Rating: 
Summary: BIZARRE
Review: This book begins with a good premise, however a good premise not well executed leaves much to be desired. The main character is not at all well developed and deserving of absolutely no sympathy. The plot meanders and eventually trails off into bits and pieces with an extremely unsatisfying ending. I did, however, think the author deserved two stars for her clear writing style. Perhaps one should approach a debut novel with a little less originality.
Rating: 
Summary: A great read! Pity about the ending
Review: This is a book which I thought had stacks of potential, delivered for the most part and then ended in an anti-climax. Although not a traditional novel, the writing style was very fluid and was an easy read from cover to cover. The main strength of the novel is how it manages to make something so incredible actually believable. But the ending seemed to suggest that the author didn't know how to end it. All in all, a good read
Rating: 
Summary: Strange and Beautiful
Review: I loved this book. The story and characters haunted me for a long time. It's a very unusual novel and hard to classify or describe in a review. There is a lot of experimentation going on with language, ideas, etc. The book can be read on different levels. It is not really a parable about anything specific, but it's definitely not a straight sci-fi or fantasy tale either. It's some kind of odd hybrid I guess, but I thought it was very beautiful, it really affected me.
Rating:
Summary: (What's wrong with people?) A beautiful novel.
Review: It astonishes me that so many people feel free to lash out (often in strangely personal terms--why?) at a first-time novelist (especially such a gifted one) and at her magnificent novel. I don't want to respond to such people on their own terms (i.e., ad hominem) so I'll have to put this in general terms: "Lives of the Monster Dogs" is certainly not perfect down to its last detail; but as a whole (unquestionably, it seems to me) it takes incredible risks and--incredibly--succeeds in achieving its ambitions. Since when should we tell a first-time novelist to be less ambitious? Less imaginative? We should be grateful that Ms. Bakis and a few other original voices are out there on today's fairly predictable fiction scene. It seems to me that many of the criticisms of "Lives of the Monster Dogs" come from people with rather literal-minded requirements of a novel. I can't help but wonder why they even bothered to read a book that from the first page is staggeringly imaginative and original. This novel creates its own unique world and demands to be taken on its own terms. People who are upset to find elements of the book's plot or science implausible, for example, should probably be reading something else. (Computer manuals, perhaps.) Quite a few other readers seem to have been disappointed (and often--bizarrely enough--angered), because they didn't feel the novel lived up to what they consider its "hype." I think they may have confused "hype" and good reviews. There's a potential problem whenever you read too many rave reviews of a book (and "Lives of the Monster Dogs" got plenty of them): Your expectations may be raised impossibly high (consciously or unconsciously); and you may simply learn too many details of the book in advance--a lethal combination. The truth is that, as far as I could tell, this book was hardly promoted (or "hyped") at all. (I kept hoping Ms. Bakis would give a public reading in San Francisco, but when I called her publisher I was told that she didn't like being in the spotlight and probably wouldn't do a reading tour--"She thinks the book should stand or fall by itself" were, I'm pretty sure, the exact words the man I spoke to used.) "Lives of the Monster Dogs" seems to have succeeded entirely on the basis of ecstatic reviews and word-of-mouth. Which it completely deserves.
Rating: 
Summary: Bow Wow
Review: I wanted to like this book. I really did. But I couldn't. Perhaps Bakis should have started with something a little less ambitious. While the basic premise is good, I have to agree with all those reviewers who said it was not developed properly, the plot was thin and full of holes, and the characters unsympathetic. Like my old English teacher used to say--learn the mundane before attempting the fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: It's a dog
Review: I really wanted to like this book. A wonderfully creative concept serves as the story's skeleton, but the author's writing and plotting failed to bring the creation to life for me. Her prose style is occasionally luminous, but not often enough so to make up for gaping plot holes, a lackluster pace, and a weak-willed protagonist. Ultimately an unsatisfying read made all the more disappointing by the squandered potential of its high concept and an obviously talented writer unable to quite fit all the pieces together in this debut novel.
Rating:
Summary: My guess is that writers are a pompous lot
Review: Of course I haven't prejudiced my review in any way by actually READING this book, but I just had to note that the character "Augustus Rank" would, in my old neighborhood, be referred to by the more insightful name of "Big Stink."
Rating:
Summary: wow... fantasy at it's best
Review: If i had an ambition to write a book, this is the kind of book i would love to write.Are there more books like this one??
Rating:
Summary: Haunting, lyrical, poignant
Review: Don't let the storyline scare you away from this book! Not science fiction at all, but rather a meditation on creation, the nature of humanity, and connectedness. Hauntingly beautiful images rub shoulders with emotionally nuanced characters (particularly the narrator). A small gem.
Rating:
Summary: I fall on the positive side of the fence
Review: Everyone agrees that this book was based around a great idea; what divides reviewers is the execution of that idea. Well I thought it was magnificent. The dogs have burned themselves into my memory, and I can give no greater recommendation than that. I enjoyed the unfolding of the plot, within the context of the fantastic story it was natural and convincing. Characterisations were outstanding, and the ending was about as poignant as anything I have read for years.
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