Dogsbody

This will be the last of my Diana Wynne Jones re-reading festival. I picked up this copy of Dogsbody years ago from the library book sale. I'm not a massive fan of this cover, which is not at all representative of the story, and I'm not normally much of a fan of books told from the point of view of animals, but Dogsbody is an excellent novel.

'High Effulgency' Sirius (not quite a god, but certainly a powerful celestial being of some kind) is sentenced to exile in the body of an ordinary earth dog, and takes a while to remember who he really is and the task he must perform to save himself and recover his position -- to find a mysterious object called a Zoi and prevent it being found by rival celestial beings. But poor Sirius is of course hampered by ordinary dog-sized obstacles, like being locked in the backyard or fighting with the household cats.

Wynne Jones brilliantly juggles the foggy dog-nature awareness of 'Leo' as he is rechristened by loving Kathleen, and the 'vast green thoughts' that lurk inside and belong to his former exalted station. This is a gripping adventure, often funny, and really touching as Kathleen struggles to cope with her horrible relatives (more horrible relatives!) Human and canine, and various kinds of super-powerful beings (including the Sun, Earth and Moon) all assist Sirius in his quest, and while the ending is not exactly neatly happy, it is supremely satisfying.