Sonderbooks Book Review of Dogsbody

Reviewed January 8, 2002.
A Greenwillow Book. 1977. 261 pages.

Every time I read a book by Diana Wynne Jones, I get more impressed by her writing. This book is very different from anything else of hers I’ve ever read. However, like them, it is excellent.

This is the story of Sirius, the denizen of the Dog Star of that name. He is wrongfully accused and condemned to live a normal lifespan on Earth--unless he can find the mysterious and powerful Zoi that has been lost.

Sirius is born as a puppy, and barely remembers his former existence. He comes to the home of a little Irish girl who lives with unsympathetic relatives. The author well captures what it must be like to be a dog. I found her contempt for those who find dogs distasteful quite convicting! I’d never quite looked at the world from a dog’s perspective before.

As Sirius grows, he learns that someone is trying to keep him from getting the Zoi, and, indeed, wants him dead. This is an exciting and unusual story.

Reviews of other books by Diana Wynne Jones:
Cart and Cwidder
Drowned Ammet
The Spellcoats
The Crown of Dalemark
Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin
Conrad's Fate
Unexpected Magic
The Merlin Conspiracy
Wild Robert
The Ogre Downstairs
Witch's Business

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Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

*****Dogsbody*

by Diana Wynne Jones