The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

Minimal spoilers.

Title: The Dust of 100 Dogs
Author: A.S. King
Year of Publication: 2009
Genre: YA (This book is tough to define, though...I'm sure adults would enjoy it, too.)
Pages: 320
First Line: "With one last almighty roar, the Frenchman fell to his knees and died."

Summary: In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of one hundred dogs, dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body--with her memories intact.

Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

(Source: Back of book)



Review: I don't know what it is, guys, but this is the second EPIC book I have picked in a row. How awesome is that? It's tough to review this book. I can't tell you why it's so epic because that would ruin it. An interviewer at the end of the book says, "The Dust of 100 Dogs is really different than most of the novels I've read recently--it's especially difficult to describe without giving too much away,while still doing it justice." So really, just read it. This book is so incredibly smart. There are only a few qualms I had, mostly having to do with holes in the story. They weren't substantial or anything and really, it wouldn't have made a difference to the plot itself, but I would have been interested to hear about the first dog life among a few other things that were left out of the story.

Honestly, I can't tell you how glad I am I picked this up. At the end of the book, I felt stupid for not having seen the "twist" sooner, but it was so smart and epic that I disregarded my feelings of stupidity. But guys, really--it's brilliant. For your own good, read the bloody book.

Worst part: Uh...I guess throughout the novel, I felt there was a lot of useless stuff about a certain character but then I realized why it was there. But it was kind of annoying when it first started. And like I said about the holes above. But really, it's not like it made the book bad. Worst is a relative term.

Best part: The ending was just so clever!

Grade: A

Other Books by This Author: None.