There, they are studied in a wild, feral, and protected state. And there, too, their robot replacements are tested before being sold for mass consumption.
Seventeen-year-old Nano Miller was born and bred on Dog Island, as were her two best friends, Jack and Wolf. Life has been mostly wonderful except for annual heartbreak, when another robot dog is torn from her arms and replaced with the latest model. And more recently, there is the heartbreak of her brother, Billy, who vanished without a trace a year earlier. Wolf, there to console Nano, has suddenly become more than a friend. (Bad news for Jack.) With the excitement of a surprise first romance, Nano is happier than ever, in spite of her loss. But then she makes a discovery that upends everything she took for granted: a living puppy who wags its tail. And there is no way she is letting this dog go.
{My thoughts} – Nano is a sweet girl that has a love for animals. She lives in a world where a mass majority of the live “organic” animals have died out. There are very few organic digs left and they are kept on Dog Island where Nano and her family live.
In order for the vast population to experience what it is like to have a dog, they have replaced them with robot dogs. Robot dogs are really they only kind of dog Nano has ever been around, aside from when she goes with her mom to feed the organics on the island.
Nano is led to believe that they are doing what is in the best of the organics interest. When the organics breed the offspring is put to sleep with a special spray that everyone is told is to relieve their suffering. One day Nano goes with her mom to feed the organics and there are puppies. Nano decides to save one and then the entire story goes into a tailspin in an attempt to save and protect that puppy.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It made me think about how things could be without any real animals in the world. It showed that even when someone believes they are helping that they still have the potential to cause harm.
I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves animals. It will more then certainly cause you to laugh or cry or both periodically throughout its pages. It’s an incredibly enjoyable book and I hope to see more books from this author in the future.
Final Conclusion: 5 Star Rating.
