Abu and Obssa complete their read-through of The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. They close out chapters 7-13 with the book's ending, including a last-page swerve that left both hosts uneasy.
Hig, Bangley, Cima, and Pops all make it to the story's close, and Abu and Obssa spend real time on the novel's baffling, racially charged suggestion that a mysterious group survived the plague. They also dig into how thin the line grows between Bangley and Pops, two men who have each decided that survival justifies anything. The sci-fi analysis turns to contextual ethics, weighing Hig against Lauren Olamina from Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower and against Andor's Saw Gerrera, and asking whether Hig is quietly turning into Bangley himself. Abu closes on Cima's backstory and her regret over a life spent waiting for the right moment, a theme that reframes the book's quiet, unexpected hopefulness.