Viemärin valtias

This would probably be three and a half stars. I've said this before about PTerry but I think it's especially true with Dodger, I cannot understand why he's created a fantastic, detailed discworld, filled it with amazingly 3 dimensional, funny-as-f*%k characters and then goes and writes what's essentially a discworld novel without the fantastic setting and the amazingly 3 dimensional and wonderful characters!!?? It makes no sense to do that.

This novel is simply crying out for hillarious, well-rounded characters with a wonderful and interesting back-history... you know, like the ones you see in discworld. It's also crying out for a detailed and interesting setting... you know, like the ones you see in discworld. So what does PTerry do to acheive this? That's right, he sets it in a city that is basically just there because it needs to be set somewhere instead of being an integral part of the story and then fills it with 'meh' type characters. This is especially pertinent with this novel because it's trying to actually be a semi-historical fantasy, but it could have so easily been done(and so much better) in Anhk-Morpork. And of course, taking it out of Anhk-Morpork immediately dispenses with a lifetime of amazingly well-rounded characters that everyone already loves to death. But he chooses not to do that at all. Does that sound like something that makes any sense at all to you? 'Cos it makes absolutely no sense to me.

After having ranted about PTerry's seeming lack of love for his own world, the novel isn't that bad, it's just not nearly as good as it undoubtedly would have been if he'd set it in discworld and used all those aforementioned characters to interact with Dodger and co. YOu see, the only character that even comes close to feeling real here is Dodger himself, and that's basically because he's a young Moist Von Lipwig, the rest of the cast are two dimensional and very throw-away.

The story is pretty much non-existant and seems to be there simply so PTerry can move his two dimensional characters around a setting that nobody really cares about.

So, I'm just left with a feeling of resigned despair now, and the very nagging question, Why did he write this book? It's just a poor cousin of discworld.

In summary, it's a fun piece of throw-away nonesense that's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things. Read it or don't, put it on your bookshelf or throw it on the fire; it matters not one wit with this one. It is fun though, in the end. It's just nothing special and not a patch on his discworld stuff.
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Most of the Pratchett that I have yet to read are the books outside of the Discworld series. This is one that I picked up in a sale a few months ago, but has been sat in a pile gathering dust since then. Despite my reticence, Pratchett never disappoints. Once I got started [then lost the book, then found it again] I didn't want to stop reading.

This reimagining of the teenage Jack Dawkins/Artful Dodger as, for the most part, the hero (hero-adjacent?) includes characters Sweeney Todd, writer Charles Dickens, and politician Benjamin Disraeli.

It was an OK read. I didn't have any strong feelings about it one way or the other. The humor is its saving grace. ( )

I really enjoyed the story, but it was an incredibly slow read for me. It just didn't quite hook me enough to make me want to pick it up again, even though while I was reading it I had fun. The historical information was fantastic though, and I think it could really appeal to some of our teens. Which makes the cover a bummer, honestly. It's not at all indicative of the gritty, funny, strange world and characters of the story. ( )

I loved it! To begin with I felt like I wanted it to just be an Ankh-Morpork book rather than a Dickensian London book, probably because of its kind of old-school Discworld-esque writing style, but once all the various historical figures started appearing my mind was changed. Still, the mood of the book is very Ankh-Morpork-like, which I enjoyed a lot. Recommended! ( )