(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Oliver Twist is one of the most well-known stories ever told, about a young orphan who has to survive the mean streets of London before ultimately being rescued by a kindly benefactor.
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.

I went hoping that this was going to be awesome - instead, I got a book that was over-thought but under-developed...

Firstly, taking a classic story and adding vampires doesn't instantly make a bestseller. Nor does adding faux-Dickensian language as a writing style. It felt clumsy and pretentious.

Sadly, it got worse...

An editor is a handy addition to a writer's "team". They are responsible for more than just picking up spelling errors - they could have also picked up the inane repetition of back story and maybe said to the author that flowery words are all great, providing you know what they mean. So much dragged me out of the story it was frustrating...

I can see that there is a really great concept here but it got weighed down just trying to be much more than it needed to be...


Paul
ARH