Looking for a great and fun read that will remind you of Redwall but one that’s a bit darker and more dystopian? Look no further than Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I think this one is a bit unusual for the author but one that is surprisingly good. In a scientific future world where the needs and services of human cities around the world are catered to by underground bioengineered animal workers, Green City Wars hilariously depicts for readers how both worlds and both humans and animals aren’t that dissimilar despite the obvious differences. In this underground animal world, we follow a freelance raccoon detective on a mission to retrieve a single mouse from hiding. He starts to slowly realize how this one little mouse possesses the knowledge and ability to change both the human and animal world forever.

The world-building is definitely an interesting one here. Scientifically engineered animals are created to service an entire city of humans above ground. Everything from ensuring the cleanliness of the streets to the water they drink to generating the electricity they use is maintained by these various creatures. The incredible part is that this all gets done by the animals without being seen by the humans. At first, I thought this was a bit over the top and highly implausible if one really thought about it, but then again, this actually led to some hilarious scenes. We can only imagine how funny it can be, as a human, to have little creatures popping in and out of places doing our dirty work completely unseen. The humans know of their existence but do not acknowledge them in any way. The animals, in turn, also do not make any contact with the humans with what they deem as the ultra critical Rule One.

As one would expect, each animal group that our raccoon friend encounters along the way has its own unique traits and characteristics. It can be absolutely hilarious just picturing the scenes. At times, a battle that sounds like Armageddon to these little creatures looks like nothing more than a patch of dirt that has been slightly disturbed to human eyes. The world-building is fantastic. We learn a lot about how everything functions, not just in the beginning but throughout each chapter as he goes on his way to find the missing mouse. We learn how the human engineers somehow didn’t realize that by giving their creations just a bit of intelligence, a whole new underground society of animals, with their own classes and culture not too dissimilar to humans, has sprouted literally right under their noses.

However, not all is fun in this underground animal society. Green City Wars deals with themes of slavery and freedom to think and choose for each animal, as well as a system where any animal can murder another and the only penalty is a simple fine paid to the victim’s guild or organization. Most disturbingly, each and every animal is indebted to their human creators, as they manufacture a solution that, if not taken on a regular basis, will cause the animal to go dumb. Animals like Skotch, who decides to skip out on servicing the humans in order to freelance, have the constant fear and worry of not doing enough to purchase the medical solution on the black market. In a way, the story told in Green City Wars is very similar to that of humans. Read it for the laughs, read it for the ridiculous but unique world that has been built here, or read it simply for your love of animals in stories. Green City Wars is a fun one.