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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_wild_boy.png]]
2''The Wild Boy'' is a science fiction novel written by Warren Rochelle in 2001. It's a futuristic post-AlienInvasion novel in which humans are kept and bred as pets by a race of bear-like aliens called the Lindauzi, who manipulated humanity by killing millions with a virus, then showing up seemingly by coincidence with a cure. Now, they breed humans, whom they call 'dogs', in a bid to save their race from regressing into wildness and re-create the bond they shared with the Iani, the race who originally raised them to sentience.
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4The book shifts between two time frames, telling the stories of both a Lindauzi-bred 'dog' named Ilox and his Lindauzi owner/companion Phlarx, and Ilox's son, a wild human or 'wolf' named Caleb, who is captured and trained to be a performing animal. The two stories intersect for the book's climax. Intersparced with the main narratives are flashbacks to glimpses of the Lindauzi leaving home, the decay of humanity and the arrival of the Lindauzi.
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7!! This work contains examples of:
8* AliensAreBastards: Let's see, they kill millions, breed humans like dogs...their motives aren't truly evil, but their methods are.
9* AlienInvasion: The novel is set in the aftermath of an overwhelmingly successful one.
10* AncientAstronauts: It's indicated that the Iani had some ancient connection with humans.
11* ApocalypseHow: Somewhere between 'Planetary[=/=]Societal Collapse' and 'Planetary[=/=]Engineered Human Extinction'
12* ArrangedMarriage: Lindauzi custom, or at least high ranking Lindauzi.
13%%* BearsAreBadNews:
14%%* BondCreature: First the Iani, then humans.
15* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Lindauzi call their pet humans dogs and wild humans wolves.
16* CrapsackWorld: Obviously.
17* CallingTheOldManOut: Phlarx does this to his father before running away.
18* DecapitationPresentation: The Hounds bring back their victims' heads-Ilox sees it-and we can assume this ensues.
19%%* DepopulationBomb: Both humanity and the Iani.
20* DyingRace: Essentially, the Lindauzi are this-they're facing regression into wild animals and the loss of everything that makes them who they are. And then as the book progresses, it gets literal.
21* TheEmpath: Ilox and Caleb both display empathic abilities.
22%%* EndingMemorialService: Phlarx and Ilox's.
23* GoMadFromTheIsolation: Ilox, after the 'cocoon' treatment.
24* HunterOfHisOwnKind: The Hounds, Lindauzi-bred humans who hunt 'wolves' to keep the population down.
25* IHaveNoSon: Corviax indicates that his father was stating this when he turned his back on him.
26* IntelligentGerbil: The Lindauzi look like earth bears.
27%%* LaResistance: The wolves.
28* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Lindauzian is the Lindauzi homeworld.
29* NoSexAllowed: The Lindauzi want to control the breeding of their pet humans-Ilox gets thrown out when he's caught with a girl.
30* OffWithHisHead: How the Hounds kill the Wolves.
31* PeopleFarms: People Kennel, but close enough.
32* PsychicLink: Ilox and Phlarx. To the point where [[spoiler: One can't survive without the other-Ilox dies at the same time Phlarx does]].
33* RaisedByNatives: Ilox. You could in one sense say 'raised by wolves', but not in the sense of the RaisedByWolves trope.
34* SlaveCollar: All over the place.
35%%* SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Lindauzi.
36* SuperBreedingProgram: The Lindauzi want to breed empathic humans that will fill the role vacated by the Iani.
37* TerminallyDependentSociety: The Lindauzi. They were dependent on an empathic bond with the Iani to remain sentient and civilized, but then the Iani died.
38* WellDoneSonGuy: Corviax is determined to bring back the 'star-Iani' and prove to his father that he was right all along.

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