January 2015, Acorn Independent Press, 96 pages, Hardback, Review copy
Content: lots of action, humour, some peril
Summary from Amazon (I don't gain anything by mentioning them)
Hello, the name's Bone, James Bone, and I'm just the dog to get you out
of trouble. Me and my other canine friends are busy working behind the
scenes on top-secret missions to keep this great nation of ours safe. We
risk our paws all over the globe so that you good people can carry on
in a civilised society. And after a hard day's work protecting our green
and pleasant land, I like to relax with my owner and celebrate with a
dish of water, shaken not stirred. You humans don't know how lucky you
are to have us coming to the rescue. Of course humans do have their
place, especially our politician owners, but some jobs are just too
big... they can only be sorted by CI6 (Canine Intelligence agency). One
such job was rescuing Her Royal Majesty the Queen when she was kidnapped
without a trace...
Nayu's thoughts
A very clever animal version of James
Bond, with other famous characters thrown in who readers may know,
and if they don't they can look them up. There's a lot of skill in
how the characters in some ways fit the stereotype of their fictional
selves which they are based on, and in others are unique to this
story. I have to add that I liked how the key political and royal
figures weren't named, only their position title was used so it could
have been anyone – I intensely dislike when real life people are
used as characters which interact heavily with other characters, as
it feels wrong to me because who knows how those people may react.
The
gadgets sounded like fun, and I loved the clothes the animals wear –
and I'm not usually fond of dogs & cats in clothes. The pen and
ink style illustrations are incredibly detailed, and I liked the way
only one other colour was
used to fill in a character's accessory. I certainly am looking
forward to the next book in this fun series!
Find out more on the dedicated website.
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