| Title | : | Artful |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 290 |
| Publication | : | First published July 1, 2014 |
But it is his friend, the Artful Dodger, who has the far more intriguing tale, filled with more adventure and excitement than anything boring Oliver could possibly get up to. Throw in some vampires and a plot to overthrow the British monarchy, and what you have is the thrilling account that Charles Dickens was too scared to share with the world.
From the brilliant mind of novelist and comic book veteran Peter David, Artful is the dark, funny, and action-packed story of one of the most fascinating characters in literary history.
With vampires.
Artful Reviews
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Originally reviewed at
Bookwraiths Reviews
Artful by Peter David is a novel which expands on the world of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist by taking a look at the continued life of Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger. While it has its high points, the story falters a bit in its execution, but it was still an entertaining read.
Here, the Artful Dodger is the star of the show. The narrative begins by explaining how our young cat purse managed to escape his expulsion to Australia and reestablish himself on the streets of London, albeit in different circumstances than during his Oliver Twist days. While still following his thieving ways, Artful has grown and matured, becoming a young man who maintains a sense of dignity and morality, even while attempting to do anything to survive another day. He is especially kind to the young ladies of the night, who sell their company of the street corners, and this is where Artful meets a mysterious, young woman, in whose behalf he intervenes to put a stop to a very demanding “customer.” After this gallant “rescue,” he bares his soul to the guarded, young woman and gives her the nickname Drina. Thereafter, the two become fast friends and stumble into the middle of a grand conspiracy involving – vampires!
For Oliver Twist fans, the highlights of this novel might well be the first few chapters, where Peter David attempts to mimic the descriptive, exposition, Victorian style of Dickens and succeeds in great measure. Not only that, but he even does a wonderful job of capturing the flavor and core of the Artful Dodger himself, making this story seems like a true sequel to its famous predecessor. Naturally, however, this is a two-edged sword, because those readers who are not fans of Dickens will likely hate this section of the book, since there are pages of descriptions and meandering narrative were nothing much seems to actually be happening. But, never fear, because after the beginning, the writing shifts into a very modern style, something that will either disappoint or please based upon your perspective.
The other group who will, no doubt, adore this novel is aficionados of vampires as true horror figures, not sparkly, paranormal romance stars. For in Artful, the vampires are archetypal bad guys, worried more about sustenance and power than self-denial of their hunger or longing for human love. Something that will keep even those readers weary of vampires (I’m raising my hand for inclusion in this group) from being turned off by the revelation that Artful is actually The Artful Dodger: Vampire Hunter.
Overall, this was an okay story. Sure, it had excessive amounts of exposition (which – though mimicking Dickens – falls short of Oliver Twists’s brilliance), a few too many historical figures included into the narrative, and major plots not thoroughly disguised, but even with these problems, it was succeeded in being exactly what Peter David intended it to be: an entertaining, vampire story. And if that sounds good to you, you should definitely pick this novel up.
I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. I’d like to thank both of them for allowing me to receive this review copy and inform everyone that the review you have read is my opinion alone. -
I thought I would parody the book and
write a clever review but I'm too disheartened to make fun of this volume at this point. I picked this up for free from Amazon Kindle firsts. I love paranormal stories, Victorian literature, and reworking of minor characters by other authors. I also have a deep an abiding love of horrible movies. This synopsis of this book sounded like my perfect cup of tea.
I was wrong. So wrong.
Sometime in this writer's career an editor told him "show, don't tell" and somehow his brain thought, "if I do both it will be even better!" I highlighted some passages to show examples of the redundancy and over use of adverbs, but I'm too depressed to look them up. The reader isn't trusted to catch a clue. Important information is thrown at the reader over and over and over. Jeez, if Artful hadn't lost his mother and Nancy. How many times did we really need to be berated with that tidbit and back story?
At the 30% point I still had no plot concept. No idea of the theme. I read to 50% and had the idea that vampires were the bad guys and artful must be going to do something to thwart them. Trite. I skipped to the last chapter in my apathy and resolved the question. Seriously, I slogged through volumes of excessively worded back story for such small reward?
I'm not even sure who to be aggravated with. On the Kindle site there is a quote from the editor. .....
Wait. ... This book had an editor? ??
Was he a 14 year old intern with English as a second language? Because someone at minimum could have done this fantastic concept justice just by talking highlighters and marking back story with one and action sequences with the other. Or possibly suggesting that maybe dickensonian language craft could be replicated quite efficiently by getting rid of adverbs and describing actions with overtly flowery language. Maybe just simply sticking to one name to routinely indicate characters as opposed to real names and nicknames.
Sigh, I was so looking forward to this book. I'm so disappointed. -
This was awarded to me by Net Galley, THANK YOU! I was not aware of Peter David, until I finished the book and was telling my husband about it - when I started to tell him about the other work Peter has done, then said his name - my husband a Graphic novel & comic book fan said "Yeah, I know, he's great".
Great he is, and this book is also. My only wish for it was to have illustrations! The descriptions were so well explained, I pictured people and scenes, but would have loved them to be presented in full color.
I really like the concept of a well known character and their point of view, making the story I knew a whole new experience. This one is a wonderful example!
The Artful Dodger is so much more interesting than Oliver Twist in this tale. I adored all of the characters. Vampires just took this to a twisted new high.
This will be a book to read again!
Highly recommended! -
I received a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley.
As Ka would have it, earlier this year I read Oliver Twist. So I was rather intrigued when I later saw that Peter David was putting out a book about the Artful Dodger. I've read Peter David and he is among my favorite comic book writers as well as one of my favorite authors of Star Trek novels. This man wrote the adaptations of Stephen King's Dark Tower comic series! So he's telling the story of one of the better characters from the Dickens novel? Sign me up.
All in all, this was an enjoyable story. David wrote it in a tone to echo Dickens's narrative voice, while adding his own elements of humor to it. And .
It was well paced, and had lots of historical and literary surprises packed in there. The Dodger himself remained an interesting character. I also like what David did with the other characters, both from the original story and other sources. And even the .
I was rather amused by the Artful's perspective on Oliver Twist himself, among his other views.
So yes, this was a good light read with nice pacing and some humor, along with a few surprising plot Twists. -
"Thus it has always been: Only in death do worthless people have worth."
Technically, this book was what most people call "fanfiction". The author took the characters from some established book - in this case, Oliver Twist - and either continued their story or made up a new one to suit their own desires. This may be fanfiction, but it's a damn good one. True, vampyres were the farthest from my mind when I thought of the Artful Dodger, but the changeup is perfectly carried out and makes a rather interesting read. -
2.5
First off let me say that I've never read Oliver Twist and I'm not actually a huge fan of Dickens, but I know the overall story, mostly through the musical, to be honest.
And I liked the concept of this story - taking the Artful Dodger, and some others, from that famous book - and throw in vampires, Spring-Heeled Jack and some other stuff from history. I'm certainly not a purist when it comes to these sorts of things, and have been a fan of
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,
Jane Steele,
Zombie Island and various other mish-mashes of "classic story + supernatural creatures".
But this one just fell flat for me.
For one, I had trouble getting into the narrative style - which several reviews say is a passable imitation of Dickens which, as I said, I was never a huge fan of Dickens writing style. My favorite comment about his writing is that he was paid by the word, and it shows...
Mostly, though, I just found the narrator intrusions to break me from the story more than adding anything to it.
Second, while the narrator makes several asides to how coincidences do happen in real life, that doesn't really forgive the fact that this book is so heavily built on a ridiculous preponderance of them.
I also sort of liked the conceit of meeting a young Abraham Van Helsing, but, again, while it was an interesting idea I was a bit lukewarm about the execution. And the attempt to tie it in with both Spring-Heeled Jack and Jack the Ripper were eye-rollingly hamfisted.
Anyway -
Once the action of the story gets going, the narration loses a little bit of its aesthetic conceit, and because more generally run of the mill. Unfortunately, I can't say this made the story really flow any better.
And, at the end of the day, while it's nice to see "vampires as monsters", the story, overall - which is sort of prequel to Dracula as much as sequel to Oliver Twist - just ended up feeling much too typical a "hunt down and kill the vampires" story, complete with a surrogate
Sometimes these hodge-podge stories open the characters and the original work to a different level of originality... and sometimes they tell a pretty bland, pretty basic story and hope no one notices because, hey, there's Fagin.
Meh. -
What's all this then? The Artful Dodger fighting vampyres in Victorian London. Cool! Well, it's not a very Dickensian word, but cool I say.
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I didn't mean to read it, but it's done now.
I accidentally downloaded this book, then decided to read the first couple of pages before deleting it. I'd read the first couple of chapters before I realized it. I would have said you wouldn't catch me reading a silly book about vampires- and you didn't catch me- it's too late now, the deed is done. The plot was no worse than some cozy mysteries I've read, the writing was tolerable, and the book was quite humorous in places. For my troubles, I got a story including the Artful Dodger, Abraham Stoker, the Baker Street Irregulars, and Princess Victoria. All this, and all it cost me was hiding out in the bathroom so as not to be caught. Score! -
Netgalley #72
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Peter David's attempt to replicate Dickensian language is one of the most aggravating conceits I have ever encountered. Frankly, David doesn't have the talent or the understanding to pull it off. There is more to the Victorian style than florid prose and sentence structures that appear convoluted to the modern eye. One should, at the very least, understand the definitions of the antiquated words one uses in such an attempt. Yet, David clearly doesn't, and he consistently uses many words incorrectly, as the Kindle's convenient dictionary feature makes apparent.
As for the concept of the novel itself, this doesn't really present anything new. Taking classical novels and adding supernatural monsters to them has been seen before, and I personally feel the entire subgenre essentially played itself out after the first three pages of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". It is little more than a precious gag that stops being amusing the moment you realize you have three hundred more pages of this one, single joke to slog through before you reach the end.
If Oliver Twist needed vampires, crossover characters from other Victorian novels and a smattering of fictionalized historical figures, I must admit I never personally noticed the deficiency. But, even if it did, it deserved better treatment than this. In different hands, it might have been a mildly amusing Summer read, which is a perfectly acceptable thing for any book to be. This, however, is sloppy, poorly written and is in serious need of an editor who has a dictionary handy.
"Artful" is anything but artful. -
For those who enjoyed Pride & Prejudice and Zombies and Jane Slayer, this is right up your alley. It's a tongue-in-cheek continuation of the Artful Dodger's story after Oliver Twist. Fagin's pathetic demeanor is finally explained in this book. He's actually a vampire who has sworn off blood, making him weak and powerless. Explains everything, right?
Great light, summer read--although you may not want to read it after dark... -
It's an easy read.
I would recommend to Scooby-Doo fans and getting this from a library. -
I'm surprised the publisher didn't give it a more provocative title like, "Artful Dodger: Vampire Hunter." With a title like "Artful," people might expect it to be, you know, artful. It's entertaining, but this isn't really a fresh concept.
This is basically a sequel to "Oliver Twist," though with a twist! It focuses on the Artful Dodger, who has escaped being shipped to Australia and is building a new life, until he meets a young woman named Alexadrina--the future queen of England. Then they meet Abraham van Helsing--yes, THAT van Helsing--and uncover a plot involving a vampire subtly named Mr. Fang. So essentially it's a sequel to "Oliver Twist" and a prequel to "Dracula." I was disappointed Sherlock Holmes didn't get involved for the trifecta.
The narrative is quite jaunty; how well it matches Dickens I couldn't really say since I haven't read Oliver Twist yet. As I said the only problem is this isn't a new idea. There's been Pride and Prejudice--With Zombies and Abraham Lincoln--Vampire Killer, and so forth so clearly this isn't a new idea. It is largely predictable, which dulls some of the excitement.
One other thing is I noted an instance where Dodger is once referred to as Oliver, which makes me wonder if originally this novel was supposed to focus on Oliver and not Dodger.
That is all. -
Actual rating, probably 3.5. I grabbed this because, I confess, I judged it by its cover. I love the cover. The insides are fun--a twist on Oliver that follows the adventures of the Artful Dodger, and his encounters with Bram Stoker, Van Helsing, the Baker Street Irregulars, a certain infamous serial killer, and the future queen of England, all while in the hot pursuit of vampires. I'm not much of a vampire chick, especially the current angsty, conflicted, sparkly loverboy types. But these vampires were old school baddies, and that was refreshing. Sometimes the narrative voice trips over its own feet in attempting to sound Dickensian, but whatever. This book will not change my life or expand my worldview, but it entertained me. Once in a while, that's enough.
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Artful was a very welldrawn and creative comic.
There was definitely a gothic/steampunk-type setting which I most certainly enjoyed.
It was well-written and had me excited to see what would happen with each turn of the page.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book Via NetGalley. -
I love Peter David and will grab any novel he writes. He's always brought puns and a great sense of humor to many of his books and I was hoping for a little more of that of that in ARTFUL. There's not so much of that here. But that's OK, We have vampyres in Victorian England. This is The Artful Dodgers story. It's a little slow to start, but picks in the middle and takes off running. By the surprise ending I was sorry that it was done.
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Continuing Dickens' story with the Artful Dodger into the world of vampires in pre-Victorian London is pure fun. A witty romp that never takes itself too seriously, this feels more like the old school vampire than the new teenage ones. I'm not much of a dickens scholar, but I am curious how much holds with "Oliver Twist".
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Delightful epilogue adventure to Dickens' "Oliver Twist," centered on the character of the Artful Dodger--and it includes vampires!
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Ok I loved Oliver Twist when I was in school so when I found this book . This is the story of the Artful Dodger and the adventures he has . He falls into a plot to throw over the British Monarchy and throw in some vampires and you have a great tale.
When I started reading this book, I was like ok lets see what the Artful Dodger was up to. Who knew that I would end up getting a book hang over from reading . The book is centered around Artful and WAIT FOR IT Vampires Yes I said vampires . Artful stumbles upon them and finds out that they killed his mother. There is a damsel in distress and Artful becomes a hero. These characters are good and relatable. Artful is a character that has gone from no good street rat to a hero. He saves the damsel and fights the vampires . The damsel turns out to be the future queen of England . Oh yes we also have a great vampire hunter Abraham Van Hesling. Together they thwart the evil vampire and save the crown.
The author starts off the book sounding a lot like Dickens and then goes off on a great journey. He takes us on a ride that won't stop until the last page. I found it to be very well written and trust me you will be laughing your butt off as you read . The author takes us on a fun filled ride. I know there are vampires are all over the place now . But this is a book that takes them in a different direction. He doesn't make them into the movie idols like most books have done . He keeps them at their basic. The blood sucking monsters that horror writers have meant them to be. There are good guys and bad guys in the book. You can tell the difference right away. There are no shades of grey in this book. He takes us on a ride that the lovers of classics and the lovers of vampire books would love . So if you want a great read with jaunty writing , that will keep you reading well into the night. -
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http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
My last encounter with the Artful Dodger was a complete disaster, see my review on The Artful. It felt only fair however to give him another chance, as it was my own fault I never read/watched Oliver Twist (and need to admit that I still haven't).
I'd almost written that Artful follows a more traditional setting, Victorian London, but then again, I thought of the vampires roaming this book, and couldn't make such a statement. It feels almost like it is part of the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies series. However, the addition of the vampires didn't destroy the story for me. In fact I found it quite entertaining.
I'm really annoyed that I lost my notes on this novel, as there seem to be some things I wanted to mention and I feel they are just out of reach (but have been so for the last three days, so I'm not confident I will remember them any time soon).
The story is absurd in all its dimensions. Not just the vampires. If you're looking for a realistic story set in Victorian England (with or without the vampires), this isn't the book you're looking for. However, if your looking for something entertaining that doesn't require a lot of thinking (I think it's even better not to analyse the story, probably), this is a very enjoyable read.
At this point I still don't really see what would make the Artful Dodger such an interesting character that people are still writing fanfiction about it after all this time. Artful didn't give me such a memorable main character. But I'll read Oliver Twist soon (when I find the time to do so), so I can better understand the hype around him.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. -
OK, in the preface, the author makes a pretty good argument for why the Artful Dodger would have been a better protagonist than Oliver Twist. Whereas Oliver was a whiny, simpering twit, Artful was cunning, clever, and interesting. To wit:
"Why did the adventures of such a memorably described, thoroughly engaging, and far more captivatingly visualized young man--always pictured with a cocky smile and upraised, mocking eyebrow rather than tears of pathos trickling down his face--play second fiddle in the great orchestra of fiction to the perpetually sobbing Master Twist?
The answer is profoundly deep and disturbing and involves something that most normal people would find deeply impossible to accept.
What is that thing?
Vampires. Or, as it was spelled at the time, vampyres."
Written with a similar style and tone as Dickens, Peter David clearly has fun with his choice of topic and fantastic plot. In the story, we learn that Fagin and Fang (noted in Oliver Twist) were both, in fact, vampires, and are each wickedly plotting their own brand of terror on London town. By the end, we meet Isaac Van Helsing, and his son Abraham (known as Bram), Alexandrina Victoria, called Drina, and eventually, Jack the Ripper, as well as a brief encounter with the wimpy boy Oliver himself.
Quite entertaining--I'd probably give it 3 1/2 stars, if I could, as parts occasionally dragged when they didn't need to. But overall, an enjoyable tale. -
Awesome, Creative, Unique, Intriguing.
Two things initially drew me to this book 1) being the nature of the story itself and 2) The fact that Dodger is a long forgotten nickname given to be me by my Uncle. (somewhat fitting I suppose, idk bit of a catch 22 there).
This book will now to be added to my all time favorites list.
I wavered back and forth between a 4 or 5 star rating. In fact I don't think I've ever given a 5 star rating (I tough critic) and the only reason I thought to give it 4 is mainly due to the beginning. idk in my opinion it was bit rough getting into at first, though I can't rightly pinpoint why. But once the storyline gets going, you'll not regret reading it. Especially if you're into 18 century England (I think I must have been part of it in a former life- I was quite surprised that some of the old long forgotten words that the author used were words that I actually knew or at least had an inkling or an idea of their meaning, it was quite weird.)
I'm not much for writing reviews, so just read the book, I'm sure you can write a better review than I.
One other criticism I have, is that the cover is not very appealing. I know they say Not to judge a book by its cover and while it is true and this book is proof of such, we all do it. -
Mr. Fang, Fagin And The Artful Dodger's Next Chapters Continued.
At the conclusion is Charles Dickens' novel, _Oliver Twist_, Fagin, the Artful Dodgers and the rest of Fagin's crew of thieves are left to founder in the purgatory that generally awaits all minor literary characters. A fate they suffer until 2014, when Peter David pulls them forth from both their literary doom and the comforting shadows which shielded their enterprises from prying and judgmental eyes to answer some questions.
How did Jack Dawkins, a.k.a. the Artful Dodger, comes into Fagin's care? What is the twisted history that makes Fagin the thief-runner he becomes? What dark secret is the Magistrate, Mr. Fang hiding? What becomes of Fagin and his covey of thieves? And, most importantly, how is young Dodger going to foil a plot to seize control of the young Queen Victoria? -
So this is a book graphic novel about The Artful Dodger but with a twist, there are vampires. Dodger was minding his own business when he sees a woman in trouble and when he saved her he didn't know how much his life would change. She ends up being the princess and Mr. Fang a vampire wants her and Dodger and Bram (Van Helsing's son) do there best to keep her out of harms way but they can't fight all the vampires so she gets kidnapped. They have to try and save her from the vampires.
I enjoyed this graphic novel and how they took a character from Oliver Twist and added vampires. It was a fun story and I liked the art work. The vampires had these creepy red eyes...lol.
If your a graphic novels fan then I think you will enjoy this one. -
Bestselling author Peter David has a lot of sci-fi and comic credits but I still wasn’t sure when I picked up Artful. I decided to give it a try because the Artful Dodger was one of my favorite characters in Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, and I couldn’t resist a book that featured him. I should have known, given Mr. David’s track record, that this would not be your average spin-off novel. Instead it’s a really fun mash-up. Mr. David couldn’t resist adding his own unique spin to Dickens’ Victorian England – vampires. Now if anyone could take on vampires, it’s the Artful Dodger. Sound interesting? Read the rest of my review at
http://popcornreads.com/?p=7523. -
This is a cute book. The plot is ludicrous, of course, and would have been better without real historical figures behaving so far out of their well-known character. Royals did not beat their own children, for example.
The author does a nice job of maintaining tone without getting tedious, which us a difficult thing to do. He does, however, make a few errors if usage that would not have appeared in a book of the time (and I'm referring to the narration here, not the dialog), and those took me out of the groove when I stumbled over them.
I wouldn't recommend this book, but I wouldn't warn anybody away from it either. -
This is actually the second book I've read in the last year that is a follow on from Oliver Twist about the Artful Dodger. I liked this even though I'm not usually a fan of vampyre novels, putting them into historic London seems to work well. Artful was a likeable fellow and his helper was Van Helsing's son Bram, which was neat as it's unlikely that a street urchin would be able to accomplish the things he did without help. Fagin is another interesting character with a lot of depth, and I know he's not a good guy but he has a good side to him. The story is well told and progresses at speed, well worth reading.
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This was delightful! I love the way Peter David weaved his alternate history in to this Dickens classic. It was like reading one of those all-Disney-movies-are-related conspiracy theory things on Buzzfeed...except that this one was really well done. I mean, really, how does one work vampires into Oliver Twist. Well, obviously Peter David knows how to get it done.
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Oliver Twist...sort of, with vampires. The Artful Dodger, a little older and twice as smart, resourceful and pseudo gentlemanly. I did love the way Peter David was able to mimic Dicken's distinctive voice and pacing. A very silly book(Monty Python members would love it) and quite a quick enjoyable read. Fits well in the "Super Classic Well Known Novel....With Vampires" genre.
