• The Dog King

  • The Human Division, Episode 7
  • By: John Scalzi
  • Narrated by: William Dufris
  • Length: 58 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (994 ratings)

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The Dog King  By  cover art

The Dog King

By: John Scalzi
Narrated by: William Dufris
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Publisher's summary

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse.

"The Dog King" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Listen to the complete edition of The Human Division, the fifth full-length book by John Scalzi in the Old Man's War universe.
©2012 John Scalzi (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Dog King

Average customer ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Best Episode Yet!!!!

I really liked this episode.
A bit different than the rest, there are several funny points here, Wilson is a good character....

And c'mon, a title that says "the dog king" is interesting in a space theme book. What is really good in this series is how everyone keeps on pointing the blame and faluts toward Wilson.

Cheers

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Wondering if This Series is For You?

If you've been keeping an eye on this series, but haven't been sure whether to give it a shot or not, this is the episode for you. It's under an hour long, filled with fun SF stuff, humor, dog-eating alien plants (relax, it's totally fine), and completely self-contained, and as entertaining as you'd expect from Scalzi.

I personally found it to be the right balance of ridiculous SF fun at the ideal length. For less than a dollar, it's hard to beat.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Delightful Short Story

In my opinion, this book is the only standalone story in this series since The B-Team (first episode). It is clever and humorous, yet within the realm of The Human Division sci-fi background. I would definitely recommend this for a light 58-minute listen!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Top Notch!

This is a very good but short story. Great narration. Kept me smiling the hole listen.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

sci-fi with humor

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This story has a serious subject - peace in the universe- (or at least "lets have enough friends to scare off the enemies") - but the fate of a cute puppy could make or break diplomatic talks.

What did you like best about this story?

the real emotions and the fun elements.

Have you listened to any of William Dufris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I loved the narration. One man can get so many tones to make the storey seamless. I love it when one character is angry with another and I just forgot it was all being read by one person.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It takes a lot for a book to make me laugh or cry, but this one kept me interested and brought a smile once or twice.

Any additional comments?

Great series so far. I have my favourite characters but even the stories with a different focus keep me interested.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

another fun story

John Scalzi has a wit and comes up with some fun stories. The narrator brings Wilson to life.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Entertaining from Beginning to End

This is a quick and thoroughly enjoyable short story in Scalzi’s Human Division series. The Colonial Union attempts to resolve a two-hundred-year-old civil war on an alien planet in an effort to boost their credibility against their larger alien enemies. As the diplomatic maneuverings come to a close, something strange happens to the ambassador’s dog threatening to throw everything that’s been accomplished out the window.

Frankly, there is nothing in this story that is even remotely surprising except perhaps the ultimate solution to the problem. The first crisis and the surprise are totally predictable—and yet, that only enriched my enjoyment of the tale. It’s nice to occasionally see the problem ahead of the hero and figure out the complication as well. Scalzi makes the diplomatic crisis have a humorous tone that kept me smiling from beginning to end

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

very enjoyable short read

john Scalzi's typical wry humor makes this yet another amusing bit if Harry Wilson eventful & always unorthodox. diplomatic career

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very cute.

Narrator is as good as ever (very good). The story may be considered a bit too cute by some, but recent SF as a genre suffers from too many heavy messages IMHO. This one is not one of those.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • eh
  • 06-17-20

Not a good enough story to keep my interest

This one has ended my interest in this story line. Frankly it was lame. The author was seriously reaching here. Clearly out of ideas.

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