I’m reading Dodger, a sort of historical novel by Terry Pratchett, well, “Sir” Terry Pratchett, “the late” Sir Terry Pratchett.  I’m very fond of the author and his many novels and Dodger has many of the elements I most like in a novel: real historical characters, albeit in fictional settings, at least in part, although perhaps the most important parts; and, a protagonist that I find beguiling, whether or not I identify with him.  But so far Dodger has not dazzled me as it has the reviewers, may Sir Terry’s soul forgive me.

In part that’s because, as I do with all of Sir Terry’s novels, especially now that he is unlikely to write any more, I am stretching it out as long as I can and it may be that, because of that, it has not caught fire for me, and, at any rate, there are still over seventy pages to go, but, it feels contrived to me.  It involves a genre different than the one I associate with Pratchett novels and lacks the savage wit and comedy that usually generates a bit of uncontainable laughter, laughter of the out-loud variant, which makes it seem strange (although had it been written by another author, perhaps that reflection would not stand out as much).  But then again, I love historical novels of all kinds and by many different authors and most are not usually funny. 

I enjoy philosophical interventions in novels, interventions that lead me to reflect on the human condition and on my personal condition, and that aspect is seemingly present but for some reason it doesn’t resonate, at least not for me.  I don’t quite know why.  I thought, for an instant, that perhaps I was just angry at Sir Terry for having proven to be mortal and having left us (after all, he was born two years after I was) but that was just an excuse I made up.  I’m concurrently reading and enjoying a number of his other novels (Going Postal comes to mind). Actually, in some cases I’m rereading novels I first read decades ago.  Actually, some, half a century ago, when Terry Pratchett was both alive and a commoner, before he became first Sir Terry and then, the late Sir Terry. 

Of course, I’ve changed during those decades.  During that more than half century.  And not just once or twice and not slightly, but seemingly totally at times (several times).  And the current version of me does not enjoy things other versions loved (such as Robert Heinlein’s writing style).  I still love Terry Pratchett’s and I really enjoyed his collaborations with Neil Gaiman but Dodger has, so far, inexplicably fallen flat, at least for me, if not for the critics.  Then again, critics frequently panned Terry Pratchett’s novels, at least before he became Sir Terry, as they pan many works of literature, cinema and what was once the silver screen that I thoroughly enjoy (the older Star Trek series are examples (ntil Voyager and the change in focus that followed, which the critics loved).  

Well, I still have a bit over seventy pages to go and, who knows, perhaps suddenly in those seventy pages it will all come together for me.  An epiphany of sorts.  At any rate, for now, my apologies to Terry Pratchett and to Sir Terry, and to his ghost (who is most assuredly reading my writing and laughing, although perhaps not for the reasons I would most appreciate).

Interesting though that I decided to write this “reflection” before I finished Dodger leaving both me and the late, great, Sir Terry Pratchett somewhat of an “out”.  I think he would at least have chuckled at that.
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2026; all rights reserved.  Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.

Guillermo (“Bill”) Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet and aspiring empirical philosopher) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia (although he has primarily lived in the United States of America of which he is also a citizen). Until 2017 he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales. Previously, he chaired the social studies and foreign language departments at the Eastern Military Academy in Huntington, New York. He is currently the publisher of the Inannite Review available at Substack.com; an intermittent commentator on radio and television; and, an occasional contributor to diverse periodicals and publications. He has academic degrees in political science (BA, The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina), law (JD, St. John’s University, School of Law), international legal studies (LL.M, the Graduate Division of the New York University School of Law) and translation and linguistic studies (GCTS, the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies). However, he is also fascinated by mythology, religion, physics, astronomy and mathematics, especially with matters related to quanta, cosmology and cosmogony. He can be contacted at guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at https://guillermocalvo.com/.