Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Published by Tor Books on June 23, 2026

Talking animals are normally the stuff of fantasy or fables, often pitched to children, with such notable exceptions as Animal Farm and Watership Down. Adrian Tchaikovsky found a way for science fiction noir to tell a talking animal story.

The animals in Green City Wars are genetically engineered. Bioengineered modifications include voice boxes to enable speech and fingers to enable work. A drug called Plangent boosts their intelligence, but it needs to be replenished now and then to keep the animals from reverting to their normal state. Animals work in exchange for Plangent and for buttons used as currency.

Normal instincts have been overridden by programming that replaces the desire to eat members of other species with a moral code that includes service to humanity. Humans think of servant animals as Little Helpers but the animals stay out of sight because humans find it disturbing to see them. A rat might be a Little Helper but nobody wants to see one working as a busboy.

Given sufficient Plangent, most animals are at least as bright as a dull human but an important mouse in the story is a true genius. Most animals speak rudimentary languages that have been created to suit them, although birds often speak several languages, birds being good at making and imitating sounds. Some animals worship a human deity named Jeff.

Tchaikovsky devoted an impressive amount of world building to the creation of Green City Wars. The world is a future Earth. After people came to their senses about the climate crisis, they remodeled the world to make it green. Cities are now integrated into forests and powered by solar energy. Towers that house homes and businesses are covered in bark and vines. And hidden away, animals do all the hard work, leaving humans to pursue their leisure activities.

The animals live in the roots beneath the cities or underground, briefly popping into human space to clean the streets at night or clear restaurant tables after diners finish their meals. Underground animals process waste, handle the sewage system, and keep the electrical grid working.

Rule One, understood by every animal, is Don’t Bother the Humans. Don’t even be noticed by them. Stay in your place, do your job, and you’ll both earn Plangent and be fed for your natural lifetime, which is rather brief in the case of mice and rats.

Unbeknownst to humans, who can skate by without working if they choose, the animals that replaced them as laborers have developed their own economy, complete with the equivalent of labor unions and mob bosses. Red squirrels are at war with gray squirrels, but it’s a hidden war to accommodate Rule One. Animals operate the farms and divert produce to their own markets when it doesn’t meet human standards. They sell table scraps. Smart animals have learned how to hack their internal software so they can enjoy coffee.

The world Tchaikovsky built is so entertaining that it doesn’t require much of a story, but the noir plot does not disappoint. The protagonist is a raccoon named Scotch. His genetic engineering might add extra years to his lifespan, but he doubts that he will live to be a wise old raccoon, given the messes he’s made. He got tired of the corporate life Uzco offered him as a trash gatherer and wiring repairer (“dexterous little hands” help him with the latter job) — a life that included ready access to Plangent — so he became a freelancer, a combination of private detective and fixer. He’s always hustling to avoid running out of Plangent and returning to beast status. But like any good detective/fixer, he’s adept at making connections and doing favors that he can later ask to be repaid.

Scotch’s supply of Plangent is running low when Benson, a large turtle who manages Uzco, offers him a return to work, complete with a promised supply of Plangent. The task will require him to work undercover. He is to find and bring to Benson a mouse named Dr. Meece. Benson doesn’t tell Skotch why he wants the mouse and, at least initially, Skotch doesn’t really care. The remuneration seems quite generous for a task that seems quite simple. Benson gives Scotch a sample of the mouse’s scent and off he goes.

The story places Scotch in conflict with other factions that also want Meece for reasons that Scotch learns only late in the story. It soon becomes apparent to Scotch that Meece is a super-genius who has invented something that will change the lives of animals forever — whether for better or worse, Scotch doesn’t know. He only knows that some animal factions want him dead and others want his dream to be realized. The factions include corporatists, anarchists, guilds, and religious sects.

Two assassins who want to terminate Meese are a stoatweasel named Szerky and a cat named Tybelle. The cat is actually a human’s pet and thus enjoys a protected status — or at least it wants to leave that impression. Scotch battles them both (he’s bigger than the cat but not nearly as fast) and finds himself warring at various times with both the gray and red squirrels. A few animals are on his side, particularly a pigeon named Uwe who also has a protected status as an informant to a human master. A possum named Maria might or might not be on his side.

Tchaikovsky gives his animal characters personalities that are consistent with their species. Scotch the raccoon has a reputation as a bandit but is well served by his cleverness. The pigeon is annoyingly loud and boisterous. A frog works in water reclamation, moles work underground, and so forth.

In an indirect way, much like Animal Farm, Green City Wars uses animals to indict an oppressive economic system — in this case, an allegorical indictment of unfettered capitalism. To explain why that’s true would require revealing Meese’s secret, but it is enough to know that Tchaikovsky put careful thought into the economic ramifications of a system based on the fear of losing Plangent if animals stop serving the needs of their bosses.

The economic allegory gives the story some weight, but it is at bottom an amusing story of talking animals. Tchaikovsky is amazingly prolific — he’s the modern version of Isaac Asimov in that regard — but he always finds a way to give a fresh spin to conventional ideas. Readers won’t need to be science fiction fans to enjoy Green City Wars — a love of animals, lively plots, or both will be enough.

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