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D'Arc
(War with No Name #2)
by
In the aftermath of the War With No Name, the Colony has been defeated, its queen lies dead, and the world left behind will never be the same. In her madness, the queen used a strange technology to uplift the surface animals, turning dogs and cats, bats and bears, pigs and wolves into intelligent, highly evolved creatures who rise up and kill their oppressors. And now, aft
...more
Hardcover, 386 pages
Published
May 9th 2017
by Soho Press
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Start your review of D'Arc (War with No Name, #2)

Posted at Heradas Review
This sequel to Mort(e) picks up right where we left off and then propels itself forward. It feels like a few different genre novels married to each other: A western, a murder mystery, and an action/adventure story. I’ve always enjoyed that approach in speculative fiction. You take something fantasy or scifi, and write a story in that world from a different genre.
I thought it did a great job building up a mystery, while expanding on the mythology and worldbuilding quite n ...more
This sequel to Mort(e) picks up right where we left off and then propels itself forward. It feels like a few different genre novels married to each other: A western, a murder mystery, and an action/adventure story. I’ve always enjoyed that approach in speculative fiction. You take something fantasy or scifi, and write a story in that world from a different genre.
I thought it did a great job building up a mystery, while expanding on the mythology and worldbuilding quite n ...more

It took me a long time to get into this one, despite absolutely loving both previous books. I thought it was just me, but after finishing the whole thing, the first half does drag. It's mostly setting up the events of the second half, and getting characters to places. The second half was more active though, and I love Mort(e) so much that I'll get through a lot just for him -- part of the problem for me was that Sheba turned out to not interest me very much, and more of this book is about her. I
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It's fun to read the discussions on Goodreads between one-star and five-star rankers for the opening book, Mort(e), in the Animal Apocalypse (War With No Name). Maybe the community ranking is higher for this second full-length book (not counting the novella Culdesac) because fans were the ones tending to grab the advance reader copies first. I will admit up front that I joined the party at D'Arc, and that I don't have a natural proclivity to like a melding of dystopia and cosplay. The very inten
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This series is a trip, but mostly because of the whole Animals become human-like thing. At one point I asked myself, would this even be interesting if it was just regular people. I think the answer is yes.
In this second book, Morte and Sheba live on a ranch, but their peace is disturbed by the creatures that the Queen's plan created in the sea. Plus, humans continue to suck. ...more
In this second book, Morte and Sheba live on a ranch, but their peace is disturbed by the creatures that the Queen's plan created in the sea. Plus, humans continue to suck. ...more

"D'Arc" by Robert Repino continues the War with No Name series, this time by following Sheba, who has taken the new name D'Arc. Sheba/D'Arc continues her life with Sebastian/Mort(e) although the two have turned their backs on the continued fighting between the humans and the animals and have built a life in the wilderness. All is well until a new threat arises in the form of other intelligent creatures.
"D'Arc" is another great read by Repino, although not quite as entertaining as "Mort(e)," but ...more
"D'Arc" is another great read by Repino, although not quite as entertaining as "Mort(e)," but ...more

See my other reviews at Never Enough Books
The Colony has been defeated, it's mad Queen lies dead. In an effort to defeat the humans, the Queen released a strange and unknown technology in to the world. It's purpose: to uplift the surface animals - cats, dogs, wolves, bats, etc. - and turn them in to sentient beings. These creatures would then rise up and kill their human oppressors, making way for a new era. Things however did not go as planned. The War with No Name is over and the world left be ...more
The Colony has been defeated, it's mad Queen lies dead. In an effort to defeat the humans, the Queen released a strange and unknown technology in to the world. It's purpose: to uplift the surface animals - cats, dogs, wolves, bats, etc. - and turn them in to sentient beings. These creatures would then rise up and kill their human oppressors, making way for a new era. Things however did not go as planned. The War with No Name is over and the world left be ...more

The premise of this series was at first strange. But this author did strange and he did it extremely well. Sometimes I got so lost in the characters and their personalities that I had forgotten that they were animals, but I guess maybe that was the point. For the question remains: what makes us (humans) so different from "animals"?
The next comments may include SPOILERS...
I was disappointed with Mort(e)'s ending. I was hoping for some revelation, him seeing at least the side of religious views - ...more
The next comments may include SPOILERS...
I was disappointed with Mort(e)'s ending. I was hoping for some revelation, him seeing at least the side of religious views - ...more

What could have easily taken me a few days to read turned into a month. That's only because when I requested this book I did not notice that it was a #2 in a series. I don't know how that is that I did not notice it but I didn't. So when I received my book as was about to get started on it....blaaaah, I realized that there was another book before it that I just had to read. That book was Morte...book #1. About freakin' cats no less!!! It took my intrigue for reading this book up a notch. What I
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Wow! A lot happened in this book. Then again, a lot happened in the first book too. I’m a huge fan of anthropomorphic animals so this set of books is like crack for me. I had no idea what to expect going into D’arc. It picked up almost exactly where Morte left off. The story started off a bit slow but it steadily picked up pace. Honestly, I was bored by the whole search for the serial killer part of the story and the fish-head people. I was much more into the story of Morte, Sheba/D’arc, Fallkir
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In the aftermath of the War With No Name, the Colony has been defeated, its queen lies dead, and the world left behind will never be the same. In her madness, the queen used a strange technology to uplift the surface animals, turning dogs and cats, bats and bears, pigs and wolves into intelligent, highly evolved creatures who rise up and kill their oppressors. And now, after years of bloodshed, these sentient beasts must learn to live alongside their sworn enemies—humans.
Far removed from this ne ...more
Far removed from this ne ...more

Read this book on an Audio CD. Narrator was very good.
D'Arc is the name that The Mother, Sheba, decides to take a little while into the book when she feels like it is time to give up her 'slave name'. I won't tell you when, because then there would be spoilers. D'Arc picks up right after Mort(e) ends. As much as I liked Mort(e), I felt a little lost while reading it...I'm not sure if it was because I listened to D'Arc that I understood it much better or because it just made more sense. This is ...more
D'Arc is the name that The Mother, Sheba, decides to take a little while into the book when she feels like it is time to give up her 'slave name'. I won't tell you when, because then there would be spoilers. D'Arc picks up right after Mort(e) ends. As much as I liked Mort(e), I felt a little lost while reading it...I'm not sure if it was because I listened to D'Arc that I understood it much better or because it just made more sense. This is ...more

This is a powerful sequel to the outstanding 'Mort(e)' and takes place soon after the end of the first book. The ant queen has been defeated, but another enemy rises, this time beneath the surface of the ocean.
While not as grand in scope as the the first book in the series, this one is a page-turner in its own right. 'D'Arc' is action-packed and full of memorable characters. I was especially pleased to encounter the former fighting dog Wawa again (she made me cry this time, too!). Sheba, the dog ...more
While not as grand in scope as the the first book in the series, this one is a page-turner in its own right. 'D'Arc' is action-packed and full of memorable characters. I was especially pleased to encounter the former fighting dog Wawa again (she made me cry this time, too!). Sheba, the dog ...more

Mort(e) is back! Continuing the intriguing story of the War With No Name, Robert Repino picks up the narrative of Mort(e) a few years later as Sheba is turning into D'Arc. A story of friendship, growing up, and war, there are many moving moments in this narrative.
I'm not inclined to leave any spoilers here, but Mort(e) and Sheba find their quiet lives as ant farmers interrupted by renewed hostilities involving arthropods turned somewhat human. Water and land form the front between new opposing f ...more
I'm not inclined to leave any spoilers here, but Mort(e) and Sheba find their quiet lives as ant farmers interrupted by renewed hostilities involving arthropods turned somewhat human. Water and land form the front between new opposing f ...more

Had to start with the second book in the series - the first was checked out. But it wasn't a problem, there is a short recap at the beginning and most things can be picked up from context.
So imagine you wake up one day to find your pet is walking about on two legs, talking to you, and if you have them in your house, pointing your guns at you. Oh, and they are that way because an ant colony has used its strange technology to quickly evolve your pet. Why? So they can be the ant's allies in a war t ...more
So imagine you wake up one day to find your pet is walking about on two legs, talking to you, and if you have them in your house, pointing your guns at you. Oh, and they are that way because an ant colony has used its strange technology to quickly evolve your pet. Why? So they can be the ant's allies in a war t ...more

Like book 1, M'orte, this novel is completely implausible. It's also just as difficult to stop reading and to forget. After M'orte, I waited a year to read D'arc, and I can honestly say that I thought about the character of M'orte often. Eventually, I just *had* to find out if he got what he hoped for with Sheba.
No spoilers--find out for yourself.
These books are bizarre, but if you let yourself go with the premise (suspending your disbelief is quite nearly a physical act in order to read and e ...more
No spoilers--find out for yourself.
These books are bizarre, but if you let yourself go with the premise (suspending your disbelief is quite nearly a physical act in order to read and e ...more

It was filled with adventure, questions, and some decent action. However, it was not as memorable as the first in the series (which is quite sad). I like the emotional POV from Mort(e) and D'Arc (Sebastian and Sheba). It was a nice dichotomy that allowed knowledge of what was going on within both the main protagonists' psyche. One of the weaknesses was that it felt rushed in some parts of the storytelling. Not sure how I can explain that better. Either way, it was a nice read, and it was nice to
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Having read Mort(e) and fresh off of the Culdesac novella, I really dug this book! Culdesac was a good primer to get me back into the world in which the War With No Name exists in, and I found it very easy to just lose myself in the pages once again. Not that I'm a good critic on such things, but it felt like it was written better? Like, it was clear that the author has definitely matured as a writer. That definitely made the book that much more enjoyable. Anxious to see if he does continue on w
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Nietzsche once said: "A reader is doubly guilty of bad manners ...when he praises [the second] book at the expense of the first (or vice versa) and then asks the author to be grateful for that." I do not want to be considered bad mannered. Suffice it to say that D'ARC is not as cat-centric as its predecessors; I prefer cats to dogs. Secondly, it involves seas creatures; I hate sea creatures. This is not to say that D'ARC is not a page turner or that Repino's world-building isn't sterling. I just
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This is a sequel to Mort which was a novel about animals being uplifted, getting larger, standing on two legs and growing arms. It was all the work of sentient ants who decided to remake the world and destroy humans. Mort is a very interesting scifi premise and has great characters and motivations. This continuation of the story adds in newly uplifted fish/crabs and it starts to get a little tiresome. I really wanted to like this, but often found myself bored and wanting it to end.

Now this isn’t the sequel I was waiting for. It was a great read, the story kept me interested until the very end.
The story picks up where we left off in Mort(e) and we get to explore the relationship between Sheba and Mort(e), answering questions we had from the last book, but as the story goes on, we develop new questions. Along with those new questions, we see these characters develop and we experience their heartbreaks and passion for the world they are living in.
The story picks up where we left off in Mort(e) and we get to explore the relationship between Sheba and Mort(e), answering questions we had from the last book, but as the story goes on, we develop new questions. Along with those new questions, we see these characters develop and we experience their heartbreaks and passion for the world they are living in.

The war with no name series continues with an excellent sequel that is written well and highly engrossing. Repino tried to do a bit too much with this one with several story threads that had to be tied up quickly and not very efficiently. However the story is intelligent with well imagined characters and characterization, this continues to be a unique sci-fi adventure that is top quality.

I would want the animals to be better than us! Speech and walking on two legs made all the animals too human and I'm not that big of a fan of human war stories. Bronson Pinchot is an awesome narrator though.
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Another fascinating furry novel. This one has fish too. There's a level of technology that I would have liked to get some insight into. D'Arc is not as compelling as Morte as a character. Why couldn't it just be ants?
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Overall a good book. I enjoyed seeing these characters again, although I feel like this book wasn't necessary and didn't add too much to the overall world. Sometimes the characters seemed lost in a daze of self contemplation and the story dragged occasionally.
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Sep 23, 2019
Joseph Wilbur
added it
Decent book and a good ending to the story but I didn't feel like I had to read it. I feel like I wouldn't have missed out if I hadn't read it. Check out my full review at https://bookwyrmshollow.com/ Thanks.
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Very enjoyable installment.
The setting remains novel but some of the story beats you will most likely have seen before.
I hope the author continues to write in this universe, whether the "war" is over or not. ...more
The setting remains novel but some of the story beats you will most likely have seen before.
I hope the author continues to write in this universe, whether the "war" is over or not. ...more
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Robert Repino grew up in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. After serving in the Peace Corps (Grenada 2000–2002), he earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Emerson College. His fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize among other awards, and has appeared in The Literary Review, Night Train, Hobart, Juked, Word Riot, The Furnace Review, The Coachella Review, JMWW, and the anthology Brevity and Echo
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“Even us? Will we die?” Falkirk pulled them in close. “Yes,” he said. “That’s why we need to appreciate each day we have together. Every day is special.”
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