Kennel Club

Review from May 2026
Mecha combat sports is an idea that I really like. This is the first part in a planned series on that topic and I'm really excited to see what autumn brings to the table next.

The story opens in a mecha combat sports event set in the ruins of Mars. Our main character runs a beat up pile of scrap and was, herself, a resident of the ruined city that she is now fighting over. This is an idea that I really like: the place that you once called home that became a site of unimaginable violence is now turned in to an arena for a form of mediated violence to be marketed and sold. I think there is something in that which speaks to the soul of combat sports in general: a form of commercialised entertainment born from violence.

I did enjoy the fight scene and the whole story is well written. It's really readable and it left me wanting more. I'm excited to see what comes next in this series. I am quite excited to see a story which I imagine is going to focus on mech duels and I also think it's going to be cool to examine the way fighters in combat sports are exploited through the lens of mechsplo. I definitely recommend checking this out if any of that sounds interesting to you.