‘The City that Barks and Roars’ by award winning stand-up comedian J. T. Bird is a fun detective fiction where the characters are all animals, as the title suggests. The book title and the cover are pretty amazing, and grabbed my attention almost immediately. The title, however, refers more to the realm the book is set in rather than the story itself.

The story kicks off with the abduction of Lucas Panda, a passionate detective from Noah's Kingdom. With the wonderful initiation, the author takes us on an adventurous and humorous journey of unraveling the mystery with a diverse squad- young and ebullient Charlie aka Chico monkey, serious yet caring Frank penguin, Yuriko wolf, Ruben rat, and many others from the fantastic team.

The details put in the book is exceptionally beautiful. The overall style suggests that the author has a pretty good sense of humor. It is the sort of story that feels more like a movie. The book is capable of keeping the readers glued to the pages, and the twists, turns, and shocks make it next to impossible to put it down during the last few chapters. One of the astonishing reveals got me on my feet, and that should scream in favor of the quality of it. Fans of detective fiction, irrespective of their age, are very likely to enjoy the book.

I noticed a few minor typos like ‘Leroy’ in place of ‘LeRoy’, ‘here’ in place of ‘hear’, ‘begetting’ instead of ‘be getting’, ‘frank’ in place of ‘Frank’, ‘her’ when the word was supposed to be ‘him’, and an extra space between ‘happy’ and ‘birthday’, but I am not sure if the author is to be blamed here. A few places could use a comma. Apart from those petty issues, I found a little inconsistency in Chapter Six where the two unimportant characters, Nancy and Cynthia looked fascinated when they heard Chico was a cop (detective). Later in the same chapter, it was mentioned that the place was mostly hit by cops, so I could not really figure out what impressed them. I think the phrase ‘kiss goodbye’ has been used a lot of times throughout the book, and I believe it would have been better for the author to look for an alternative in this case.

Adding a super personal opinion here: At many places, the author was directly addressing the reader through the usage of the word ‘you’ (The book is written in 3rd Person’s POV). Although it's not uncommon in literature, I personally do not appreciate it. Many might relate to me while others might not, I believe it's totally up to the reader, and the author can not be held responsible for not acting according to our own preferences.

As my last words in this review, I would like to say that the shortcomings are very few in number, and can be ignored effortlessly. The book is really well written, and deserves to climb up the ladder. You gotta consider giving it a chance.

(I received a copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily) ( )

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE CITY THAT BARKS AND ROARS ABOUT?
The book opens with an injured police detective hiding from those who injured him, focused on trying to survive long enough to be rescued while replaying the moments that put him in this situation. This is followed by some of his colleagues beginning the search for the detective, finding only plenty of reasons to assume the worst has happened.

Next, we see a young detective freshly transferred from a small, quiet town to the city to be partnered with the missing detective's old, jaded partner. The newly matched pair lead the investigation into the missing detective. an apparent kidnapping of some local criminal figures, and the tie between the crimes. Along the way, while some camaraderie builds between the partners, the young detective gets exposed to the worst of the city, underground figures on both extremes of the social ladder, true depravity, and maybe (just maybe) a few upstanding citizens.

What makes this variation on the familiar-feeling story is this: all the characters are anthropomorphic animals who've evolved to a 1950's America-like civilization. The missing detective is a Panda Bear, the kidnapped criminals are beavers, the primary detectives on the hunt are a king penguin and a red howler monkey—other characters are a polar bear, vulture, panther, leopard, lioness, and more.

IS THIS THE CORRECT MEDIUM FOR THE STORY?
I couldn't stop thinking the entire time that a novel might not be the best way to tell this story, time after time, the visual jokes just didn't seem to land the way they ought because Bird has to spend so much time describing them.

That's the major problem of the whole novel—the descriptions chew up too much space, slowing down the movement of the story—and taking away from the impact of the jokes, images, or other moments.

You take this story, these characters, and put them in a graphic novel in a Spiegelman-Maus kind of style? It'd be dynamite.

The jokes are still there, the images are still strong and amusing—I just think this medium dilutes things, makes it less effective. With such a well and richly developed world, I'd just like that to come across better.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT THE CITY THAT BARKS AND ROARS?
The animal nature of the characters is secondary (or at least seems like it ought to be) to the story and who the characters are aside from that. As such, the book could use a little more depth. Enough space is devoted to the animal setting and characteristics that Bird really can't give the depth of characterization or subtlety of plot that I'd like to see.

That said, this is some of the best worldbuilding I've seen—ever—in a police novel. Bird went well above and beyond on that front, to deliver a unique and entertaining novel. From the original premise to the jaw-dropping final reveals, you won't find Crime Fiction like this anywhere.

This would serve well as the beginning of a series, and if that's the case, I'm in for a few more. If it's strictly a stand-alone? Readers are in for a treat. ( )

This book had great promise at the beginning, but in the end it could not keep my focus.

I enjoyed the penguin character and the other side characters of the police officers, but once they started adding in many of the other animals of the city it was hard to keep track. ( )

THE CITY THAT BARKS AND ROARS, j. t. bird ! 3 🌟 [ARC]

first of all i want to thank the author for providing me this arc. the book is out AUGUST 1ST !

it was a lovely story that took me to a world where humans are extinct and animals rule. a story full of great puns and an intriguing plot where a group of detectives try to find a missing panda and other three missing beavers.

i found the concept very interesting and was really excited to read about it as it could be a great way to explore human nature and how it relates to animals but it didn't meet my expectations. i truly felt like the animals didn't add anything to the plot, it could be humans as well. to me it was a failed opportunity to create a great satirical comedy. on the other hand it did have a number of very well written in jokes related to animals that made me laugh out loud. my book nerd ass really loved the 'jane bear' one.

concerning the plot i have very little to say since i thought it was very well put together. i do have to say that i would have enjoyed it a little bit more if we as a reader knew a little bit less, maybe it would be beneficial if it was written on first person as we would only know one side of the story and would be discovering things with the main character. but overall i really enjoyed this story. i specially like the noah's ark reference.

characters wise i would have liked it a tad bit more if there was a wilder distinction in the way different characters talked and acted. except one or two, i found them very similar specially in the beginning. by the end i did find these differences though.

altogether this was a really enjoyable book and would recommend everyone to try it. i know it sounds like i didn't enjoy it but i did. 3 stars means good book in my rating scale so don't be scared and pick up this book on your kindle or kobo august 1st and support self published authors ! ( )