Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne JonesPicture the celestial bodies in the night sky. There are numerous stars, planets around those stars, and satellites around those planets. Now, imagine that each star, planet and satellite has its own personality, and is a sentient lifeform unto itself. If you can imagine this, then perhaps you can understand what a wretched situation it is for Sirius, the Dog Star, who has just been tried for the murder of a young luminary stationed in the constellation Orion, and found guilty.
Sirius is outraged. He knows he often loses his temper, and even his "small, exquisite and pearly" Companion has testified that Sirius often gets too angry to know what he is doing. Still, Sirius knows he has been framed. The only way he will be able to prove his innocence is through banishment: he will be stripped of all his powers, sent to Earth to live in the body of a creature native to the planet, and spend his life looking for the Zoi, a weapon of mass destruction that the Court has accused Sirius of wielding with deadly force.
When Sirius next regains consciousness, he is a newborn puppy with green eyes. Someone who seems to know who he really is tries to drown him and leave him for dead. However, none of Sirius’s friends or enemies could have predicted that the mortal dog would find a champion in Kathleen, an Irish girl with boundless loyalty.
It is most uncanny: someone in the universe does not want Sirius to find the Zoi.
7 comments:
Ooooo! Always glad to see original thinking. I shall try to find this one while I'm out shopping today. :)
Friday Booktalk is a great edition to your blog! It's so impressive as well - I try to do a monthly YA Pick, but never manage to keep it truly monthly. You rock.
I am honoured to be one of your spinners now and I swear it is pure co-incidence that I recently added your site to my little Planet Blog.
Thanks, Lone Star Ma! We'll see how long it truly lasts, but Booktalk Friday is good discipline for me. The great thing about booktalks as opposed to book reviews is that I will only booktalk books I love.
Yorkshire Pudding: It was when I saw you had added me to your Planet Blog that I realized I had to stop letting Brad the Gorilla tell me who my friends were. He really is outrageous sometimes. I'd wring his neck, except that I simply cannot live happily without his spinach pies and chocolate pudding. Also, he teaches Latin and guitar to Lucia, which is a bonus in anyone's book.
I also basically only review books I like, although occasionally I will post a rant on something that is awful. Those rants are more political posts than book reviews, though(:
I never knew about the existence of booktalks before but they remind me very much of the promos and teases my dh used to produce for television news programs. Neato.
Galetea: Did you find the book when you were out shopping? I keep meaning to get a copy of my own, but then I inevitably give it away. Someday I will have my own copy, I tell you.
I didn't actually. I was kind of surprised as she seems to be a hugely popular children's author over here. I'll have to forgo the instant gratification and get it through Amazon instead!
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