The RIB: Dogged by Michael Fletcher

This was the first book I've read by Michael Fletcher. It's about the fall of a violent, tyrannical empire ruled by a demon emperor from the perspective of one of its most loyal soldiers, who's incredibly enthusiastic about the conquest of worlds and murder of innocents. Maybe this would be abhorrent to some, but Fletcher makes it work by making this soldier a dog. A friendly, tail-waving, unquestioning dog. Or wardog to be exact: Dogged Determination is a large bipedal wardog, who doesn't question her happy existence of slaughtering enemies of the empire until something goes wrong with one of the empire's magical portals, and it slices her mate, Vigilant Assurance, in half. Her emotions are clear, simple, and big on the page. She's determined to find out who killed her mate, which starts Dogged on the path of the killer. She's uniquely incompetent to investigate this, but gets a dispensation from the Demon Emperor's advisor to solve the mystery, with whatever resources she needs.…

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