The Dog King

[sawyl]

Another episode in the exciting world of John Scalzi's The Human Division, in the form of The Dog King. And no, for the record, the dog in question isn't a corgi but a Lhasa apso.

Harry Wilson isn't exactly the star of the Clarke's latest diplomatic mission. Rather he has been given the job of looking after Ambasssador Philippa Waverly's dog, while the Ambassador has been given the tricky task of helping a group of aliens negotiate an end to their civil war in a way that is supposed to nudge them away from joining the Conclave and to persuade them to throw in their lot with the Colonial Union instead. But despite having Harry as nursemaid-cum-supersoldier to protect him, Tuffy the dog still manages to get himself and, by extension, the rest of the diplomatic mission, in a horrible pickle.

Primarily a comedy piece, The Dog King features some nice turns from some of the supporting characters. I especially liked the the Icheloe gardener whose dedication to keeping his head down largely contributes to the crisis and who proves that no matter how far you travel in Scalzi's universe there is always someone with no sense of proportion willing to record your personal crisis on their camera-phone (or weird alien equivalent thereof) for the enjoyment of everyone the internet (or weird alien equivalent thereof).

I'm not sure any big elements of the series arc were revealed, unless it's the strange news that the Colonial Union have been picking up spare parts for the Clarke from the junkyard or possibly Wilson's unorthodox solution to the Dog King problem but perhaps I've missed something.