Positive that the war of the future should not require human casualties, Air Force researchers have been working on machines that will do the fighting in the human’s stead. But these fighters are not purely metal, they are cyborgs: coats of armor attached to implants in an animal. The three original prototypes consist of a dog, a cat, and a rabbit. Named 1, 2, and 3, together they comprise WE3. Each possesses skills that are reflective of their host animal and working together as a team they are dynamic and fearsome. As weapons, they are ruthless and programmable, but also maintain some autonomy.
I had seen this book several times, but was initially turned off by the front picture of the three animals in their mechanical suits. Convinced that it was just another book full of big robot battles and not much depth, I was judging a book by its cover and was completely wrong about the story. For at the heart of the plot, and of the suits, are the three animals. This is horror, but the terror comes not from the copious amounts of blood sprayed around the dark pages or the shock of sudden violent deaths, but rather from the slow-building dismay and revulsion you experience as the contrast between the past lives of the animals as beloved companions and their current weaponized state gains clarity. Three separate Lost Animal posters are scattered through the first part of the book, and the distress over their missing animals by their owners is conveyed in heartbreaking fashion through the personal photos that are attached and especially, in the case of the rabbit, by the childish scrawls of the unhappy young owners.
The innocence of the animals, with their vague memories of a faraway place called “home,” and their strong will to survive and be safe, clash against the efforts of the humans who are convinced that they need to be decommissioned and destroyed. At the back of the story is an examination of the morality of war and the struggle to face the ethics of what science has so ruthlessly created.
Gripping, atmospheric, and unsettling, this is a story which will stay with you for a while after you have read it.
Recommended for readers of graphic novels and horror.
Search the catalog for WE3.
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Reblogged this on Greatpoetrymhf's Weblog.
I had never heard of this, but you’ve sold me. I’m a big Grant Morrison guy and I love horror. Can’t wait!
Hope you enjoy it! I would also recommend, in case you haven’t already read it, Happy! by Grant Morrison. It’s dark story with a cynical anti-hero, but read it for the title character. http://catalog.wrl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&term=663543.
Thank you for the review. I have been looking for some SF to read and I will take a look at this one in my library.