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Rundog by J.O. Quantaman is a the story of a Norwegian/Japanese girl who escapes from sexual slavery to taken in and trained by ninja-enforcers for a utopian co-op. If that doesn't grab your interest, what if I told you it was self-published?

Yeah, me either.  Still, I read the first paragraph. Then I kept going.

The book runs with two stories which, unless you aren't paying any attention are a past/present view of the time line. One is a real time counter-intrusion story which details Kazuo, a security chief, as he attempts to deal with an exceptionally skilled intruder in the facility for which he is responsible and the other is the My Fair Lady/Ninja story. Both are quite tight and Quantaman has a good eye for technology and social constructs. Plus he describes the coming of airships as an environmental alternative to airplanes which just makes me feel happy and excited.

Now there is one minor problem with the book and that is that there is heaps of exposition. The author is very enamoured with the world they have created and works very hard to make sure that we are aware of not just all of its facets but also all of the ways that it improves on our current miserable existence. Now, I agree with many of the ideas that the author has come up with but I think that the presentation by characters who are being interrogated by the main character was a little sloppy and often seemed to slip out of the character's voice and into the author's.

In many ways these exposition sections had a tendency to read like descriptions in a role-playing game (which probably explains why I didn't mind so much). It was also slightly too utopian for my tastes, making the characters doing the describing it, sound a little brainwashed (which only added to the character/author voice problem).

Still, even with these problems, this book was a fun read and I always appreciate an author who can wrap up a story but leave options for continuation. I am looking forward to the next installment and I hope that the author will allow more of his characters to explain things in their own way.

John Enzinas reads frequently and passionately. In his spare time he plays with swords.