Review: Hogfather

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





The 20th discworld novel, Hogfather, was published in 1996. It's the 4th story around Death, who as always (almost) gives up his true profession to do something else.

It all starts with the Auditors, who are something like arch-enemies for Death and decide to get rid of the Hogfather to bring more "order" to the world. They are able to find an assassin creative enough to pull this off.
The consequences are: 1) Death takes up the role of the Hogfather, 2) Susan gets pulled towards her grandfather's job again, 3) free belief sloshes around, creating a number of interesting gods, fairies and so on, 4) this of course gets the wizards involved.
The showdown between Susan, the Auditors, Death and the Hogfather was a bit confusing to me, but at least I know who won.

Hogfather introduces some new characters and places, like creepy Teatime and the realm of the Tooth Fairy. There are also a lot of nightmarish creatures involved, which is just as well since Susan is a governess now and can deal with those. Oh, and Hex is evolving quite disturbingly...
Fun and entertaining as any Terry Pratchett, and worth the movie it got.


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Review: Feet of Clay

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Feet of Clay is the 19th discworld novel Terry Pratchett published, back in 1996. It's also the third book about Ankh-Morpork's City Watch.

Commander Sir Samuel Vimes has settled in his new life as the husband of the richest woman in town, who is also an aristocrat. He's not very happy with his new social circle, though.

Vimes puts a lot of work into the Watch, which by now also employs a number of dwarfs and trolls (to the dismay of Ankh-Morkpork's elite). My new favourite dwarf is Cheery Littlebottom, who is an alchemist. She's a female, but dwarfs don't regularly show their gender... Angua, who tries to hide the fact that she's a werewolf from the dwarf, encourages her, lending her lipstick, earrings and other things, which shocks the other dwarfs, normal people and - most of all - Captain Carrot. Somehow, she reminds me of Abby of Navy CIS, who is also not a regular specimen of the forensic scientist...
When two old men are found murdered, Cheery get's to investigate the murder scenes, but most of her work in this novel is focused on finding how the Patrician is being poisoned every night, despite being severely guarded. There are influential forces at work, who'd like to see him replaced with an easily to guide king.
Other things happening in Feet of Clay include the strange behaviour of the city's golems and Angua trying to break up with Carrot, for his own good. One of these days...

I've always enjoyed reading a good thriller, when you're kept in the dark about the identity of the murderer and are surprised at the end. Located on the discworld, this gets to be funny as well as exciting.
Feet of Clay is well worth the read, although you should probably have read the other Watch novels before, so you know the characters.


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Review: Maskerade

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Maskerade was first published in 1995 as the 18th discworld novel. It is also the fifth story from the Witches series, which means it is based on folklore or another famous story. In fact, we've switched from Shakespeare to Gaston Leroux or the better known Andrew Lloyd Webber with the Phantom of the Opera.

The book starts with Agnes Nitt from Lancre, who calls herself Perdita and has an amazing voice. She also has lots of body, though, which greatly hinders her career as a singer. Still, she can convince the people at Ankh-Morpork's opera house to let her join due to her talent.
Members of the chorus, like Agnes, live on the premises of the opera house, where Agnes meets Christine, a shallow but beautiful young woman with no talent for singing. During their first night, they switch rooms because Christine hears a voice in hers and is scared. Agnes, although more sensible, can also hear the voice, which wants to help Christine to be a better singer. Imitating Christine's voice, Agnes takes the nightly lessons for her.
Next day, the Opera House Ghost, an institution which used to bring luck to the opera house, requests that Christine sing an important part in the show that night. Since the ghost had started killing people, masking the murders as accidents, his request is obeyed. In secret, though, Agnes is asked to sing the part from the background.
Still, more and more people die in strange "accidents", so it's only lucky Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are in town. Nanny Ogg has written a very popular cookbook, but receives no royalties, which Granny intends to change. At the same time, they want to see how Agnes copes in the big city, and maybe take her back with them to complete their coven. Two witches are simply not enough.
Agnes avoids the witches whenever she can, but she can't help getting involved in the ghost hunt, since she is the only sensible person in the opera house.

I won't tell you who turns out to be the ghost in the end. If you know Terry Pratchett, you know you can expect a bit of a surprise and a happy ending.
Maskerade was a very enjoyable novel; partly because I like the witches, and partly because it was difficult to guess who the ghost is.


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Review: Interesting Times

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Interesting Times was first published in 1994, is the 17th discworld and fifth Rincewind novel.

A typical sign that the discworld book you are holding in your hands is about Rincewind is when it starts with the gods playing games, and when the Lady is involved.
This time, she sends him to the Counterweight Continent and against the plans of Fate (once again). Together with Twoflower, his daughters, Cohen and other barbarian heroes, he is set against the five noble families fighting for the throne of the dying Emperor. The poor wiz(z)ard! How will he manage to survive between five armies, a cunning Grand Vizier and the expectations of his companions?

I frequently find myself pitying Rincewind. He never asked for the adventures he gets involved in. He certainly doesn't want to meet Death quite so often (although I like seeing him in a discworld novel).
At the end of FaustEric, it wasn't mentioned where he got to, but Interesting Times finds him on his own on a nice, calm island. Sure, he didn't enjoy it all that much, since it didn't have potatoes, but it must have been better than being magicked back to Unseen University and then on to the Counterweight Continent. I wonder what will happen to him on the mysterious continent he ended up on at the end of Interesting Times...

The novel was filled with social criticism even I understood. What's the use of war? Is a revolution for the people really the right thing to do when you don't know what those people want? And is barbarism actually worse than civilization? Terry Pratchett certainly has his very special way of answering these questions and entertain his readers at the same time.
There is only one question I was not able to answer for myself: why is War's daughter called Clancy? Since his sons are Terror and Panic, I didn't quite get that. Does anybody know?


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Review: Soul Music

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Soul Music, first published in 1994, is the next novel in the Death storyline. Death has, once again, problem with his profession and leaves to seek forgetfulness. He couldn't have chosen a worse time...
His talents are transferred to his granddaughter, Susan Sto Helit, who didn't know of her heritage since her parents, Ysabell and Mort, had a dispute with Death when she was small. Susan has difficulties with her new tasks, since she grew up to be a very sensible abd realistic person and just doing the Duty won't do for her.
At around the same time, a young harp player named Imp y Celyn tells his parents that he wants to be the greatest musician in the world. He leaves home and ends up in Ankh-Morpork, where he starts a band with a troll and a dwarf, whom he met at the (too expensive) musicians guild. When the troll accidentally ruins Imp's harp, they find him a guitar in a mysterious music shop. All of a sudden, music comes alive and brings fame and riches to the Band (With Rocks In). But don't the famous die young? It's all Susan can do to keep Imp, aka Buddy, alive and singing...
In the end, Death has to return to save the day, the discworld, and his most faithful servant.

I've read Soul Music in German before, but enjoyed the English version more. Translations can only get you so far (although I've also heard that 50 Shades of Grey is better in German)...
Anyway, Death is always an amusing character to read about, especially when he tries to be human, and it's almost sad that the main focus of this novel is on music, the Band and CMOT Dibbler making money (and failing horribly in the end). It lacks the usual philosphical component of Death novels.

Again, what I admired most about Soul Music was the continuity. I think it's amazing how Terry Pratchett doesn't make mistakes, even though he is working with only remotely connected storylines in his different discworld novels. There are always connections, guest appearances from characters of older books, and it always fits. J.K. Rowling didn't even manage that in seven books for just one story.


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Review: Men at Arms

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Ah, I'm back at Terry Pratchett, and back in the British Books Challenge 2012.

Men at Arms (first published 1993) is discworld novel number 15, and the second focused on the Night Watch. It is set about a year after Guards! Guards!, where Captain Vimes and his crew were up against a huge dragon. This time, the enemy is not even of flesh and blood.

It all starts with the crazy mind of an aristocrat (and assassin), who wants a king for Ankh-Morpork, and who, by coincidence, recognises the current heir, who happens to be... well, present at all times anyway. In order to remove the Patrician and the current Guild structure, he steals the most deadly and dangerous weapon in existence: the gonne (I believe I don't have to explain to you what it is). It was invented by Leonard of Quirm and ordered to be destroyed by the Patrician, but instead it was kept in the assassin's museum. And it has a mind of it's own...
As more and more corpses - planned and accidents alike - turn up around the city, the Night Watch has to try and come to terms with the proceedings, as well as getting used to ethnic minorities as new recruits and the loss of Captain Vimes, who is going to be married and will be retiring in the process. Lucky for them that they have Corporal Carrot, then, who has a way of owning the city and bringing people to act as good as he believes them to be, so he can quell even the strongest of upheavals.


As someone who has enjoyed many a good murder mystery, I can definitely recommend Men at Arms to fellow readers. The plot is a thrill - as well as the usual Terry Pratchett funny - and ends on quite a surprise.
For me as a Terry Pratchett reader it was also great, because there were a lot of old acquaintances, mostly from Moving Pictures: Gaspode the talking dog, Ruby (Detritus' girlfriend), and even (if only with a small role) Mr. Silverfish of the alchemists. I guess you can read and enjoy the book even if you haven't read Moving Pictures before, but it's so much more fun to see how the old faces are never forgotten.


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Review: Lords and Ladies

Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Lords and Ladies is the second discworld novel originally published in 1992. Overall, it's the 14th book, and the fourth from the witches storyline.

The first thing that surprised me here was that it does, in a way, stand on it's own, but there is a review of former books, especially Witches Abroad, the previous witches novel. Lords and Ladies picks up the story of Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick at their arrival in Lancre, when Magrat is informed that she will be married to King Verence II. soon. She doesn't really mind, but is of course very upset because she has apparently no choice in the matter; even the wedding dress has already been ordered without consulting her. Still, that is nothing to an argument she has with Granny Weatherwax, prompting her to give up witching and move into the castle even before the wedding.
It's only Granny and Nanny Ogg, then, who discover that someone had been dabbling with magic at the Dancers, an old stone circle protecting Lancre from Fairyland, which isn't at all as people think it is. They try to prevent the worst, but in the end, elves come through, taking over the kingdom. To really own the land, though, the Queen of the Elves has to marry the king, and Magrat won't have any of that... Neither would the other two witches, of course, but both are distracted by, well, men.

To me, Lords and Ladies was special because I've already read the much younger Tiffany Aching series, which starts with another invasion of the elves. It is very different from this one, but I remember that it was mentioned somewhere that Granny Weatherwax once got rid of the Queen, but wouldn't say how. Now I know.
Another thing that sets this novel apart from the other witches novels is the behaviour of Granny Weatherwax. She is uncertain, confused and a bit weak, absolutely not her usual self. And she has been planning ahead, manipulating people... To be honest, she reminded me a lot of Dumbledore (you know, Harry Potter). It was interesting to watch/read, and what made it even better were hints at her past.

Important guest roles this time were: Ridcully, current Archchancellor of Unseen University, together with the Bursar, the Librarian and Ponder Stibbons, Reader in Invisible Writings. Then there was Casanunda, the second greatest lover in the world and Nanny Ogg's flirt from Witches Abroad. On a side note, Mr. Ixolite the Banshee (from Reaper Man) is also mentioned.
Who is totally missing this time, though, is Death.


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Review: Small Gods

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Thirteen is my favourite number. Small Gods is the thirteenth discworld novel, but not my favourite, despite being very good. It was published in 1992.

Imagine being a small god, out in the desert... You need believers, to become strong, to get out of there. You find someone, a shepherd, and he spreads believe in you, starts a religion that makes you strong. Strong enough to fight other gods.
But, you don't care for people. They are only good for believing. Giving you power is their only purpose.
And then, one day, you come down to earth as a mighty bull, to trample some unbelievers... Only you're not a mighty bull but a small tortoise with no power at all. What would you do?

It takes the Great God Om three years in the desert before he gets to Omnia, his country. Since shape forms personality, he has almost forgotten who he is, but here is faith, believe to remind him of his identity. It also explains why he's a tortoise: the Great God Om has only one believer left, a novice with a strange mind and slow thoughts. He needs him; he has to stay alive, has to continue believing, maybe convince others...
The religion around the Great God Om is still going strong, but people believe more in the Church and the Quisition than they believe in their God. This is the way all gods go, eventually. Om puts up a fight, and, who knows, maybe having been a small tortoise for a while will change him...
And then, there is the last paragraph. Suddenly you hope that there are more people like Brutha, even here, somewhere.

Small Gods is a satire on religion. It is also a satire on politics, philosophy and warfare. It is a quite accurate description of people, as well.
Guest stars this time are Death, the Death of Rats and the Librarian. Is there any discworld novel at all which doesn't feature Death?


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Review: Witches Abroad

Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars




Witches Abroad was first published in 1991 and is the twelfth discworld novel. As you can probably guess from the title, this novel is third in the witches line. It focuses, like Wyrd Sisters before, on Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick.

This time, old Desiderata Hollow, who was not only a witch, but also a fairy godmother, dies and leaves her wand to Magrat, asking her to travel to a faraway city called Genua and prevent a story from happening. Knowing the older witches, Desiderata forbids them to go and help her, so that they do exactly that.
Throughout their travels, the three witches get famous - in a way that makes the people they've met a lot more careful around "helpless" old women. Closer to Genua, they also get involved in stories - animals and people acting unnaturally to fulfil their roles in different well-known fairytales. They prevent the stories from happening and instead help the people. Genua, though, has been turned into something resembling a fairytale kingdom by Lilith, Desiderata's sister fairy godmother (they always come in pairs), whose real name is Lily... no, I won't say.
Now the witches have to help Ella, who doesn't want to marry the prince, but the story requires she should. Magrat replaces her at the important ball, where it turns out the prince is actually a frog. Magrat flees in terror, of course leaving a glass shoe behind. Luckily, that shoe doesn't fit her, but Nanny Ogg...

To give you a short overview: We have three witches travelling to foreign parts (with Nanny Ogg speaking "foreign"). We have Magrat as fairy godmother who doesn't know how her wand's supposed to work. We have a voodoo witch, the best gumbo cook in Genua. We have animals turned into humans and humans turned into animals. We have Casanunda the dwarf and Death as guest stars. We have a showdown between headology and mirror magic. And we have stories.
Terry Pratchett has a lot to say on the subject of stories, and quite a bit of it is done through Granny Weatherwax. The witch doesn't like stories. They force you to be something you are not. They expect animals to think, they expect people to be happy all the time. They are dangerous and hard to stop once someone feeds them...

Stories are a parasitical life form, warping lives in the service of only the story itself.

I think I was reading this fast, right? I enjoyed it quite a bit, too. The witches are fun, and I loved the guest appearances.
There's a lot to be learned from Witches Abroad, about magic and stories and how to best help people (and about Granny Weatherwax). Stars don't care for your wishes, and magic doesn't make things better.

The invisible people knew that happiness is not the natural state of mankind, and is never achieved from the outside in.

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Review: Reaper Man

Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
Paperback

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I bought Reaper Man at a jumble sale, last year or maybe the year before. This is the third time I read the book, and I couldn't put it down. In cases like this I think that not being able to put down a book isn't necessarily caused by wanting to know how it ends. For me, it's knowing how it ends and wanting to read - no, experience - it all again. Really good books can do this to you.

Reaper Man is Terry Pratchett's eleventh discworld novel, and was first published in 1991; it's also the second in the Death story line. In it, the so-called auditors of reality decide that the death of the discworld has to be replaced, seeing that he has developed a personality. So, when Death finds his own life-timer counting the seconds to his ceasing of existence, he leaves his realm to spend his remaining life time with the living (to great dismay of his servant, Albert). Under the name of one Mr. Bill Door, Death is hired as help on the farm of old Miss Flintworth, just in time for the harvest. Here, he experiences feelings, and sleep, and dreams, for the first time.
While he is away, though, things start going wrong all over the discworld. With no one to take the dying to the netherworlds, life force is building up, finding outlets wherever possible. One person extremely affected by this is the wizard Windle Poons (whom we've met in Moving Pictures as the oldest wizard at Unseen University), whose time has come to go. Upon dying, he ends up in a blackness, with nowhere to go except back to his dead body, which he does. Being a zombie isn't easy, though: you have full control over all bodily functions (by the way, how does the spleen work?) and when you've been looking forward to being reborn as a woman, spending the afterlife in your own dead body is no alternative. The other, alive, wizards at Unseen University are more than willing to help Windle die, but as none of their approaches work, he ends up at the Fresh Start Club, with other un-deads and people generally un-welcome in society.
Finally, while Death confronts the new death (wearing a crown!) to reclaim his job, Windle, the Fresh Starters and the wizards have to save the city of Ankh-Morpork from the consequences of superfluous life force.

Terry Pratchett is good at humour. It's what he is most famous for.
How often do people mention his talent for suspension and drama, though? Reaper Man is one of the discworld novels with this dramatic, touching, heart-breaking turning point that is so important for a good story.
The secret is, he won't leave you with that. A discworld novel always ends with something funny, relaxed, witty. For the balance of things.


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Review: Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars





Moving Pictures is the first in the so-called "Industrial Revolution" line of discworld novels. It was published in 1990, the same year as Eric, and is a wonderful satire on Hollywood and the film industry.
Main characters in this story are Victor Tugelbend, who devised a very intelligent system to fail exams at Unseen University "good enough" not to be thrown out, and Theda 'Ginger' Withel, who just wants to be herself, as big as possible. They are both drawn away from their day-to-day lives by a wild (and dangerous) idea - the same idea which helped the alchemists invent the 'clicks' (as in movies) and which made Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler a very successful producer (because he knows how to advertise). They all meet at Holy Wood, a hill between dunes and close to the ocean, which hides from them a civilisation long gone...
Victor and Ginger notice that something is wrong about Holy Wood (and it's not because of the talking animals that hang around there). Well, them and the wizards in Ankh-Morpork, who have a device that shows where reality is unravelling, and how much. Only they don't know what it does, and like Victor and Ginger they only figure it out at the last moment - just in time to save the discworld from the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions?

Having finished with the tenth discworld novel now, I must say that what I love and admire most about the whole series is the recurrence of characters. I've met CMOT Dibbler, and of course Detrius, before, and the next novel puts old Windle Poons right in the middle of its plot, after he's been introduced in Moving Pictures. Discworld characters are - in general - a weird and funny bunch, and it's great fun meeting them all again from time to time, as minor characters to another story.

For a conclusion on Moving Pictures I want to mention that I definitely didn't get all the movie references, and probably misunderstood a lot of them (after all, the book is 22 years old). Nevertheless, the novel made me laugh a lot, and the grand final was again grand.
I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes from the book: "Just when you need to save the world, there's a world for you to save".


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Review: Eric

Eric by Terry Pratchett
eBook


My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Eric, first published 1990, is the ninth discworld book, and the first published as illustrated novel. Sadly, the Kindle version I was reading included neither the illustrations by Josh Kirby, nor the alternating page titles of Eric and Faust. It is also a Rincewind novel.

If you've read the older books revolving around the inept wizard, you already know that he has vanished to the dungeon dimensions in Sourcery. Now he gets a chance to come back - a one in a million chance, to be exact. They always work.
Eric is only a boy, but he is obsessed with summoning a demon to get three wishes: to live forever, to get the most beautiful woman of the world, and to be the ruler of the world. Instead of a demon, though, it's Rincewind who appears in the circle and has to play the role of a demon. He is quite surprised, in fact, that snapping his fingers has any effect at all...
Oh, and the effect it has! Rincewind and Eric are taken to an empire in Klatch, where the people are waiting to meet the ruler of the world - to complain. Only, complaining in an annoyed tone of voice is not their style, they're more the torture and kill types. They are rescued by the Luggage, of course, and with another finger snapping end up in a big wooden horse.
In Pyramids, the thing with the wooden horse was already extensively covered, but here's a short summary: Ephebe and Tsort are Terry Pratchett's parody on the Trojan war. In this war, though, the civilians try selling food to fighting soldiers and the Luggage gets to chase a lot of people. Before snapping his fingers again, Rincewind meets his ancestor Lavaeolus, who invented the horse and all tactics surrounding it. He can't bring himself to tell him that a long, 10 year journey lies before him...
Then Eric and Rincewind end up at the beginning of the universe, to have a nice chat with the creator (who creates an egg and cress sandwich for the wizard). To live forever means to start out at the beginning... But not with Rincewind! He makes Eric reverse his summoning of him, taking them both to hell.
How they escape from there as well, and what bureaucracy can do to hell, I'll leave up to you to find out.

So, what can I say about the book? It had Rincewind, the Luggage, a stupid teenager, Death, demons... Some references reminding me of Good Omens and a lot of travelling to strange places. I know some people really disliked Eric, but I enjoyed it as much as the other discworld novels I read so far.


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Review: Guards! Guards!

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Guards! Guards!, first published 1989, introduced another new set of characters to my personal discworld universe: Captain Vimes and the rank of the city watch.
The book covers and unites multiple story-lines: the one of Carrot, a human raised by dwarfs, who is sent to the city to be with his own kind, and who applies at the city watch to do good. At the same time, a secret society aims at overthrowing Ankh-Morpork's ruler, the Patrician Lord Vetinari, in order to install a manipulable king. They do so by summoning a dragon, using a book stolen from the library of Unseen University and diverse stolen magical items. As anyone who read, for example, the wizard novels can deduce from that: the Librarian is not happy.
The main focus of Guards! Guards! is on Captain Vimes, though, who stops his alcohol abuse in order to be able to get rid of the dragon and protect his city. It's a somewhat clichéd police story, that, but nicely done and quite in discworld style. Together with the rest of the - mostly incompetent - city watch, the Librarian and Lady Sybil Ramkin, breeder of pet swamp dragons, it's Captain Vimes who tries to stop the dragon after the secret society lost control over it and it became king of Ankh-Morpork (amazing what concepts people can wrap their minds around).

Quite a bit of the story is based on the way people believe in stories and sayings - how to recognise a king, one-in-a-million chances, the behaviour of dragons... That makes up most of the novels charm: a mirror to the stupidity of people. Plus, there's dragons and I learned about L-space.
Satire, humour, dragons and L-space - definitely a book worth reading.


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Review: Pyramids

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 5 of 5 stars




It is a terrible thing, having your believes destroyed by truth. Sometimes, it is even more terrible to see that you were right.

Pyramids, first published 1989, follows young Teppic, only son of king (Pharaoh) Teppicymon XXVII. He has decided to get his education outside of the small desert kingdom Djelibeybi, so he travels all the way to Ankh-Morpork to join the Assassins Guild. The book starts with his final examination, telling his story in flashbacks as he succeeds.
Shortly afterwards his father dies and the kingdom calls him back home. Suddenly, he has to get used to the old ways of the kingdom again, and he discovers that being king isn't at all as he expected. For example, he doesn't seem to have anything to say.
When the erection of the greatest pyramid ever build (for his father, even though he doesn't want one) tears the whole valley along the Djel out of reality, Teppic, who is not present then, has to make up his mind whether or not he is going to try to go back and save it. Meanwhile, in the kingdom's new reality, all that was ever believed there becomes true, and citizens and priests alike come to realise that it is much more comfortable believing in gods you cannot see (especially the ones with too many heads or legs).

Before I started with Pyramids I didn't know there was an Ancient Civilisation line in the discworld novels. I enjoyed the book immensely, the greatest mathematician of the world was good fun, and the criticism of religion and the unwillingness to let go of the old ways rings very true. Plus, the slow motion climax of the story would have been worth the special effects Oscar, if only it had been in a movie.
Even if you are not interested in diving into the whole discworld universe, you still should give this specific volume a try.


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Review: Wyrd Sisters

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Wyrd Sisters is the second discworld book about witches, published (1988) only a year after Equal Rites, which first introduces Granny Weatherwax. Personally, I liked Wyrd Sisters a lot better than Equal Rites, and that's not only because it contains daggers, ghosts, kings and more, although all play a major role in the story.

Yes, the story. It goes as follows: King Verence of Lancre is killed by Duke Felmet, his cousin, via persuasion of his wife. A faithful servant manages to rescue crown and child of the king and bring both to the three witches that live in this country: Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat. They decide to become his godmothers (including good wishes for the child) and then give it away to travelling actors, in whose props-box they also hide the crown.
Duke Felmet, going crazy with the terrible deed he has done, not-so-secretly hates the country he now rules (as duke, for there is no crown to make him king), and the country hates him. It asks Granny for help, but witches don't meddle. The witch in question only changes her mind when Nanny Ogg is brought in for torture and the people lose their respect for witches. With a clever trick from a well-known fairy tale, she speeds up the whole story. But beware, not all things go as planned when the heir finally returns...

Wyrd Sisters is a whole book of fun, stories and headology, with an extra spicing of love and destiny. It is also a great reference in case you always wanted to learn more about how storms learn, think and listen.


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Review: Sourcery

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






I must admit that I'm growing quite fond of Rincewind, the inept wizard. It's a pity he tends to disappear, or probably die, at the ends of his novels. I never know whether or not he will be back.

Anyway, Sourcery (first published 1988) is about the eighth son of an eighth son (wizard) of an eighth son: a sourcerer. They are very, very powerful, sourcerers (= sources of magic), and also very rare. There is a reason why wizards don't have much, or any, contact with women... And it can get worse when the sourcerer's father wants revenge for being banished from Unseen University for having fallen in love.
Rincewind, together with Conina (the daughter of Cohen the barbarian) and the Luggage sets out to save the Archchancellor's hat, symbol of wizardry, from the sourcerer, only to find that the hat has plans of its own, which could lead to the Apocralypse, the end of the world. In order to stop the oncoming mage war, Rincewind has to kill the sourcerer, a ten-year-old boy who is forced to help wizards rule the discworld.

As always, Rincewind goes about the business of being an involuntary hero using his rodent-like talent to escape death and arguing with his consciousness about what should be done in contrast to what would be sensible to do. To make matters worse, he (and the Luggage) both fall in love (symptoms: sweaty palms, hot sensation in stomach, skin of chest made of tight elastic, someone running hot steel into spine), which leads to the Luggage getting seriously drunk and lost.
In addition to Rincewind and the Luggage, the novel is populated with weird and funny characters. There's Conina, forced to be a heroine by genetics but wannabe hairdresser, Nijel the Destroyer, a wannabe hero, and Creosote, a rich wannabe poet. They all have their own to contribute to save the discworld from destruction when the Gods vanish and the Ice Giants return.

Sourcery was a lot of fun to read, finally making Rincewind one of my favourite Terry Pratchett characters. You shouldn't read it without having read the other Rincewind novels first, though.
Compared to the last discworld book I read, there was a lot less repetition this time, which made me all the more happy. I'm already looking forward to the next book (and regretting slightly that I'm going by publishing order, since I want to know how Rincewind gets back)!


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Review: Mort

Mort by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Mort (first published 1987) is the first Death novel in Terry Pratchett's discworld series. The book follows Mort, a youth consisting mostly of elbows and knees whom his parents send to seek apprenticeship. None of the regular people want him, but just when he is about to give up, Death enters the scene. His offer is reasonable, especially for a boy like Mort, who is eager to learn the secrets of the universe.
Death takes him shopping in the big city before they settle down at his realm outside of time. There, Mort meets Albert, Death's faithful servant, and Ysabell, Death's daughter (adopted). They don't get along all that well, like teenagers of opposed sexes often do, but Mort is busy taking care of Binky, the horse, and accompanying Death on Duty anyway.
When Death decides to take a few days off, it's Mort's turn to take care of the Duty, and he massively fails when confronted with a beautiful princess and her assassin. He kills the assassin instead of letting the girl die, causing reality to break apart, while Death is busy learning how to be more human and less anthropomorphic personification. With only Ysabell and maybe Albert as support, Mort has to decide if and how to make up for his mistake.

I've long been a fan of the Death of the discworld and therefore enjoyed reading Mort immensely. The story is filled with interesting characters like the princess Keli, a young wizard called Cutwell, and of course Death, Albert, Ysabell and Mort himself. Guest stars, by the way, include the wizard Rincewind and the librarian of Unseen University.
The novel offers an appealing storyline, throughout which we can watch Mort - and partly also Ysabell - grow up. It ends in a furious battle of life and death between Mort and Death, but the outcome will of course not be revealed here. Let me just say that it came as a surprise, but at the same time didn't surprise me at all.
If you are a fan of humorous fantasy stories flavoured with a young love story, you could definitely read this book and not be disappointed.

There is one thing, though, caused by the British Books Challenge 2012 and my goal to read all discworld novels, that is starting to annoy me. In Mort alone were at least three mentions of the slow light of the discworld. This was also mentioned in all previous books, and I really, really want to say "Yes, I know, stop telling me!" So, maybe it's a good thing I'm having an unplanned hiatus at the moment, reading K.J. Bennett's  Pike's Quest, which I got for free last week. Since the author is British, expect a review of that next!

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Review: Equal Rites

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Despite this wonderful picture, I decided to read through the whole discworld series in publishing order. This means that today my third review for the British Books Challenge 2012 is about Equal Rites, first published in 1987. Please be aware that this review contains spoilers.

The first two novels introduced and followed the wizard Rincewind, while this third book turns towards the witches of the discworld, who practice magic on a very different level. In Equal Rites, by the mistake of an old wizard in a hurry, a new born girl inherits the magical staff of said wizard. The baby was thought to be the eighth son of an eighth son, destined to become a wizard, and the old wizard in question wanted to give his staff to the boy before his own death. As is so often the case with men – and especially with wizards – he didn't pay any attention to the witch – Granny Weatherwax – who had helped during the birth of the child. She tries to tell him that it's a girl, but neither he nor the baby's father listen until it's too late. The father, who is the local blacksmith, tries to destroy the staff afterwards, but is unable to do so. He hides it instead and hopes that his daughter will grow up normal. Which of course she doesn't.
Around the age of eight, she is lost in the woods at night, in winter. When wolves threaten to harm her, the staff comes to her rescue, killing the wolves. After this incident, Granny Weatherwax tries – in vain – to destroy the staff. She also takes on the girl, whose name is Esk, as apprentice to become a witch. She tries to train her, but it become apparent that Esk cannot control her wizard powers when she turns one of her brothers into a pig. Granny Weatherwax then takes Esk to Unseen University for training, but women are not meant to be wizards... That she helps save the world does give her a certain advantage, though.

I know Granny Weatherwax from the much younger series around Tiffany Aching. She's called Mistress Weatherwax there and – somehow – totally different from the witch in this book! Not in all aspects, mind you, but still very different. This is the main reason why I didn't like Equal Rites as much as I could have. It was so confusing to read! Still, there was fun and adventure, as you would expect from Terry Pratchett, so it's still worth recommending.


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Review: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett is the sequel to his first discworld novel, The Colour of Magic. Published three years after the first, in 1986, the book starts off where we were left, with Rincewind the inept wizard falling from the disc. The Octavo, a very potent grimoire, goes to great length to save his life - or, to be more exact - to save one of the Eight Spells of the creator, which had taken up lodging in Rincewind's head some years previously. One moment falling right into space, next moment he finds himself in a wood of talking trees. He is reunited with the tourist Twoflower, but we never get to know what happened to Tethis the water troll, who was inside the Potent Voyager, a space capsule, with him.
Rincewind and Twoflower continue their travels across the disc, being pursued by wizards and accompanied by yet another hero, Cohen the Barbarian. This time, they meet druids building a kind of magical computer, they take a short stroll through Death's realm, are kidnapped, then saved by trolls, and so on. All the time, a new, red, menacing star grows bigger in the sky, threatening to destroy the discworld. Or is it? In any case, it is driving people mad with fear and curiosity.

I liked this second discworld novel quite a bit more than the first. It has more of a storyline; it was clear quite early that the goal would be to return to Ankh-Morpork and everything that happens somehow works towards this goal. Then comes the showdown, epic fights and heroic deeds (done by Rincewind, who was the greatest coward ever known before). The sudden change of character fits, though, as he is finally home and tired of running away again.
Disappointing, for me, was that we still don't know what happened to Hrun the Barbarian and Tethis from The Colour of Magic. Books that give no satisfactory explanation of the disposition of some of their characters, however minor they may be, always upset me.

Overall, it was a good read. The Light Fantastic is funny and exciting, but now that I'm getting used to reading Terry Pratchett again, and the first excitement for reading the whole series has faded, I can't help noticing that his later novels are, well, better. I'm looking forward to continue with the discworld novels and follow the author's development.



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Review: The Colour of Magic

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The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
eBook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


In his first discworld novel, first published in 1983 (two years older than me!), Terry Pratchett takes the reader on a tour around his magical world by sending the first ever tourist of the discworld, Twoflower, to explore it. He is accompanied - most unwillingly - by the inept wizard Rincewind, and his (the tourist’s) Luggage, a huge wooden chest made of sapient pearwood, which follows him wherever he goes and keeps his belongings save by eating those who want to steal it. On their travelling from Ankh-Morpork to the Hublands to the Rimfall, Twoflower and Rincewind meet many people and monsters, from thieving heroes to imaginary dragons. The ending is left open and will be continued in the next novel, The Light Fantastic, or so I have heard.

I had some minor problems with the book, mainly because I have already seen the movie twice and, as is so often the case, comparison is a bad idea but hard not to do. Even with the difference which irritated me, though, I enjoyed the book and had to smile at several occasions. The optimistic, naive and - most of all - curious Twoflower and his counterpart, the pessimistic, seemingly ill-starred Rincewind, are a great team when it comes to surviving all that Fate (the God) happens to throw their way, and they entertain the reader at the same time. Admittedly, they receive some help from the Lady in that great board game the Gods play...
The only thing that really irks me is the matter of Hrun the Barbarian, who joins Rincewind and Twoflower at the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth and simply vanishes after their clash with the people of the Wyrmberg. I hope he will return with some kind of explanation in the next book.

For readers who want to get to know Terry Pratchett and/or the discworld, I can definitely recommend The Colour of Magic. The skilled writer that he is, Pratchett manages to describe the discworld to the outsider without losing sight of the story, introducing important terms and facts (e.g. Great A'Tuin, the world turtle, the names of the four elephants that carry the disc, the Big Bang hypothesis and the eighth colour, octarine) and comparing it to our world (magic versus technical progress, views and opinions, etc.). I believe that you can read and understand the other discworld novels without having read this one first, but if you like the discworld, you need to read this book.


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