Title: Song Dogs

Author: Brenna LaFaro

Release date: December 2nd, 2025

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a digital ARC of this one!*

Here we go! Book four!

‘Song Dogs’ arrives as the fourth book in LaFaro’s ‘Buzzard’s Edge Saga,’ though technically it’s the third long read – book three is made up of short stories. I’ve read the first two books, though haven’t gotten around to book three yet – purely because I’ve been limiting how many short story collections I’ve been reading.

Books one and two introduced us to Rory and Alice (and judging from the synopsis of book three, I’ll assume they appear within some of the stories), but book three introduces us to a Rory and Alice we’ve not yet seen much of. They’re now ‘settled,’ and folks in the area know who they are. But being settled hasn’t made them complacent and with how things are in Buzzard’s Edge, it doesn’t take long until something nefarious arrives.

What I liked: With Rory and Alice now living there, they’ve gained a small degree of notoriety, almost bordering on celebrity, having made a name for themselves with the events in the previous two books. Alice stays more to the side, mute and gun ready.

Things really ramp up when creatures begin to appear and wreck havoc, first with a chimera-like animal. It becomes Rory and Alice’s job to figure out the what and why. The investigation into the what and the why allows us readers to see how close-knit these two are and how they work off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Together, they are the whole pie. Individually, they’re not as steady as they could be.

LaFaro has done a wonderful job of developing these characters over the course of their adventures together and throughout this one, they’re easily the stars of the show, firmly the two that the readers cheer for.

As the craziness picks up, we know we can count on these two to band together, overcome the insanity and ultimately come out on top. Which we see with an action-packed final quarter.

What I didn’t like: I’m not 100% sure of the word I’m looking for here, so I’m going to go with this – wholesome. This book – and series – has fallen into a ‘wholesome’ groove and in this case, I think the issue will be if that avenue makes it predictable. While the book and series have been fantastic, there’s only been one kind of ‘tug-at-the-heart’ death/character ending that threatened to upend the flow of the narrative and at this point, I think in order for the series to remain fresh going forward, there’s going to have to be some wickedness that ruins the readers day to keep things marching on.

That’s just my opinion, granted, but after seeing how things have gone in these three books, I now worry for a predictable future which might turn folks away.

What I liked: So, you can also ignore that previous section because I also want to use ‘wholesome’ for one of the strengths of this book and the series. It’s been great seeing Rory and Alice come together, grow together and work together to take down whatever gets thrown at them.

The ‘Buzzard’s Edge’ series has been a great exercise in blending the fantastical with western horror and LaFaro is clearly having a blast writing these books.

If you’re looking for a world filled with characters and craziness, look no further, ‘Song Dogs’ is another great entry into a series that’s really entertained me. These are always a lot of fun!