Sorry if I hadn't posted a review for this book. My life had major changes and I had a hard time finding time to read.

This book dragged on for way too long. It was not engaging, and I could barely finish it. The art was lovely, and I understand the intent, but the execution fell flat

Thank you Netgally and publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review

There aren't very many dystopian middle grade novels that have been recently released, so this one had me intrigued. This is a novel in verse/narrative broken into chunks of thought. D-39 is about a girl and a robotic dog in an apocalyptic civil war setting. Klynt, the main character, was so brave, and it was easy to root for her the entire novel. She was a real and a relatable character, especially for younger readers. I love that she was able to find courage and hope through her difficult journey and the situations she went through.

I’ve been craving dystopian middle grade lit. I was enthralled with The Middler by Kirsty Applebaum and haven’t really found many others. What was unique about D-39 is that it was written in a free verse form and the final word of each “chapter” was the chapter title for the following chapter. It was quirky and I was very intrigued with the world it was set in.

While technically this is a verse novel, in large part it reads as a traditional narrative, just broken up into little chunks of thought. Snapshots, really. The first section is fairly positive, showing us how Klynt and the others live. It's just life as they know it. It takes a fairly sharp turn at the halfway point, becoming more of a survival story. Those early chapters get us engaged. The later chapters give the narrative meaning. It's a bleaker world than we typically see in middle grade fiction but that makes it more compelling. The unique vocabulary is a touch confusing at first but a dedicated reader will quickly make sense of it.

This verse novel about a girl and a robotic dog in an apocalyptic civil war setting was trying to be a lot of things. A story about the future, family, love, escape, survival, violence, and nature. I appreciated the directness of the main character and the relationship between her and her neighbor/travel companion a lot. But I was also incredibly frustrated by this book. The plot developments were often either trite or boring. I found a lot of the side characters annoying or underdeveloped. The plot twists were underwhelming. Most of all, however, I absolutely hated the neologisms used extremely frequently throughout. They serve no real purpose and just annoyed me.

Maybe others will feel differently about this book, but I believe you absolutely have to love neologisms to enjoy it.

This book was unlike any I've read before and it was beautiful for it. The vocabulary was hard to understand in the beginning, but it added so much to the story. The verse format cemented that this was a child's brain we were in, everything was connected, yet separate. And finally the story itself was riveting. K-K is amazing and her adventures with D-39 and Papa were thrilling and nervous-wracking and brilliant. My favorite part was without a doubt, the ending. There is no magical tie-up, but K-K ends the story with the family she's always needed, rather than the one she wanted, and she's better for it.

I would like to thank Charlesbridge Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

D-39: A Robodog's Journey by Irene Latham is a story of hope, courage, and survival in the midst of violence because of civil war. I just love dogs, so when I saw the title and the cover, I was expecting that the main focus would be on the dog's perspective, but it was mostly about the girl Klynt.

The story followed Klynt a young tinkerer who lived with her father in a farm of the Worseland. She kept storing things of the past in her Museum of Fond Memories. A D-39 robodog showed up in their farm, she felt a connection with it and adopted the robodog as her pet since real dogs where all killed by the government because they were carriers of a deadly virus. When the war reached their place, Klynt was separated from his father. With continued effort and determination, she and D-39 had to go on a journey to find a safe place for both of them.

If you like slow, atmospheric pacing, this book is for you. Although the dystopian setting was not quite explain, since readers would only get the snippets of information through what the media mentioned in the story. The virus, BrkX, which the dogs were carriers was not explain as well. I was not able to understand the heavy implication of it to the point the government had to decide a drastic measure of killing all the dogs. On the other hand, the writing style was quirky. I liked how the word at the end of each chapter started a new one. There were also some made-up words which I got used to eventually and I appreciated the glossary at the end of the book.

Klynt was a brave character, and you would root for her throughout the journey. Of course, D-39 was an adorable side character as well. Klynt had this positive attitude, so I really liked how the author also included her worries and fears as well. This made her more real and a relatable character, especially for younger readers. She went through hard themes and subjects that highlighted her perseverance.

Overall, D-39: A Robodog's Journey is a story of finding courage and hope in difficult circumstances. I enjoyed this story and I am looking forward to more books like this one.

3.5 stars!

I gave this one a good effort, but I couldn't get into the story and decided to DNF it at 20%. While I appreciate authors attempting to include interesting world-building and slang for a futuristic earth world, this one felt like it was doing too much and trying too hard for a middle grade novel. I couldn't understand what was happening most of the time, and it failed to capture my interest like I had hoped.

I like the idea of splitting the story into "sections" with the last word of the section the heading/opening of the next section. That was an interesting way to tell a story, but I found that writing style to come across boring. Most of what I read was telling instead of showing, which left me uninterested in the character or plot.

Thanks to NetGalley & Charlesbridge for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. I, unfortunately, had to DNF at 50%.

D-39 is a realistic robot dog that comes into the care of Klynt, a mechanical tinkerer living with her father in a dystopian wasteland and hoping her mother will come back one day.

The title made it seem like it'd be more about the dog and it kinda is, but it's mostly about Klynt. I really like the dystopian setting and found it interesting, I just mainly couldn't get past the writing.

There's a ton of made-up words in here like "poopflush" (toilet) "bombblast" (bomb) "dripface" (cry). I can't take them seriously at all, they're ridiculous to me. Bombblast reminds me too much of Jar Jar Binks. It's a mix of English and Jar Jar Binks language. Too weird! It's sad though, because the setting is really interesting.

I also wasn't a fan of the reasoning behind this dystopian setting. Dogs were banned due to a disease that spread from dogs to humans. Now there's war. Like, seriously? Hahhaha. I guess cats got out okay? Birds? I mean, I guess I am typing this while in a pandemic that began through a bat, but at least bats aren't banned. So it's probably just me unable to suspend disbelief to enjoy the story.

A cool dystopian story, if you can get past the "quirky" writing style.

Dystopia, in free verse with some created vocabulary. During a US civil war, 12 year old Klynt, living in the desolate Worselands as the conflict intensifies, finds a vintage robodog, D-39. After spending weeks hiding from robofighters in an underground burrow, Klynt, D-39, and a young friend cross a post-apocalyptic war zone in hopes of finding Klynt’s mother. This is an unusual story, but an engaging one, of determination and grit and facing difficult truths, and finally, trusting oneself.

It's a fun read.
I picked the book because the cover has a dog. The the plot and the vocabularies are suitable for upper elementary school students.

This was a really interesting read. I'm going to be honest, I only picked it because of the dog but this book was so much more than I thought it would be!
The language in this book took some getting used to but once you do its really interesting. The wording is similar to what we all use everyday but just a little bit off. It feels very much like something a child growing up in a post-apocalyptic world would create.
Speaking of the setting of this book is great! The whole post-apocalyptic vibe is amazing especially set against the farming community the MC finds herself in. While we still get an idea of the bigger picture of things from what is mentioned in the media. It as a truly masterful setup.
My only real concern about this book is the formatting. I'm not exactly sure why it formatted the way it is. It doesn't really add to the story in any meaningful way. In this point it just felt like the author was trying to do something unique and eye catching but it wasn't needed.
This was a really interesting book with a lot more than I was expecting. This book deals with some hard subjects but it does so in a unique way that really adds to the story. This is definitely something I will be recommending to my customers. This is one of those rare middle grade books that seems to transcend age and gender. I am definitely excited to get to talk up and hype this read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the early review copy.

Well I was here based partly on the publisher's renown, and the fact this was billed as a novel in verse. It's nothing like. The quirk it has instead is that it is in large font, with large separations between each paragraph, and the last word or words of each tiny chapter form the heading of the next.

The next thing to do is, of course, give a summary. We have Klynt, aka 'sugar girl' as her dad calls her, living with a void where her mother used to be on a farm in the middle of nowhere. These are the Worselands (har har), and this is a time of rioting, violence, civil war almost, and copious hardships. Oh, and a virus that was threatening to jump species means all the dogs of the land have been put down, so when a robot dog of the D-39 class turns up, it's ideal for tech-head, STEM-ready Klynt.

Ready Klynt is to yack at us in the vernacular of the day, which doesn't make me quirkface (smile), but there you go. I guess this is what they mean by verse, in that we get this poetic technique of kenning new terms for, well, almost everything – noises of warfare, warfare itself, bodily functions... There's certainly a place for this in a book for this audience, but it is dumped on us so readily from the off that it will only confuse, and the reader told that knocking these 450pp off in a couple of hours would give a great sense of achievement could well get turned against the whole idea quite smartish.

"Tish tosh!" I said when presented with the alleged big twist, that I certainly saw coming. The whole premise of the place where the grass is allegedly greener, that Klynt and D-39 end up heading towards, isn't the most logical in the world of young literature, either. So what we end up with is a bit of a mish-mash, even if an entertaining mish-mash. It reads for a teen audience, yet has a cartoonish cover and a font size perfect for the young reader (or us much older ones with dicky vision). It takes quite childish things and gives them much more serious, mature import – and that is to be welcomed if it still ends up accessible. I'm not sure that this was, and I left it not disappointed I'd spent my time with it, but certain there was too much of a muddle as to whom it could be most successfully pitched. Three and a half stars.