[Review] Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones

Let me first say that I love Diana Wynne Jones. Howl's Moving Castle is one of my all-time favorite books. The magic and whimsy is utterly enchanting. This book, while beautifully written, is a very different book.

This book is hard at the start. Character development is a tricky thing, and sometimes it leads to uncomfortable moments for readers. After all, in order to create characters that readers despise, they must be made to do despicable things. This book has an underlying dark tone, with themes of abuse—against both children and animals. It was difficult for me to get past the first quarter of the book. But after that—once the characters were developed—the plot took a more prominent role and the book read quickly, with less cringey moments.

Jones did a stellar job of capturing the essence of dog behavior (the MC is a dog), cat behavior, and human behavior (sadly, not all people are good people). This was a strange and compelling story—full of mystery, with sprinklings of scifi and mythology. There were tear-jerker moments and moments of triumph. Very unique.

4 star