Before I get into the main part, it appears that the novel isn't _the_ base work for this series. I see the first volume of the manga listed more than a year before the release of the first volume of the novel, which probably means that the manga started some 2 years before the first novel release. I haven't read the manga, so I can't be certain, but my guess is that the anime was based more on the manga. That would make this novel an offshoot series, kind of like "Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto" and many others. I wonder if it's the norm for the offshoot novels to be much better than the base work. More often than not, my experience has been that way, but I have very limited exposure, so it probably doesn't mean anything.
Anyway, I read almost 300 pages of it in one day! It's definitely my personal record. I'm starting to think that books can be bad for one's health. It screws up regular eating and sleeping schedules, and keeps the reader locked up in his home all day (as if I'd get out otherwise). Hmm, maybe I should read books that aren't so mesmerizing. Bah, what fun is that?
Before I start writing major spoilers, let me summarize it by saying that it was funny, suspenseful (almost queasy at times), heart-warming, heart-wrenching, romantic (not the relationship type, but more of an action type, like a pair traveling all over the world in a worn-out truck), and occasionally even cute.
And finally, here's my extremely compressed summary. My goal is merely to describe it in enough detail so that people who only watched the anime can get a feel of the novel's totally different story. I'm not even going to summarize the whole thing. Note that although my summary moves straightforward in time, actual story is presented more like a jigsaw puzzle, revealing details one at a time in a strangely addicting way.
==========SPOILER ALERT==========
Stop now if you plan on reading the book yourself.
Sometime around 202x, some organization (probably military related) was experimenting with creating a kind of super breed of dogs to use in controlling combat robots. Haruka's parents were apparently involved in this and managed to sneak one of the dogs out while he was still a puppy. The dog's name was Hishamaru (HI:fly/jump/hop + SHA:car/vehicle + MARU:commonly used suffix for pet's name). Haruka's parents were probably trying to save the dog from getting used in a combat robot. They told Haruka _never_ to tell anyone about Hishamaru's incredible abilities. So you know, Hishamaru is probably smarter than most people although he's still "engineered" with the "useful" traits of a dog.
Haruka, being an innocent young girl and all, tells some of her friends about Hishamaru. Nobody believes her, of course. I mean, we're talking about a dog that's way smarter than Yogi Bear. Haruka invites her friends to come to the park at night so she can prove it to them, but Hishamaru acts like a normal dog in front of other people. Haruka gets really upset. Either way, the organization finds out, there's some trouble, and eventually Hishamaru is taken away.
Soon after, a mother of all wars starts and the human race is basically wiped out. 30+ years go by and Hakura is rescued by a group of five robots. Due to complications from the extended cold sleep, she can't remember anything from the past, but she and the five robots are managing pretty well. By this time, there may or may not be any other surviving humans on the planet. It's still possible, but it's highly unlikely due to various reasons, such as....
There are a lot of dumb war robots that are still continuing the fight because there is no one left to revoke their programming. If there are any surviving humans, they'd have to deal with these stray robots. Worse yet, there are Hishamaru and two other dogs (integrated into cyborg-like war machines) who are going around killing any and all surviving humans. Of course, their memories have been sealed when their brains were transplanted into machines, but deep down, they're still dogs. They have code names Bishop, Knight, and Rook. Just so there's no misunderstanding, these three are the most advanced fighting machines out there. One of them along with three remotely controlled "pawn" machines would equal or better a Flyer fleet. Other stray war robots are jokes compared to these three.
Eventually, though, Rook (Hishamaru) defects and starts a journey of his own. He doesn't really know the purpose of his journey except subconsciously. He soon meets Eva. Eva is the last surviving EG-7 class robot from the EZO factory. EG-rating denotes how close the robot is to a human being. EG-7 is the highest, and therefore the closest to resembling a human being. Just for reference, Cleric is EG-1 and Angela is EG-4. Anyway, Rook and Eva travel together for a while, eventually ending up at the town where Haruka and her five robot family are living.
At some point before that, though, Eva turns herself to look like Haruka using an extremely complex and dangerous nano-machine software. There's a good reason for her to take such a crazy risk, at least as far as she's concerned.
Rook and Eva are hired as a bodyguard (and a helper?) by Haruka's group. There are friendships and fun, rivalry and tension, and dangers. Many things happen and Bishop and Knight come to kill possibly the last remaining human on the planet. By this time, both Rook and Haruka are starting to remember bits and pieces of their past. Eva actually knows a lot about them, which is actually why she took the risk to transform herself to look like Haruka.
There're big fights, scary moments, explosions, lots of blood (or the equivalent for the robots), and deaths.
I'm going to stop here, but I will tell you that it's mostly a happy ending. Heck, how can a 30+ year reunion like that be an unhappy thing, although that's actually not the ending. What a miraculous story, though.
Finally, Akiyama-sensei talks about the use of animals, particularly dogs, in wars in the afterwords section of the first volume. I imagine there are books dedicated to just such subjects. It's a strange relationships we humans have, particularly with dogs.
