Mort is the third book in the discworld series and for a long time it's been one of my favourites.
I can imagine this was a challenging book to write, in the earlier Terry Pratchett books we very occasionally met the character 'Death'. He'd be riding a white horse and 'TALKING IN CAPITALS EVERY TIME HE SPEAKS'.
He's not really fleshed out as a character until Mort, in the previous Terry Pratchett Books, he'd more of the anthropomorphic personification we expect him to be. In Mort he develops a real character.
Pratchett is fascinated with human folklore and the way people percieve things. Death as a character conversely is fascinated with humanity. It all starts at a country hiring fair, a young boy called Mort has set out to be apprenticed to someone. He appears to have failed - but at the stroke of midnight Death appears and takes in on.
This is where the roller-coaster starts, we learned that Death has a house in something of an alternate reality in 'The Light Fantastic'. We learned that he'd got an adopted daugher - Ysabell, but now her character gets more fleshed out, indeed she is one of the main characters in the book. We also get to meet Death's man servant an 'Albert' who claims to fry porridge for breakfast.
The whole book is about Death's attempts to experience humanity, often to comic effect. It's an enjoyable read and is just as engaging as the actual plot in this Terry Pratchett Book, the fact that Mort, instead of ushering a princess into the next life - takes pity on her and saves her. This causes a major upset in reality, unlike anything seen in the previous Terry Pratchett Books - the princess should be dead, her subjects feel sad but don't know why, people stop recognising her... Eventually the walls of reality close in.
As Death seeks to become more human, Mort finds himself becoming more like Death, the book climaxes with a duel between Death and Mort...
Overall this is a great book, for a long time it was my favourite out of all the Terry Pratchett Books, it's got so many levels to it - but at it's core it's about human nature.
If you've read Mort, then I suggest you read 'Reaper Man' a slightly later one of the Terry Pratchett Books - which continues this theme and takes it to a new level... Because Death retires!
Friday 13 January 2012
Monday 28 November 2011
Why I Love Terry Pratchett Books - Why I love Discworld Books.
Terry Pratchett books are a very engaging read. Discworld books are incredibly funny fantasy tales - often with an important message.
I think in the 1980's when Terry Pratchett published his first Discworld Books, the Discworld Books, 'Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' he didn't know quite where he was going with the Discworld theme. Discworld is fantasy, and it is parody.
The trouble with fantasy parody - is fantasy readers don't always like them. Books like 'Bored of the Rings'make fun of fantasy which puts fantasy readers off. Discworld isn't like that at all. Discworld is more about fantasy making fun of the absurdities in real life. The first Terry Pratchett Books about Discworld weren't strong on narrative - they were more like a series of Discworld sketches compiled in an omnibus - and they helped set the scene, but the later Discworld books with a stronger theme and narrative are really where the Discworld series starts to shine.
Discworld can seem absurd, but Discworld is really more about pointing the finger at the absurdities of reality. Terry Pratchett has created something unique in his Discworld books. Yes Discworld is a little satirical - but you have to read Discworld books to understand where the satirical finger is pointed. I don't know if it's true of all Terry Pratchett books, but it is of the Discworld Books and I hope he can continue to write Discworld books for many years....
Personally I like J K Rowlings Harry Potter offerings, but I only feel Terry Pratchett's Discworld Books are a better series. I suspect the problem is Discworld doesn't translate to film as well as Potter. Terry Pratchett probably doesn't mind - he's had some success with the existing Discworld films, but I think more could have have been done with the Discworld films. I would like to see Cohen the Barbarian in film. I always think Cohen was one of the strongest characters in the Discworld books, and I'd love to have seen his 'Silver Horde' taking on the Agatean Empire.
The latest Discworld Book, in fact the latest of Terry Pratchett books is Snuff, I am looking forwards to reading it.
I think in the 1980's when Terry Pratchett published his first Discworld Books, the Discworld Books, 'Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' he didn't know quite where he was going with the Discworld theme. Discworld is fantasy, and it is parody.
The trouble with fantasy parody - is fantasy readers don't always like them. Books like 'Bored of the Rings'make fun of fantasy which puts fantasy readers off. Discworld isn't like that at all. Discworld is more about fantasy making fun of the absurdities in real life. The first Terry Pratchett Books about Discworld weren't strong on narrative - they were more like a series of Discworld sketches compiled in an omnibus - and they helped set the scene, but the later Discworld books with a stronger theme and narrative are really where the Discworld series starts to shine.
Discworld can seem absurd, but Discworld is really more about pointing the finger at the absurdities of reality. Terry Pratchett has created something unique in his Discworld books. Yes Discworld is a little satirical - but you have to read Discworld books to understand where the satirical finger is pointed. I don't know if it's true of all Terry Pratchett books, but it is of the Discworld Books and I hope he can continue to write Discworld books for many years....
Personally I like J K Rowlings Harry Potter offerings, but I only feel Terry Pratchett's Discworld Books are a better series. I suspect the problem is Discworld doesn't translate to film as well as Potter. Terry Pratchett probably doesn't mind - he's had some success with the existing Discworld films, but I think more could have have been done with the Discworld films. I would like to see Cohen the Barbarian in film. I always think Cohen was one of the strongest characters in the Discworld books, and I'd love to have seen his 'Silver Horde' taking on the Agatean Empire.
The latest Discworld Book, in fact the latest of Terry Pratchett books is Snuff, I am looking forwards to reading it.
Friday 30 September 2011
I Shall Wear Midnight Review
I've just finished reading the latest Tiffany Aching book, I shall Wear Midnight
It's quite ironic that I last reviewed Equal Rites, a milestone book in the series which focused on character development more than narrative and farce as the first two books. It also introduced the iconic 'Granny Weatherwax' who is something of the archetypal witch.
The irony is most significant in the fact that Equal Rites was all about a character called 'Eskarina Smith' a little girl who ends up becoming a wizard and eventually a witch. After Equal Rites we never heard of her again... Until now.
It's interesting that the history of another minor Discworld character 'Wee Mad Arthur' of the city watch is also looked at in more detail - yet this is a book which the auther doesn't seem to want us to consider part of the main series?
I say that because as with all of the Tiffany Aching books, we are warned that is for younger readers. Now this I found appropriate in the Wee Free Men, and to a degree the other Tiffany Books too - but I find it sits less comfortable in 'I Shall Wear Midnight' It's a book about growing up - like the other 'Aching' books, but it focuses on morality and character development to a greater degree and it covers some fairly adult themes. Personally I don't think it's as suitable for younger readers as the other 'Aching' books. That said I really enjoyed it, found it very hard to put down and read it in three days.
At the start of 'I Shall Wear Midnight' Tiffany is a fully fledged witch going about her business, but there are strange forces at work people are becoming fearful of witches and starting to persecute them.
An unfortunate scene where a dying Baron is witnessed with the Witch results in further mistrust and fear and Tiffany has to take a trip to Ankh Morpork - accompanied of course by the Nac Mac Feegles. It turns out the Feegles are nearly almost as spectacular at rebuilding things as they are at destroying them.... Tiffany meets the infamous owner of 'Boffo's Emporium' and the mysterious Eskarina Smith...
The whole plot slowly turns into a who dunnit, the it being the summoning of an ancient power known as 'The Cunning Man' who was an old Omnian witch finder. There's a wedding taking place at the castle, the older witches turn up, but the Cunning Man is close behind.
This is a book full of folklore references and surprises and it's hard to say alot about it without spoiling some of the fun.
All in all it's a fantastic book, possibly the best in the 'Tiffany Aching / Nac Mac Feegle' series although I would have liked more confrontations with the Cunning Man, and I thought it was a little too adult themed to still bear the subtitle 'aimed at younger readers'.
It's quite ironic that I last reviewed Equal Rites, a milestone book in the series which focused on character development more than narrative and farce as the first two books. It also introduced the iconic 'Granny Weatherwax' who is something of the archetypal witch.
The irony is most significant in the fact that Equal Rites was all about a character called 'Eskarina Smith' a little girl who ends up becoming a wizard and eventually a witch. After Equal Rites we never heard of her again... Until now.
It's interesting that the history of another minor Discworld character 'Wee Mad Arthur' of the city watch is also looked at in more detail - yet this is a book which the auther doesn't seem to want us to consider part of the main series?
I say that because as with all of the Tiffany Aching books, we are warned that is for younger readers. Now this I found appropriate in the Wee Free Men, and to a degree the other Tiffany Books too - but I find it sits less comfortable in 'I Shall Wear Midnight' It's a book about growing up - like the other 'Aching' books, but it focuses on morality and character development to a greater degree and it covers some fairly adult themes. Personally I don't think it's as suitable for younger readers as the other 'Aching' books. That said I really enjoyed it, found it very hard to put down and read it in three days.
At the start of 'I Shall Wear Midnight' Tiffany is a fully fledged witch going about her business, but there are strange forces at work people are becoming fearful of witches and starting to persecute them.
An unfortunate scene where a dying Baron is witnessed with the Witch results in further mistrust and fear and Tiffany has to take a trip to Ankh Morpork - accompanied of course by the Nac Mac Feegles. It turns out the Feegles are nearly almost as spectacular at rebuilding things as they are at destroying them.... Tiffany meets the infamous owner of 'Boffo's Emporium' and the mysterious Eskarina Smith...
The whole plot slowly turns into a who dunnit, the it being the summoning of an ancient power known as 'The Cunning Man' who was an old Omnian witch finder. There's a wedding taking place at the castle, the older witches turn up, but the Cunning Man is close behind.
This is a book full of folklore references and surprises and it's hard to say alot about it without spoiling some of the fun.
All in all it's a fantastic book, possibly the best in the 'Tiffany Aching / Nac Mac Feegle' series although I would have liked more confrontations with the Cunning Man, and I thought it was a little too adult themed to still bear the subtitle 'aimed at younger readers'.
Tuesday 13 September 2011
Equal Rites Review
The third book of the Discworld series takes the focus off Rincewind and to a new character, a new location too.
In Equal Rites, a wizard, near to death passes on his staff to an 8th son of an 8th son - which on Discworld, due to the magical power of 8 means he is destined to become a wizard.
Unfortunately in this case, the Wizard (Drum Billet) failed to check the sex of the newborn before passing on the staff. Eskarina recieves the staff, and despite the best efforts of mentor Esmerelda Weatherwax or Granny Weatherwax as she likes to be called - she begins to have trouble controlling her powers.
Eskarina journeys with Granny Weatherwax to Unseen University to learn the ways of Wizarding, but the Wizards have no concept of the idea of a female Wizard and instead, Eskarina is forced to enter the University as a servant.
She meets a young Wizard called Simon, and together they end up battling 'things' from the Dungeon Dimensions and also inventing a new conceptual form of magic for battling Dungeon Dimension creatures - a sort of wierd 'un-magic'.
In some respects this is a more serious book than the first two. More time is spent on character development and the structure is more cohesive, rather than string of loosely connected radically different scenes put together.
The ending isn't Pratchett's strongest, but the plight of Eskarina, trying to make her way into a career that is very male dominated is well written and enjoyable to read. It probably refelcts the time of writing a little, the late eighties.
It also introduces one of the Discworlds most interesting Characters - Granny Esmerelda Weatherwax, who becomes a character who returns again and again, stronger every time.
Equal Rites works well as a stand-alone story and no previous knowledge of the Discworld is required to enjoy it.
In Equal Rites, a wizard, near to death passes on his staff to an 8th son of an 8th son - which on Discworld, due to the magical power of 8 means he is destined to become a wizard.
Unfortunately in this case, the Wizard (Drum Billet) failed to check the sex of the newborn before passing on the staff. Eskarina recieves the staff, and despite the best efforts of mentor Esmerelda Weatherwax or Granny Weatherwax as she likes to be called - she begins to have trouble controlling her powers.
Eskarina journeys with Granny Weatherwax to Unseen University to learn the ways of Wizarding, but the Wizards have no concept of the idea of a female Wizard and instead, Eskarina is forced to enter the University as a servant.
She meets a young Wizard called Simon, and together they end up battling 'things' from the Dungeon Dimensions and also inventing a new conceptual form of magic for battling Dungeon Dimension creatures - a sort of wierd 'un-magic'.
In some respects this is a more serious book than the first two. More time is spent on character development and the structure is more cohesive, rather than string of loosely connected radically different scenes put together.
The ending isn't Pratchett's strongest, but the plight of Eskarina, trying to make her way into a career that is very male dominated is well written and enjoyable to read. It probably refelcts the time of writing a little, the late eighties.
It also introduces one of the Discworlds most interesting Characters - Granny Esmerelda Weatherwax, who becomes a character who returns again and again, stronger every time.
Equal Rites works well as a stand-alone story and no previous knowledge of the Discworld is required to enjoy it.
Monday 12 September 2011
The Light Fantastic Review
First of all, of all the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic should be read in order.
I won't spoil it too much by explaining this in detail - but the key element is that the Colour of Magic more or less ends with the protagonist, the hopeless wizard (Or wizzard if you go off Rincewinds hat) and his tourist friend 'Twoflower' falling through space having gone over the edge of the disc.
Now Rincewind is saved, by a spell in his head. Sounds strange enough? It transpires that at some point in his youth he opened the spell-book that contains the eight most powerful spells the 'Octavo'. Upon doing this, one of the spells jumped out of the book and hid in Rincewinds head.
It turns out that in order to prevent the Disc being destroyed the eight spells have to be read together - the problem, one is in Rincewinds head and he's nowhere to be found. The result of this is a host of wizards capering around trying to capture Rincewind.
On his travels in 'The Light Fantastic' Rincewind meets one of my favourite Discworld characters, a legendary barbarian hero, who goes by the name of 'Cohen the Barbarian'.
Cohen is an interesting character - the concept very simple, what happens to the barbarian hero who is so successful he is never killed? The answer of course is he gets old, if he still continues to be so successful he never gets killed and he continues 'heroing' then he gets very old...
This is infact what has happened to Cohen, who is now a wiry, spry old man with toothless gums but nearly a century of combat experience.
Eventually the hilarious capers through enchanted forests and encounters with gnomes, wizards and trolls they end up back at Ank Morpork. The final battle creates a door to the 'Dungeon Dimensions', Rincewind of course prevails, and Twoflower leaves - giving the manic, sentient chest known as 'The Luggage' to Rincewind as a parting gift.
And the eight spells? United at last, and at the right time, they are able to do what they were supposed to do and facilitate the hatching of a host of baby star turtles.
The Light Fantastic is a great read, in some respects better than 'The Colour of Magic, but it really is important to have read the first one in this case. I personally doubt anyone with a molecule of a sense of humour to read this and not smile at the image of 'Cohen the Barbarian'.
I won't spoil it too much by explaining this in detail - but the key element is that the Colour of Magic more or less ends with the protagonist, the hopeless wizard (Or wizzard if you go off Rincewinds hat) and his tourist friend 'Twoflower' falling through space having gone over the edge of the disc.
Now Rincewind is saved, by a spell in his head. Sounds strange enough? It transpires that at some point in his youth he opened the spell-book that contains the eight most powerful spells the 'Octavo'. Upon doing this, one of the spells jumped out of the book and hid in Rincewinds head.
It turns out that in order to prevent the Disc being destroyed the eight spells have to be read together - the problem, one is in Rincewinds head and he's nowhere to be found. The result of this is a host of wizards capering around trying to capture Rincewind.
On his travels in 'The Light Fantastic' Rincewind meets one of my favourite Discworld characters, a legendary barbarian hero, who goes by the name of 'Cohen the Barbarian'.
Cohen is an interesting character - the concept very simple, what happens to the barbarian hero who is so successful he is never killed? The answer of course is he gets old, if he still continues to be so successful he never gets killed and he continues 'heroing' then he gets very old...
This is infact what has happened to Cohen, who is now a wiry, spry old man with toothless gums but nearly a century of combat experience.
Eventually the hilarious capers through enchanted forests and encounters with gnomes, wizards and trolls they end up back at Ank Morpork. The final battle creates a door to the 'Dungeon Dimensions', Rincewind of course prevails, and Twoflower leaves - giving the manic, sentient chest known as 'The Luggage' to Rincewind as a parting gift.
And the eight spells? United at last, and at the right time, they are able to do what they were supposed to do and facilitate the hatching of a host of baby star turtles.
The Light Fantastic is a great read, in some respects better than 'The Colour of Magic, but it really is important to have read the first one in this case. I personally doubt anyone with a molecule of a sense of humour to read this and not smile at the image of 'Cohen the Barbarian'.
Wednesday 7 September 2011
The Colour of Magic Review
The Colour of Magic is a great introduction to the Discworld Novels. On my first reading through of the series I often found myself looking forwards to the next 'Rincewind' book.
So who is Rincewind? Rincewind is a wizard of Unseen University, based in a fantasy city called Ankh Morpork. Rather than being the typical fantasy wizard, able to throw fireballs, summon demons and raise the dead... Rincewind is completely incompetant, to the point that he cannot even spell, let alone cast a spell. His hat is garishly embroided 'Wizzard' and is a reflection of his skills in the magic arts.
He is however, incredibly skilled at running, specifically away from things. When he teams up with Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, then later with Hrun the Barbarian, they have a myriad of adventures. It starts by escaping a burning city, a fire which was indirectly caused by Twoflower, and his attempts to sell and explain insurance (Or Inn-sewer-ants) to an Ankh Morpork Innkeeper.
We see temples of ancient gods, dryads, Dragon Riders, Trolls and more...
All of these are dealt with in the spirit of humourus conflict, Rincewind generally preferring to run away from anything and everything and Twoflower being curious almost to the point of lethality.
The Colour of Magic is to Fantasy what 'The Naked Gun' is to cop shows, it's full of humourous references and part of the fun of reading it is to spot all the parodies of our own world.
It isn't a 'Bored of the Rings' it stands as a story in it's own right, and it's often not so much a parody of the fantasy genre, but the fantasy genre parodying real life or past fantasy fiction. I challenge anyone to read the Colour of Magic and NOT want to read the sequel 'The Light Fantastic'.
So who is Rincewind? Rincewind is a wizard of Unseen University, based in a fantasy city called Ankh Morpork. Rather than being the typical fantasy wizard, able to throw fireballs, summon demons and raise the dead... Rincewind is completely incompetant, to the point that he cannot even spell, let alone cast a spell. His hat is garishly embroided 'Wizzard' and is a reflection of his skills in the magic arts.
He is however, incredibly skilled at running, specifically away from things. When he teams up with Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, then later with Hrun the Barbarian, they have a myriad of adventures. It starts by escaping a burning city, a fire which was indirectly caused by Twoflower, and his attempts to sell and explain insurance (Or Inn-sewer-ants) to an Ankh Morpork Innkeeper.
We see temples of ancient gods, dryads, Dragon Riders, Trolls and more...
All of these are dealt with in the spirit of humourus conflict, Rincewind generally preferring to run away from anything and everything and Twoflower being curious almost to the point of lethality.
The Colour of Magic is to Fantasy what 'The Naked Gun' is to cop shows, it's full of humourous references and part of the fun of reading it is to spot all the parodies of our own world.
It isn't a 'Bored of the Rings' it stands as a story in it's own right, and it's often not so much a parody of the fantasy genre, but the fantasy genre parodying real life or past fantasy fiction. I challenge anyone to read the Colour of Magic and NOT want to read the sequel 'The Light Fantastic'.
Tuesday 6 September 2011
Terry Pratchett Book Reviews
I have for a long time been a big fan of Terry Pratchett's books, particularly the Discworld series of books. With the release of 'Snuff' being the 39th book in the Discworld series - I decided it was time to start extolling the virtues of the Discworld series.
First of all, it isn't required to have read all the preceding books to read a Discworld Novel - however I would suggest it's more enjoyable to have done so. Some characters and themes recur on a regular basis and not having the background could water down some of the humour.
I think the most recent novels are actually of a different style than the earlier ones, and reflect the age and experience of the author somewhat. Some might say the earlier books are of a lower quality, but to me the 'Colour of Magic' and it's follow on sequel, 'The Light Fantastic' are a very enjoyable read and are fun books without a hidden agenda.
Later books, tend to blend historical fact with discworld parody and we see the advent of real world institutions coming to fruition in the discworld. 'The Truth' Is all about the development of the press and the newspaper medium, 'Going Postal' follows the inception of a postal service in Ankh Morpork, 'Making Money' is all about the development of a monetary system.
Why Discworld novels in particular? I like reading, I read all sorts of books, I recently read 'The Count of Monte Cristo' By Alexander Dumas, I read 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert E Tressel and I read, 'The Dark Trilogy' by Phillip Pullman. By the time I was reading 'The Amber Spyglass' I was finding it very hard to put down, but I find that with each and every Terry Pratchett Discworld Novel I read - I tend to finish them in a couple of days...
These are fantastic books, that I think offer something more interesting and inciteful than the more popular fantasy adventure series 'Harry Potter' by J K Rowling, and for that reason I would like suggest more people read the Discworld series, and that they start at the start and work their way through.
In my next post I will be reviewing 'The Colour of Magic'.
First of all, it isn't required to have read all the preceding books to read a Discworld Novel - however I would suggest it's more enjoyable to have done so. Some characters and themes recur on a regular basis and not having the background could water down some of the humour.
I think the most recent novels are actually of a different style than the earlier ones, and reflect the age and experience of the author somewhat. Some might say the earlier books are of a lower quality, but to me the 'Colour of Magic' and it's follow on sequel, 'The Light Fantastic' are a very enjoyable read and are fun books without a hidden agenda.
Later books, tend to blend historical fact with discworld parody and we see the advent of real world institutions coming to fruition in the discworld. 'The Truth' Is all about the development of the press and the newspaper medium, 'Going Postal' follows the inception of a postal service in Ankh Morpork, 'Making Money' is all about the development of a monetary system.
Why Discworld novels in particular? I like reading, I read all sorts of books, I recently read 'The Count of Monte Cristo' By Alexander Dumas, I read 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert E Tressel and I read, 'The Dark Trilogy' by Phillip Pullman. By the time I was reading 'The Amber Spyglass' I was finding it very hard to put down, but I find that with each and every Terry Pratchett Discworld Novel I read - I tend to finish them in a couple of days...
These are fantastic books, that I think offer something more interesting and inciteful than the more popular fantasy adventure series 'Harry Potter' by J K Rowling, and for that reason I would like suggest more people read the Discworld series, and that they start at the start and work their way through.
In my next post I will be reviewing 'The Colour of Magic'.
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