Dodger

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wins the heart of a beautiful, multilingual Princess (despite barely exchanging three sentences). Middle aged women are also apparently magnetically drawn to the young urchin - throwing themselves at the teen, demanding kisses in exchange for their assistance A couple weeks ago, I was having a real pisser of a day. Then I remembered there was a new Terry Pratchett book out and things didn't seem so bad anymore. If you love Terry Pratchett novels you will love this, if you haven't read any off Terry's works before and want to start, you can't go wrong here.

There are over 40 books in the Discworld series, of which four are written for children. The first of these, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal. Despite the above issues, this could have been an engaging read if the antagonists had been more fleshed out: something that Pratchett is normally incredibly good at. If we had been introduced to the Outlander and her (possibly conflicted?) henchman earlier, and been led to feel truly terrified and slightly awed by the assassin's ruthlessness and cunning, as well as sympathy for her henchman, it might have broken up the Gary Stu-ness of the tale (it might also have given us a true sense of fear for Dodger and Simplicity). Additionally, it would have been a chance to show us early Victorian Britain a through the eyes of an outsider. Angela Burdett-Coutts, an independent woman who inherited a large sum of money and who uses her wealth and connections to help those who need it. She takes in Simplicity after it became clear that she was not safe at Mayhew's house and uses her resources to protect her. The point I'm making is that I can't be objective when it comes to this author - the Discworld books are too much a part of my life; I cried while watching TP's deeply personal euthanasia documentary; I know certain Discworld characters better than I know members of my extended family. The other surprise was the language of the book. To be completely honest (and I'm really embarrassed to admit this.) when I started reading the book, I thought that Terry's Alzheimer's had finally progressed to such a degree that it had *really* damaged his ability to write at the sentence-level.

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I've read several of Pratchett's previous novels, including from the Discworld novels and his The Long Earth (with Stephen Baxter) and Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman). With Dodger, though, Pratchett proves his skill as a wordsmith and story-teller. Constantly colorful and always witty, Dodger is fun, inventive, and thoroughly enjoyable. or to be more accurate, everyone who is nobody knows Dodger, but anyone who is somebody, doesn’t. Or not until this novel.

And this brings me to my next issue, which is possibly controversial: the historical figures were all middle-class or wealthy do-gooders, concerning themselves with charity towards the deserving poor. There was no mention of working class figures of the industrial era organised labour movement - the movement that would culminate in arguably the biggest ever shift in British society: the post-war Labour victory that led to the NHS, radical redistribution of wealth, the grammar schools and free University education - all of which would have fundamentally shaped TP's childhood and adult opportunities.Silverpoint (13x22’) is a sci-fi drama series about kids at summer camp. Four kids bond over something unexplainable out in the woods, something they make an oath not tell anyone about because it’s beyond cool and because no one would believe them anyway. I doubt there will be another volume in the story of Dodger, though I certainly wouldn't mind reading more about him, both before and after the incidents described in this book. The series is filmed in Belfast and Executive Produced by Saltbeef TV’s Jeremy Salsby, with Melissa Hardinge the Senior Commissioning Editor for CBBC. It is due to air this summer. BBC Children’s In House Productions In many ways, this book functions as an introduction to the Victorian era for the younger reader. For an adult reader, the pleasure comes from Pratchett's cleaver wordplay, references, and jokes. This is, in many ways, a real world Disc. Not surprising when conisdering what London gave birth to in Pratchett's mind.

I was seriously impressed by the writing and to me it seemed as though Pratchett has been leading up to this book via the YA books, particularly Maurice, and the Watch novels. There are undertones of much of Nobby Nobbs, Vimes and others but they are nothing much more than ghosts which leave no trace in this interesting world. Flavourings, but nothing more. The cast also includes Sam C Wilson (Hanna) as Bill Sikes, Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) as Queen Victoria, Lucy Montgomery (Disenchantment) as Fagin’s landlady, Minnie Bilge, and Frances Barber (Medici) as theatrical dame, Eliza Vestris. Javone Prince (Horrible Histories) plays inept copper PC Blathers and Rhys Thomas (The Fast Show, Brian Pern) takes an on-screen role as his partner PC Duff. This is a little left field but I feel that story was been written in such a way that once Terry succumbs to his illness it could be continue on in its own fashion without trying to recreate Discworld, that uniqueness and wizardry belongs to Terry Pratchett. I can think of no greater tribute to Terry Pratchett if his works could be continued in a small way by others.

Dodger is produced by NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group. Francis Gilson is Producer. Mark Freeland is Executive Producer for NBCUniversal International Studios. Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery also serve as Executive Producers. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is handling international sales. The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Amy Buscombe.

From these ignominious beginnings, Dodger becomes enmeshed in a plot, developing his detective and acting skills, and inadvertently beginning to rise up the ladder of Victorian society “faster than a chimpanzee”.

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Appearances are also made by a youthful “Ben” Disraeli, an up-and-coming young politician and friend of Mister Charlie. He is introduced as a member of parliament and is to play a supporting role in Dodger’s scheme to fake Simplicity’s death.. Joseph Bazalgette is there too, as a civil engineer who is interested in the sewers. I had wondered about the goddess of the sewers, “Cloacina”, and her rat attendants, only to discover that there really was an ancient belief in a deity who was said to preside over the Cloaca Maxima (“Greatest Drain”), the main interceptor discharge outfall of the system of sewers in Ancient Rome! Theres plenty of other nice additions from this era but the repetitive nature for the younger target audience to learn about this period made the plot drag a little too much for my liking. First, a disclaimer: As virtually a life-long Pratchett fan, I would probably buy anything he publishes. If he were to release a book titled World of Poo, I would probably...oh. Nevermind.