When we look at the news today it's all
Saville scandal this and Turkey trouble that, so this week let's have
something a little different as we review a much appreciated
distraction to all this bollocks: Terry Pratchett's new book, Dodger.
Let's see it we can get my shitty
camera working...
 |
| My god, that is a shitty picture |
So Dodger is another foray by
Pratchett outside the Discworld series. However this book will lead
many readers into familiar territory as Dodger is the story of
a young scavenger getting increasingly involved in a big crime in
Dickensian London. Very literally Dickensian London in fact as
Charles Dickens turn up in it.
Quick synopsis without spoilers: we
follow our main character called Dodger. He is a scavenger,
particularly of the sewer kind, known locally as a tosher. Witnessing
a brutal crime, Dodger intercedes the good old fashioned way
(...which is another phrase for 'heavy application of a crowbar in a
not originally intended for manner.') His good deed is in turn
discovered, and Dodger finds himself not able to walk away to
continue his fate as another tosher marching to an early grave, but
drawn to using all his street smarts and wit to investigate, reveal
and prevent a much bigger crime. Along the way he's assisted by not
only the aforementioned Charles Dickens, but from his mentor and
incredibly awesome Solomon, their pervasively smelly dog Onan, and a
whole slew of other historical figures.
Of course, a
character in it's own right is the Dickensian city of London herself.
As obvious Discworld comparisons is obvious, let's get them out the
way here. Readers of Discworld will definitely be on happy ground
here as Pratchett has been writing about old age London for ages with
Ankh-Morpork and there's a definite comfortableness with Pratchett
writing here. In fact, once or twice I noted something that I felt I
had read to a previous effect
in earlier works – comments about angels and their
similarities to that what was said in Going Postal stood out
to me, for example. While I liked spotting those match ups for some
that may be a step too far, but to get to that point I imagine you
would have to read a lot of Pratchett whilst not enjoying it and why
would you do that to yourself?
Unless you're me who read the entire
Da Vinci Code in a fit of rage, but hell, I stopped at that
book.
Paragraphs are happily spent building vast tracts of imaginary
land and time – while enjoyable, stylistically here Pratchett's
writing is a little heavier than Discworld as it's heavily littered
not just with detailed loving descriptions of the city but also with
researched slang. Those footnotes we all know and love appear not so
much to inject further humour but almost Pratchett going, 'Right,
crap, I just realised you probably haven't researched this time and
place as much as I have. No worries, I'll explain here. God, isn't
this era great to write about?' While a couple of paragraphs had me
spinning my eyes in pure vocabulary shock it was just my own
experience expecting a easier read more akin to his previous work and
me reading quickly like a bandit rather than slowing down. I found
myself appreciating the several historical figures that popped up in
another light as it helped me ground the story away from Ankh-Morpork
because at times I found myself expecting Death
to turn up.
As
for the living cast; Dodger is a protagonist I'm built to love. He's
a man who'll be great through confrontations using smarts and wit,
yet if worst comes to worst he'll back it up with a swift kick to the
nadgers and a swing of a crowbar. A valiant scoundrel, a... you know,
if I keep going on about him I'll get mushy. I love me a well written
scoundrel with quick wits yet the brains of an absolute bastard at
times.
Of course, next in line we have Solomon, who should be in
every book ever. A craftsman who's been in and subsequently out at
great speed of nearly every country on the planet, who regularly
talks to God in such a way that he makes very clear he not only
expects a response, but it better damn well be the reply he's looking
for or to hell with you, buddy. I also love Solomon. At the end of
the book Pratchett wrote about some of the research going into this
book – a habit I noticed him starting with The
Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
and I implore him to continue doing so as it's truly fascinating –
that Solomon was a creation at first to make sure Dodger turned into
a character not hampered by malnutrition and terrible hygiene; but
since that start he became the character that I most wanted to get to
know more. Hell, I would buy a book all about his earlier exploits.
Now there are other characters; Simplicity, the newly named woman
rescued by Dodger doesn't nearly get enough screen time - but she is
recovering from a horrific beating so it's to be expected she has to
sit out a lot and recover. What we do get to see of her is a cunning
mind, able to aptly play situations by knowing when to play the fool
and when to push, but she's sidelined for a lot
save for some
charming scenes with Dodger. Without going too much into the myriad
of side characters (it's Pratchett, okay, there's a lot of them and
they're greatly distinctive regardless how long they'll be in the
book for) I'll pick Mrs Scruples as one of my favourites. Once again,
we have a character that seemed nasty but was revealed into something
else – I noticed the same trick in I
Shall Wear Midnight
and I remember being annoyed that my character I enjoyed hating was
not a one-note villain but a complicated, fearful human being with
depth... before hanging my head in shame of realising I was pissy
because I wanted a one-note to despise and whoops, great
writer coming through here boy, got places to be, better plot and
people to write you could ever dream up boy!
Charles Dickens is great fun to be around, full of mischief and
sparkle. Between Doctor
Who and this I wonder
if he ever realised how beloved he'd become in recent media not just
for his work but as fictionalised representation of himself? Other
side characters of note are also that – fictionalised
representation of real world people and I won't spoil their
introduction because the historian in me went giddy when another big
name rolled around that we got to interact with. Needless to say,
Pratchett does a wonderful job by the end of the book of making you
want to start Googling these names.
My gushing
aside, how did it hold up? Well, let's be honest here. I am biased as
all fuck. I love me some Pratchett, and am a vicious collector of his
Guard's series, and am expanding into his Witches series after coming
in from the back end from the Aching novels, and I am desperately
awaiting a third Moist novel. So I can assure you that if you like
those previous stories you'll like this. If you're not a Discworld
fan some of the silliness has been muted for some darker overtones –
some, not all, but it's still an enjoyable read. If you cannot stand
Ye Olde English slang and descriptions more then a few words long
before it smacking of purple prose to you... yeah, you probably won't
enjoy this. But once again, I'm one biased motherfucker who loves him
some Pratchett so you should get this. It's all good.
Now
that I've done a swimmingly good review for free maybe Pratchett will
repay me by writing the
next Moist book you dick.
Purchasing
information:
Dodger
is out in all good book stores now. I got my copy with £8 off
at Waterstones, (where they're selling £30 super special awesome sauce edition
that there was no way I was shelling out for. It's also available on
ebook from many places.
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