Another lovely tale from a master storyteller. ( )

Sirius, a luminary from outer space, is falsely convicted of murder and is sent to Earth to live out life as a dog or to find the real killer. With the help of Kathleen, a young girl who saves Sirius as a puppy, the Earth, the Moon and Sol, Sirius embarks on a quest to clear his name and reclaim the zoi, an instrument of power.

Diana Wynne Jones’s fantastic novel Dogsbody was published by HarperTrophy in 1975. The story begins with the trial of Sirius in outer space. During this chapter, many unusual terms such as ‘zoi’ are used. The unusual setting and the confusing vocabulary may annoy or disorient readers and discourage them from reading on. Perhaps, if Sirius’s trial was left a mystery and if Jones started the story on earth, in a setting familiar to readers, the story would start out more engaging and suspenseful. While an interesting concept, not all of Jones’s characters or scenes are necessary. The book often focuses on moments typical of a dog’s life, such as when Serius the dog tries to obtain food from people in the town. These moments do not add to the suspense of the overall plot. What is more, some of the characters also seem unnecessary. The cat Romulus, the dogs Rovers and Redears serve no purpose that is not also fulfilled by another similar character. Also characters do not always behave in believable ways. The cold woman, Duffy, is mean to Kathleen immediately after the girl’s father is reported to be dead. While Duffy was previously shown to be cold and mean, this character’s anger goes beyond any reason and is difficult to believe. Overall, Dogsbody attempts to achieve some amazing feats, but flaws in the characters and focus of the narration cause it to fall short of what the story could become.

The dog star Sirius has been a bad dog star. His punishment is that he gets to be an actual real life furry mutt, instead of the stellar variety.

Sent to earth, he ends up in the creek when a young girl rescues him, and raises the puppy as her own.

The dog star has a quest to fulfill and an item to find until he gets to be a star again.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2007/04... ( )

I read this book at first when I was nine years old and ten years later, I still really enjoyed it - it's my first ever favourite book as a child and it still hold my heart. ( )

One of her bleaker books- the heroine is an abused girl without friends, until the the star Sirius comes into her care as a puppy. A good book, but it makes me sad, so I rarely re-read it. ( )