Or perhaps 2,5 stars...

The writing has definitely improved over Hater, but is still weak and problematic. All characters talk alike (how come everyone says "Christ!" all the time?); the writer is trying to spoon-feed the narrator's emotions -and even worse, the book's supposed social commentary- to the readers. Liking Stephen King enough to namedrop him in this book, it's surprising how Moody has failed to follow 90% of King's advice from On Writing.

Still, the biggest improvement in Dog Blood, compared to Hater, is the plot: things actually happen in this one, lots of things. It's a lot more interesting, not without its flaws, but certainly better.

I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed this one, but I still suspect the trilogy would have been better off as one novel.

The second of the trilogy is even more intense. I'm very pleased with these books. Can't wait to start the final book.

Dog Blood by David Moody is the second book in his “Hater” series. It has been a year since the world collapsed under the weight of the “Haters.” What is left of the “Unchanged” has been forced into overcrowded and unprepared refugee areas in the city centers. Life for the “Unchanged” has become almost intolerable in these centers but the risk of the Haters prowling the outskirts is a deterrent for them.

This novel is still told from the viewpoint of our favorite anti-hero Danny McCoyne. It is some kind of a miracle worthy of a visit from the Commission of Miracles, Danny s not the biggest arsehole in this book. Apparently becoming a Hater instantly turns a person into a giant murderous douche. Danny is actually one of the sensitive ones. Most of the novel is a run through and around England with Danny looking for his daughter Ellis. In the process we find out that apparently Haters come in different flavors. On one end of the spectrum there are people like Danny who have the ability to “hold the hate” and can control themselves and infiltrate the unchanged. On the other end are the “Brutes”, mindless killing creatures that murder mindlessly. In their killing rage they will kill hater and unchanged alike. Did I mention they do it mindlessly?

I did enjoy this book but it seemed to suffer a bit from the “middle-book-in-a-series” syndrome. Mr. Moody did provide a bit more information about “The Hate” but for the most part it was just a lot of running around killing and hiding in moldy buildings. Still with the explosive (Yes for those who have already read it, pun was intended) ending of the second book, I think I’m in for a treat with book three Them or Us.

Incredibly hard to get through. Boring, tedious. Everything runs around in circles. The narrator of the audiobook version pronounces hater in a distinct way that makes him sound completely nonplussed every time. HATAHH??? I'm A HATAHH?

Haters gonna hate but I'm done reading about them, good god.

Definitely a great sequel to Hater. I'm a fan of different uses of point of view and this novel uses first person for Danny, a third person omniscient narrator, and a 3rd person limited to tell the story of Mark and his wife, a couple living inside the quarantine zones. It's great in that it lets you see the world of the haters and the normals. The most interesting choice is to only use first person for Danny, one of the "haters". The novel forces you to be in the mind of, essentially, the bad guys. You're purposefully distanced by the 3rd person narrative from sympathizing with the normal people. It's a great device, because you know that you'd probably be one of the normal people, "the unchanged", yet you're in the mind of the killers. Not to get too socio-political, but with the way the unchanged are like refugees, it's almost a comment on how we should try to understand more what displaced people feel like. "but for the grace of god" and all that. If a catastrophe strikes we could be displaced without any rhyme or reason. The author is from England, and in Europe they deal with displaced people more than we do here, but just thinking about Katrina and the people from Louisiana who had to leave their homes and move to new places. I felt like it was a comment on how "hate" serves to distance us and dehumanize those we don't like. Maybe he's trying to say we are all "haters". Or, maybe he's just making great horror fiction. Either way I hope he keeps it up.

Dog Blood is the sequel to Hater (my review here) and I couldn’t have asked for a better novel. It’s fast paced, and even more mind bending than the first. The world is now divided between the Haters and the Unchanged. Families are divided and separated while the Unchanged try to hold off the Haters who will stop at nothing to destroy all the Unchanged.

The story picks up with Mark, Danny’s cousin, who is Unchanged and his survival in the city center with his pregnant wife, in-laws, Danny’s wife, and a secret. It shows just how much the world has changed since the Haters began to emerge. It then flips over the Danny, our main character from Hater, as he struggles to survive out in the world as a Hater. Danny moves from group to group and searching for his daughter, Ellis, who was taken along with his sons by his wife when she runs away from him. He heads back to the only place he knows to start his search and it only gets more interesting from there.

This is one that is so hard to describe without giving something important away and this is one that you really need to read yourself to experience the full effect of Moody’s well researched and thought provoking dystopian fiction. Read Haters, and then read Dog Blood. You won’t regret it.