BECOMING TRIXIE: IT’S A DOG’S LIFE is a funny Middle Grade space fantasy in which a dog, Twinkie, tumbles through a portal into a puzzling home without blue sky or grass. Author David Horn has written other space fiction for young readers, including the Eudora Spacekid series. In BECOMING TRIXIE, he takes readers aboard a spaceship that is part of a vast fleet comprising the star empire Kalaxia in another galaxy. There, Twinkie retains her canine instincts but inhabits the body and mind of an imperiled human princess, Trixie, the unloved daughter of the conniving Emperor Papo.
Seeking an alliance with Thorpia, a neighboring star empire of warriors, Emperor Papo is trying to arrange a marriage between Princess Trixie and Thorpia’s Prince Weibold. But Trixie horrifies her father-in-law to be, King Reginald, by displaying unladylike behavior at her engagement dinner. This includes lapping soup with her tongue, growling, panting, and rolling partially disrobed on the floor in hopes of getting belly rubs. She intrigues Prince Weibold, who tells his father that Trixie is pretty and “the last girl you wanted me to marry was an exile from the Tarantulabi. She had such hairy legs.”
Later in the novel, Trixie has trouble controlling her strong desire to lick people’s faces, a behavior misinterpreted as snogging. She horrifies her Lady in Waiting, Marmalade, by sniffing people’s “tushies.” And when Prince Weibold politely pulls out a chair for Trixie, she won’t sit in it until he talks soothingly to her and pats the seat.
One of the most successful aspects of characterization in BECOMING TRIXIE, is author David Horn’s close observation of dog behavior and what might happen if people acted similarly. He makes Trixie appealing, like a dog, by giving her a deeply loving nature and loyalty to pack. The characters in Trixie’s pack are the prissy Marmalade and her assistants, which include a baker and a cupcake-loving professional assassin. One unusual friend, who Marmalade fears may stir an artificial intelligence rebellion, is the AI computer program that Trixie names “Willow” and compares to a “white goldendoodle” in her Earth neighborhood “who thought she knew everything.” Willow is one of the most essential and fun characters in the novel. Like a cyber Supergirl, she pops in whenever her human friends are in dire straits. At other times, she moons about her love objects—both human and technological—including the pack’s crankie techie Lady Perri and a digital system called Cargo Scanner Serial Number 9T47-1PTY.
However, characterization is also a weakness in the novel. Except for the equally moony Prince Weibold, male characters who could be engaging are either short-lived or poorly developed. This may limit male readership, making young teen girls who love tales of troubled princesses the main audience for this entertaining story.
David Horn’s BECOMING TRIXIE: IT’S A DOG’S LIFE is a fanciful lark of an outer space adventure that appeals most to young teen girls who love dogs and enjoy snarky humor.
~Alicia Rudnicki for IndieReader