Guinness is the last picked from her litter. She goes through a lot of training and eventually ends up in the military. Later in the book, she leaves the military to become a guard dog of sorts.
I'm not sure where to start with this book. When the age range said 12-18, I figured it was going to be a bit on the lighter side. I was wrong. People died. Dogs died. Dogs were injured. Guinness lost hope and wanted to die. It was a bit much.
This is a work of fiction. And yes, of course it is, but what I mean is it isn't a "based on true events" kind of memoir like Warrior Dog or Senior Chief Turbo. The author had the artistic license to do what she wanted with the story, and she chose this. Death, maiming and sadness. And that's her choice, but there's also a 12-18 age range on this book. I would never let my 12-year-old read this. We're the type of family that is more upset when the dog dies in a movie than the people, and the content warning is hidden under the 'Read More' section of the summary. And the warning was for "graphic war scenes." Those weren't even what bothered me!
This is my personal preference. I don't know why the author chose to give Guinness such a backstory, but if you want to read more about the dog's story, the author recommends her medical thriller called Mercy. She warns that it's not a "kid-friendly dog memoir," and I would almost argue that neither is this. It may have a cute puppy on the cover, but if you're a massive dog lover, go in knowing it's going to be a rollercoaster.
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