📚心得【Dogs of War】 by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2017

#異種族視角 #多視角敘事 #bio_engineering #異種族人權 #退役老兵

故事發生在一個後Cyberpunk年代，駭客、電子病毒氾濫，戰爭多靠無人機進行，但被駭入、修改過多程式的無人機載著滿滿火力卻無法關閉，像二戰時的「地雷」一樣成為遺害、在戰場上四處遊蕩，大量土地因此再也無法居住，因此軍火商改以「DNA改造與編輯的動物」為替代商品，將人類與動物基因混合，讓他們有一定的人類智商與動物的身體。簡單來說，人類自己製造出了我們想像中的「異形外星人」。

老實說，這根本是在等意外發生啊…即使下了類似神經枷鎖的東西，反抗命令會痛苦，畢竟還是有智慧、有自我的生物，更扯到了許多人權問題，給無人機一定的能源、執行時間或病毒無法突破的程式枷鎖感覺更直接。

整體讀下來，章節之間的切換不是很順，像是在閱讀不同角色所記錄的日記，且時間段跨越，上一個章節還在講戰場上的狗科主角、下一章卻切到人類律師視角去，兩個章節之間也幾乎沒有過渡階段就跨越了數年。

第一人稱的角色變換過度頻繁、相互之間語法與邏輯觀點也有不同，再加上敘事跳躍，其實有些難想像，生出《Children of Time》這個神作的Adrian，好像在《Dogs of War》上文筆退步不少。不過，後來知道Adrian的習慣是"一年出一本書"，而這本是閒暇時間拼湊、寫出來的，就比較能理解了。

核心思想上，作者花了蠻多的篇幅在討論「有基本智慧的生物，是否擁有人權？是否能工作、領薪水、擁有資產？這些"兵器"退役後，該如何融入人類社會中生活？是否因為具有天生的武器，就必須一輩子被追蹤，以免犯罪或不受控制？」

故事中不少作為兵器被合成的生物，退役後就像二戰後老兵歸國後一樣，不具任何戰鬥以外的技能，腦袋大多也沒有人類靈活，因此只能在"無能的自由"與"被綁住的守備警衛工作"兩者之間做選擇；而從動物的視角來看，"不敢在自己身上實驗、舉著人權旗幟、只敢修改動物DNA"才是最故步自封、拒絕進化的行為。

整體設定上，先不說動物基因改造的技術性問題，就因為軍隊駭客竄改敵方無人機原始碼、電子病毒過於氾濫，就改發展生化改造科技？根本就不合理吧，這些動物兵器要受人類控制，一樣要埋入GPS、神經刺激晶片、語言轉換模組等，才能被追蹤、聽懂人類命令，這些系統只要還接收外界訊息，就肯定有被破解、感染電子病毒的可能性，這樣原本的問題還不是沒解決，還不如想辦法克服電子入侵與病毒問題…至少作者在這方面沒有給有足夠說服力的解釋。

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IMO總分：65分，雖然討論了有趣的議題，但只是像日記般破碎的普作。

核心思想：★★★★★ 核心討論議題是否有趣*5

劇情細節：★★★☆☆ 綜觀整體劇情的質與量*4

角色刻畫：★★★★☆ 角色群的必要性與深度*3

科學軟硬：★★☆☆☆ 是否符合現實物理現象*3

結局滿意：★★☆☆☆ 結局滿意度與有無餘韻*3

易讀程度：★★☆☆☆ 閱讀時章節是否難消化*2

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#Alien_Perspectives #Bio_Engineering #Alien_Rights #Retired_Veterans

The story is set in a post-cyberpunk era where hacking and electronic viruses are rampant, and wars are mostly fought using drones. However, these drones, overloaded with hacked and modified programs, cannot be turned off and roam the battlefield like "landmines" after World War II, rendering vast areas of land uninhabitable. As a result, arms dealers turned to the use of "bio-engineered animals" as substitutes, creating beings with a mix of human and animal genes, possessing rudimentary human intelligence for loyalty and execution and animal bodies. In essence, humanity has created its own version of the "alien creatures" we imagine.

Frankly, this setup feels like an accident waiting to happen... Even with neural locks in place that make disobedience painful, these are still sentient beings with self-awareness. It seems more straightforward to just give the drones energy sources and operational time limits, or better programmatic constraints that the viruses can't surpass rather than deal with the complexities of living creatures.

Overall, the transitions between chapters feel disjointed, almost like reading a series of diary entries from different characters. One chapter might focus on the dog-like protagonist on the battlefield, and the next jumps to the perspective of a human lawyer, skipping years in between without much transition.

Adrian, who created the masterpiece《Children of Time》, seems to have regressed somewhat in writing style here. However, learning that Adrian's habit is to publish "one book per year" and that this one was pieced together during downtime explains things a bit more clearly.

The core idea revolves around whether beings with basic intelligence should be granted human rights. Should they be allowed to work, earn salaries, own assets? What happens to these "weapons" after retirement? Should they be monitored for life due to their biological enhancements simply because they might commit crimes or become uncontrollable?

Many of the biomechanical creatures in the story, once retired, find themselves in a situation similar to soldiers returning from war. Without any skills beyond combat and with minds not as flexible as humans, they are forced to choose between "useless freedom" and "being tied down in security guard roles."

From the animals' perspective, it's ironically short-sighted for humanity to claim human rights while only modifying animal DNA without experimenting on themselves — a refusal to self artificial evolution.

Setting aside the technical issues of animal genetic modification, it feels illogical for armies to resort to bioengineering because of hacked drone source codes and rampant electronic viruses. These biological weapons still need GPS tracking, neural stimulation chips, and language conversion modules to be controlled, all of which could potentially be hacked or infected by viruses, failing to solve the original problem. It would make more sense to focus on overcoming electronic invasions and virus issues instead.

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IMO Rating: 65. Despite tackling interesting themes, it feels fragmented like diary entries, making it hard to read.

Core Theme: ★★★★★ (*5)

Plot Quality: ★★★☆☆ (*4)

Character Development: ★★★★☆ (*3)

Science Validity: ★★☆☆☆ (*3)

Ending Satisfaction: ★★☆☆☆ (*3)

Readability: ★★☆☆☆ (*2)