King of Dogs

Life Is the Training Ground for Death

By: Andrew Edwards

Narrated by: Andrew Edwards

Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

As a Soviet-style collapse unfolds in America, Grayson, equal parts philosopher and warrior but legitimately neither, makes a death-bed promise to watch over a couple with a child on the way.

Driven by his own severe loss, he must make good on his promise and carry the psychic consequences as he races headlong into the fallout of our imploding civilization.

Set in the hallucinatory desert southwest, populated with hunter-killer teams, and awash with refugees, third-country mercenaries, and hostile, conspiring elites, King of Dogs pits the beauty of language and Western philosophical ideals against the deep depravity and violent decay of our times.

Andrew Edwards was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He currently lives in Montana with his girlfriend and dog. In addition to writing novels, short nonfiction, and stories, he has worked as a survival instructor, ranch hand, tradesman, and professional driver. You can follow Andrew’s ongoing projects, written and other, at goldengoatguild.net.

©2019 Andrew Edwards (P)2020 Andrew Edwards

I am grateful that Audible recommended this title to Me

KODs is the best bleeding-edge fiction novel I’ve listened to. Listening to Edwards read his own work is like listening to poetry. In a genre typically lacking artful prose & literary prowess, Edwards ups the ante. This novel makes me want to go to Moab or slink around another desert town at night.

The themes, setting, & plot in KODs will wring the hearts of true Americans for at least a few reasons but mostly because it is a Western. If you’re one of our “type of American” you’d do well to buy hard copies of this one and make your son read it when he’s in 7th grade. I would be proud to have a son like Grayson.

“Treachery is no small offense.”

A possible future, heroism in bleakness

Very much enjoyed this book and often found myself comparing it to works by Cormac McCarthy, in many ways. Not to say it is derivative in any sense, but a true complement to the beauty in violence and bleak situations contained in the story.

The author created a very believable near future for the balkanization of America. Specifically how oligarchs and PMCs will thrive in this time, and the type of personal character that may allow someone to survive through such events. It is certainly thought provoking for those that might see such a likely road ahead.

Many praises to the author's writing skill, and thoughtfulness in verbiage, it all manages to be very engrossing even when some suspension of disbelief might be necessary for the main character's odds of survival.

I think the narrator did mostly a fine job, but the audio was sometimes not quite professional level and occasionally you could tell the narrator was probably tired of speaking out loud. That said, it wasn't too distracting, and I'd certainly listen to future works by this publisher and narrator, It would just be nice if a little more professionalism was added to the recording and post-processing.

Overall, highly recommend!

Absolutely outstanding

Incredible debut for this author. I will be longing for his next release.

Deeply philosophical, gritty, darkly humorous at times, King of Dogs grabs you from the beginning at doesn’t let go, not even at the end. It will hold your thoughts even after the prose is over. A truly excellent, and timely, story.

loyal man in a disloyal time

This book was recommended to me by a friend. At first I was skeptical on how well written it would be, as there have been many books written on a post collapse scenario. However, my initial thoughts were quickly put to rest. Andrew Edwards does a very good job of properly crafting the scenario in this book. The scenario is directly based upon historical events and current trends, which is what makes this book so enjoyable to someone who loves history and current affairs. This is most certainly not a random fantasy crafted by a man with too much time on his hands.

The biggest takeaway from this story for me, is the disloyalty expressed by everyone around the main character, and the loyalty that the main character holds to his friend.

I am definitely better off having experienced this story and would recommend it to anyone, especially those who aren't extremely well versed in politics, history and current affairs, as this would give a good starting point for their understanding of it

Better with each pass

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Everything is both understated and overstated. I’m not sure how this balance is achieved but it is. And it works. An understanding of orthodox Christianity isn’t necessary but will help you understand the protagonist better. Wonderfully done.

Compelling subject matter, hard to follow writing

I'm not sure whether or not it was due to trying to listen to this while I was working, but I found it incredibly difficult to keep up with where the character was or what was going at most points of the plot. The only scene which I felt I was truly able to keep up was when Grayson was being hunted, and even then I'm not even sure how he ended up there.

There were issues with pacing with the author's prose that irritated me. Using the aforementioned scene again, there were multiple points during the character being hunted by multiple people, dogs, and even a helicopter, where the prose breaks from the action to give the characters deep, well thought out plan of action. I don't think in such a situation anyone would be thinking things out in such detail, or thinking much of anything other than RUN.

The author also goes on these odd, extremely high detailed tangents to describe how some object shimmered. I wish the effort was spent on fleshing out the environment moreso than simply seeming to flex his ability to write vivid, poetic depictions of random, inconsequential things.

The main character starts preaching at the audience well before any kind of grounds are laid for the audience to get invested in him. I like and agree with his philosophical insights, it just felt a little ham fisted at times.

All those criticisms aside, it was a very somber, yet grounded story that didn't force the audience to suspend their disbelief all too much as it tends to stay within the expectations of a grim, all-too-near future.

Terrible narrator

A bored bar mitzvah performance has more chutzpah than this guy. I couldn’t pay attention to this one because the reading was so unenthused.