Customer Reviews

The Printer's Devil

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a brilliant book!!!! It was a school book at first but after the first chapter I decided that it was one of the best books I've ever read!!!! It was full of cool twist and turns. It has all sorts of different plots. This book is right up there with Joshua Mowll and Phillip Pulmann. I love this book so much!!!
I like this book because of the well-developed characters. Mog, Nick, and all of the good guys were so funny. And yet they were not your average heros. The bad guys on the other hand were so evil you just wanted to reach inside the book and strangle them. I liked it how the author gave us just enough background on the characters but not enough to tell all about their past. This book had so many different things going on at once that it made your head spin, but in a good way. And then when you finally think that the author can't have any more surprises, there pops up yet another surprise.

While some of the plot twists in this fast-paced Victorian novel are utterly suprising (and yet well hinted-at, in retrospect), others are disappointingly obvious. And the reason for 12-year-old Mog's curiousity in the complex schemes of shady thieves is hard to understand, despite its fortuitous result.

But I did love the setting in the book. The scenes in the printer's shop where Mog is apprenticed are delightfully full of lead type and presses, and the crowded, grungy 19th-century London streets are alluring and exciting. The dialog is occasionally difficult to understand but full of colorful words and phrases that flesh out the atmosphere perfectly.

It all starts when the Printer's Devil is making wanted posters of an ugly convict named Cockburn. Mog Winter had stayed up late one night after printing 100 copies of the poster. Once done with that, the orphan had to deliver a bill to one of Mr. Cramplock's costomers (he's Mog's employer). The man who is to receive the bill's name is Mr. Flethick. Mog finds Flethick in his room with several other men smoking and speaking of things like "The Sun of Calcutta" and "The Bonsun". Before you could blink and eye Mog is whisked away in a grand adventure involving thieves, camels, deception, and a mysterious past.

Opinion: Good, but definitely a book you might want to use a notecard as a bookmark to keep track of who's who. At times it can be dreadfully confusing as to who's doing what and how they're involved in the first place. I thought the writing was inconsistent at times. One chapter would be smooth and the next it would take a while to catch up with the plot line. Almost as if you missed something important. Warning: When reading this book be prepared for the weird little twists and turns that could utimately change the plot for somthing totally different. Assume nothing.

(...)

A bit of Treasure Island, a bit of Sherlock Holmes, a bit of Dickens, and a bit of Philip Pullman's Ruby in the Smoke too. And a big dash of Joan Aiken.

This was a really fun read. Having spent some years in the tedious end of the publishing trade, I was captivated by the title, and the tale pulled me right away. I certainly hope absorbing historical adventure fiction for kids makes a big splash one of these days - not to take anything away from J.K. Rowling and her fellow fabulists, but I'd love to see some kids with pluck and wits rather than wands get the glory for a change.

By the way, I concede the resolution leaves one guessing about a couple important matters, which I suspect (and hope) is a set-up for the sequel. I'm not sure if you need to know this beforehand - I think anyone can enjoy the book just as it is - but I can see how that would be frustrating for some. Definitely for kids with a good vocabulary - plenty of dictionary words, though the narrative is not hard to follow, and Mog Winter is a sympathetic character and straightforward narrator.

I purchased this book for a 12 year old niece, and read it myself first. It was absorbing, full of historical information, and devoid of lecturing or recitations of details that might bore a tween or a teen. Swear on my honor, you can smell the smells, see the streets, feel the dirt!

The immediacy of London of the 19th century could make this book open a door for a young person to learn about history and travel as something other than dates and dusty monuments. Also, the plot has hooks for both female and male readers, and should appeal to ages 10-13 (in my aunt-ly experience!) :-)

Mog Winter is an orphan whose job is as an apprentice in a printing shop. The locals fondly refer to Mog as "the printer's devil."

After staying up late one night printing 100 wanted posters of the ugly "mug" of a man called Cockburn, Mog is instructed by his employer to deliver a bill to Mr. Flethick. That meeting with Flethick and his cronies drops kicks Mog into a grand and dangerous adventure where he is locked in a trunk, finds an item that appears to be linked with his past, comes upon thieves, a mysterious ship and oh so many other delicious things.

This entertaining adventure takes place in Victorian London and the style is reminiscent of a Dickens' novel. The sights, the smells, the dirt and the danger of the times and London itself come alive as Mog doggedly follows the many twists and turn of his journey to answers.

There are some hurdles to overcome in The Printer's Devil. The number of characters and odd names require a tally sheet--and I might have done something a bit different with the ending.

But Mog is delightful, his adventures are exciting and I enjoyed reading The Printer's Devil for the sheer fun of it. It took me back to my childhood and the memories of the many just plain fun reads. And that's a wonderful place to be. Paul Bajoria's talent lies in his ability to set the stage and tone of the book as much as it does in telling an exciting story.

There are many of my grandchildren who will spend hours steeped in the adventures of Mog. The sequel, The God of Mischief, will be released in September 2006. I can't wait.


Armchair Interviews says: As for The Printer's Devil? It's a keeper.

I enjoyed Paul Bajoria's "The Printer's Devil." It may have been intended as a book for a juvenile audience, but this 54-year-old thought it was a blast.

I bought this book because I had been a "printer's devil" as a kid (which led to my career as a print production manager), and I was especially intrigued by the unusual use of display typography and the excellent pen-and-ink illustrations.

This book gives a vivid sense of Dickens-era London. The plot is compelling and moves at a fast clip.

If you enjoy revisiting the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift books that you read as a kid, give this a try. I look forward to more offerings in what evidently will be a series.

Most enjoyable!

I recommend this book. I picked this book up at a used book store (to the author's chagrin), and, even though its a young adult mystery, this 43 year enjoyed it. I read it with my 7 year old son, and his comments are below. As a mystery goes, and as historical fiction, it is quite well done. There are numerous complexities, though contrary to other reviewers, I expect that in a mystery novel. To the author's chagrin, I ordered the sequel from a used book store. My son's comments:

Great book. I liked the mystery and the tough characters.

Reviewed by Ian McCurley (age 13) for Reader Views (3/07)

Mog Winter is an orphan. He is also the printer's devil, or the youngest apprentice of Mr. Cramplock, the printer. "The Printer's Devil" is set amid 19th century England when the East India Company is the biggest around and London's dockyards are bustling with sailors, foreigners, thieves and criminals of all types. One night when Mog and his dog Lash are delivering a handbill to a customer, Flethick, he comes into Flethick's house and finds him and his friends in a room full of mysterious, intoxicating smoke babbling about Calcutta and India. He knew his mother had died giving birth to him on a ship to Calcutta. Leaving the house, he ran home, and on the way, he nearly bumped into a man with dark skin and wild, white eyes. Running faster, he reached his home, the apartment above Mr. Cramplock's shop and secures the door. At a local tavern he hears a notorious con man talking about the ship, Son of Calcutta, recently docked at the London Docks. Realizing that this could point to the identity of his father, he travels to the dock and finds papers that would incriminate the infamous Coben and a mysterious list of well-known thieves.

Before he can make it home, he is captured by Coben and locked in a chest. In the chest, he cuts his finger on what he thinks is a large knife. Hours later, when a man opens the chest, Mog jumps out grabbing what he thought was a knife but was actually a sword covered in his blood. Seeing a blood-covered sword scared the man, and Mog escaped. On his way home, Mog spots a child his age and with a strikingly similar appearance peering up at him from a cellar. With the help of the child, Nick, he removes the barrel that is blocking the trap door to the cellar. Once Nick is freed, the boys steal a camel from Nick's father, the insidious Bosun, and Nick's caretaker, Mrs. Muggerage who is too terrible to describe. Though seemingly just a brass camel, they will learn that this is not so. The camel is filled a mysterious, flour-like white powder.

"The Printer's Devil" is a story about two kids, a mysterious brass camel and the criminal underworld of London. The author Paul Bajoria, has a very expressive writing style. This book is for ages 11 and up. If you enjoy adventurous mystery stories, "The Printer's Devil" is right up your alley. Be sure to read Paul Bajoria's second book, "The God of Mischief."

Book received free of charge

This is my favorite book of all time. Anyone who doesn't like this book has the mental capacity of a three year old, judging by most of the bad review's spelling and grammar. However, it may not be appropriate for children under the age of nine...I'm twelve, as it does have some references to drugs, and the twists are a bit advanced.