Plot summary

The main action of this novel is framed as follows. Sirius, the Dog Star, has been falsely convicted of murdering a fellow "luminary" and of losing the Zoi, an extremely dangerous weapon that he has allowed to fall to a minor planet. He is sentenced to spend one lifetime in the form of dog, an animal native to this planet: if he can recover the Zoi within that dog's lifetime, he will be allowed to return to his former status as Sirius. If he does not, he will simply die at the end of his dog's life. Sirius accepts the sentence and is born into a litter of supposedly Labrador puppies.

Revealed as mongrels, the puppies are thrown into the river in a sack. This is just the beginning of Sirius's problems. Although adopted by the loving Kathleen, he learns that she is "low dog" everywhere because she is Irish. Struggling with his limitations as a dog and his perceptions as a star, coping with the bigotry in the household, trying simply to get out on the street so he can begin his search for the Zoi, Sirius is battered by one setback after another. How he -- with help from Kathleen, another star, and his own quick wits -- uses his canine and stellar wisdom to track the lost weapon, is an intricate and intriguing tale.

Many references are made to mythology, particularly Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons, has come down to us in much altered form in medieval Welsh manuscripts such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....

 in the appearance and actions of the dogs (see Cŵn Annwn

Cwn Annwn

In Welsh mythology and folklore, Cŵn Annwn were the spectral hounds of Annwn, the otherworld of Welsh myth. They were associated with a form of the Wild Hunt, presided over by Gwynn ap Nudd...

) and several later characters such as Arawn

Arawn

In Welsh mythology, Arawn was the king of the otherworld realm of Annwn, appearing prominently in the first branch, and alluded to in the fourth. In later tradition, the role of king of Annwn was largely attributed to the Welsh psychopomp, Gwyn ap Nudd...

.

Reception and Reviews

SF writer Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

, reviewing several DWJ reissues in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...

, wrote

Yet even with a dog hero, Jones does not overload us with cute animals. Instead they are dangerous and, by and large, rather stupid. Of course, so are the humans, so the struggle between human and animal isn't entirely one-sided. Dogsbody has become, deservedly, a classic, not despite but because of its completely nontraditional cosmology.