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REVIEW: The Diary of the Stray Dogs: The Wounded
3.9/5.0 Stars
Rating if the Book Were a Movie: R
Creative Team
Writer: Nigel Lynch
Art: Juan Carlos Francisco
Colors: Edward King Bola
Letters: Hoyte Williams
Cover: Juan Carlos Francisco, Matthew Clark
Editor: Richard Lynch, Kamaria Connell
Publisher: Beyond Publishing Caribbean
Ratings
Story: 4.2 Quills
Interior Artwork: 4.0 Quills
Cover Artwork: 4.0 Quills
Dialogue: 3.8 Quills
Mechanics: 3.6 Quills
Editing: 3.8 Quills
About the Book:
The Diary of the Stray Dogs: Wounded is set in the 22nd century and is the story of Shani Belcourt when a night that is supposed to be fun ends in tragedy with the loss of her best friend, Shani Belcourt soon finds herself in the middle of something that changes her forever.
Reviewer’s Notes:
The Diary of the Stray Dogs: Wounded, is a story that introduces us to the character Shani Belcourt. Starting off by giving us a small history about when the story takes place. We soon learn that Shani Belcourt and her best friend and on the job partner Alex Martinez become involved in something that cost’s the life of Alex and changes Shani’s life forever.
Putting Shani on a path that can be viewed as a path of vengeance as Shani tries to figure out what caused this life changing event and tries to make plans for what she predicts is coming.
Some stories that I have come across that start off like this tend to be slow. This one gives just enough backstory to allow the reader to see what’s coming. Going right into the rabid events that ultimately leads to the actions of the main character, I find the entire story arc intriguing.
Origin stories can be hard to gauge, sometimes they leave you wanting more or leaving you wanting to forget you read it in the first place. While that is a decision that is an individual thing, for me I fall in the line of wanting to read more. The story itself visually represents something I might see in the game Cyberpunk 2077 or experience over a tabletop game of Shadowrun, as the main character has bionic parts.
Either way I am a fan of those genres if they are done right. This one shows just enough to move the story forward but does not rely on it, nor does it distract from the story. The main character is written as a strong character that doesn’t cut any punches, leading to the development of a strong story.
Because of all of this I look forward to more from this story. Now while I enjoy this story it is not for everyone, it is definitely a story that is not for the faint of heart and is written and shown to be for a mature audience only. But I think going that direction allows for better storytelling in this genre. All of which make this a story that is worth following and allows for the possibility of even converting the story into something that could be used as a base for shadowrun tabletop games!
The cover shows the main character hiding against the wall and looking at a character that appears to be tracking her. While the color scheme of the background is more neon driven, the neon colors fits the scheme of the night life and or the visual sense that goes along with previously mentioned genres of Cyberpunk and Shadowrun, adding to the interest in this story for those that like those type of games or stories.
The interior artwork continues the theme that starts at the cover of the neon inspired tech and bionic filled world. The lines are clean and the colors are contrasting between bright, dark and neon as needed. The visual representation adds to the story, helping it drive forward and aids in making it into something the reader visually consumes that is unrelated to the words on the page. Making the story a well rounded enjoyment in the sci-fi genre.
All in all if you are a fan of the genre in my opinion that is represented in this story, then it will lead to things that have the ability to make things better through story telling both in art and words.
I hope you enjoyed this escapade into the archives. If you like this review, support the creators of this story. Thanks for reading!
