I wish some of the characters were a little more fleshed out. It's a rocking good yarn that will no doubt interest many people in the history of the time (a number of the characters are actual historical personages, with Charles Dickens and Robert Peel being the most famous) as a beneficial side-effect, even if the tale, in the end, feels a little like a tale of sound and fury, signifying little (with apologies to Mr Shakespeare). To be sure, there are some rather dark themes for even older children (Pratchett revisits the spectre of miscarriage from I Shall Wear Midnight very early on in the novel), but at the same time, it's also lighter than many of his previous books for older children. But while there is a lack of actual depth compared to that story, Dodger more than makes up for it in entertainment value. And Dodger does not explore as many of the deeper themes as Nation does. Dodger is thrown into an unfamiliar world of poshness and politics, where a woman's life is a price willing to be paid for peace between countries, and heroes and villains are easily manufactured at the stroke of a pen, but Dodger's street smarts might just put him out on top.Īnyone expecting Dodger to be about the character from Oliver Twist are going to be disappointed, although there is indeed a Dickensian slant to the whole book. But there is also those behind the attack on Simplicity, and they will stop at nothing to get her back. There's Charlie, the journalist and aspiring novelist, and associate Henry,both well-to-do men who are concerned about the state of London's poor. But when Dodger saves the life of a young woman, calling herself Simplicity, who escapes from a carriage, he finds himself under unwanted attention from corners both benign and malevolent. And so many people in the rookeries and other low places of London know him. The street-savvy kid known as Dodger is a little more fortunate than most, in that he has lodgings and a man looking after him. The life of a tosher is a hard one, scavenging valuables from the muck of London's sewers. And anyone thinking that this will be a Pratchettian take on Oliver Twist is in for a twist themselves. Now, four years later, he comes to Victorian London, a setting that seems so much like Ankh-Morpork of the Discworld books.

In 2008, Pratchett published the alternate history novel Nation, a good but serious work.

Much of Terry Pratchett's output is occupied by his famous Discworld series, but of late, it seems that he is making a comeback to original novels, particularly for younger readers.

Dodger pratchett