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Why just post a spotlight of this novel when I can rave about it, too?

Dogged

by Michael R. Fletcher

DETAILS:
Publication Date: December 8, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 293 pg.
Read Date: December 20-23, 2025

What’s Dogged About?

Dogged Determination and her mate, Vigilant Aggression, are Wardogs, a canine-humanoid race. They, like the rest of their squad are dedicated to going to other worlds to spread the Emperor’s peace (which could look like conquering a civilization and subduing the populace to someone who isn’t a Wardog). One fateful day, they are marching in formation through a wizard’s portal off to the next mission, and the unthinkable happens—the portal collapses, and the line in front of Dogged is caught half-in/half-out of the portal, leaving chunks (for lack of a better word) of the soldiers on each side.

She and her Kennel Master, stunned, go to report to the Emperor and get the permission of one of the advisors for Dogged to investigate what happened.

The one thing that she has going for her is her determination (she’s aptly named)—when she starts something, she sees it through. She’s not the brightest, she’s not subtle, putting together clues is not probably where she’ll shine But she will not stop looking until she knows what happened to her mate, the others, and why.

The Humans

Along the way she inspires the interest—and eventually loyalty—of the first mate of a commercial ship. Well, acting captain of a ship following a dispute between Dogged and his former captain. There’s sort of a friendship that builds between the two, and Balen sees that Dogged’s just not up for the task ahead of her and decides to help her out—basically acting as her human to Wardog translator. Not long after that, they encounter an elementalist who joins up with them.

The three of them together form a new pack of sorts, providing a kind of connection that Dogged was unprepared for and didn’t seem to know was possible. I don’t want to overplay this idea, but it’s really like Balen and Sahar found a lonely and sad dog at a rescue shelter and decided to bring her home with them. And in them, Dogged may have found her forever home (at least emotionally).

The Tone

Dogged is the best kind of unreliable narrator—she’s not lying (deception is hard for her), but her understanding of the world and people outside her experience and training is limited, so the reader will constantly be interpreting her first-person narration. Like any good dog, her observations and reactions will make an observer smile.

At the same time, Dogged is a warrior. She is great with a spear—and not bad with (human-sized) bladed weapons. But even without that, she’s a walking weapon: full sets of claws at the end of her hands, vicious and sharp teeth, and strength to go up against Conan and his mighty thews. And, yes, she’s trying to learn new ways of dealing with problems and questions—she’s being forced to, anyway. But for her entire life, all she’s ever been given to use is a hammer—every instinct, reflex, and response he has is to treat things as nails.

A lot of blood gets spilled, organs are torn, limbs are severed—starting in the opening scene, and it doesn’t let up.

You get this great mix of bloody violence, canine innocence, and heart. It’s hard to explain—but Fletcher pulled off something fantastic here.

So, what did I think about Dogged?

I think I just said it. This is a fantastic read.

The cover appealed to me and made me look into it. Some of the reviews—starting with Andy Peloquin’s—convinced me that I’d probably enjoy this book. Boy howdy, did they undersell it.

On some other day, I might not have relished this the way I did. But there’s no day where I don’t have an absolute great time with it.

I’m on the verge of overhyping this here. I don’t know what else to say that’s not potentially overblown.

This was the right book for me at the right time—I didn’t expect it, but it’s the case. One of my favorites of 2025—probably the 2020s as a whole. I dunno—let me get some distance on it before I start saying things like that.

I’m just telling ya—get this, you won’t be sorry.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post—I read the book because I wanted to, and the opinions expressed are my own.