Terry
Pratchett
The ultimate fantasy humorist, Pratchett is
often likened to P. G. Wodehouse. I'm not sure why, unless it's the way he manages to
re-use a set of stock characters in book after book and still make the outcome fresh and
delightful. He has passed the 20 mark on his Discworld series, which is remarkable in
itself - after the first few he lost momentum briefly, but before long he was back on a
top form he has managed to maintain. The technique is simple. Pratchett takes a specific
topic and applies to it the peculiar logic and personnel of the Discworld to turn it into
a comic masterpiece. Actually, the technique isn't simple - but Terry Pratchett makes it
seem like it is. And he's a nice man too.
 Thud!
A new Pratchett is always an event, and somehow he manages to
keep coming up with the goods. In the latest in the huge Discworld series we
find Commander Vimes and the Watch taking on the new threat of ethnic
uprisings and separatist struggles - as is often the case, Pratchett
achieves a lot by examining the problems of our own world through the
distorting glass of the Discworld - and yet still manages to pile on the
humour. Watch out for the addition of a female vampire to the Watch, a
murder mystery and more exploration of the dwarves and the trolls.
New 18 October 2005
Discworld Almanac 2006
Mark off the new year
Discworld style
Carpe
Jugulum
The rough translation of the title 'go for the throat' hints at the subject matter
- vampires. But not the jolly vampires who have appeared peripherally in Discworld stories
so far - this is a family of trendy vampires who are gradually overcoming all the old
vampire phobias and intend to take over ex-witch Magrat's small but beautifully formed
kingdom. Granny Weatherwax and friends eventually save the day, but it's a close thing,
and as often is the case in recent Pratchett witch books, a serious side to Granny is
exposed. Not Pratchett's best, but well up to standard. New 13 January
1999
The
Colour of Magic
The original Discworld novel finds hapless and cowardly wizard Rincewind taking
over the self-powered luggage of a naive (but somehow powerful) tourist and introduces the
funny, chaotic splendour of a circular, flat world, carried through space on the back of
four elephants riding on a giant turtle (and why not?)
The
Dark Side of the Sun
One of Terry Pratchett's pre-Discworld novels. Not quite as funny as that masterly
series, but still a good romp. Dom Salabos had a lot of advantages. As heir to a huge
fortune, he had an excellent robot servant (with Man Friday circuits), a planet as a
godfather, a security chief so paranoid he even ran checks on himself and a homeworld
where death wasn't always fatal. So why, in age when prediction was a science, was his
future in doubt?
Equal
Rites
The third Discworld novel. The last thing the wizard Drum
Billet did before dying was to pass on his staff of power - unfortunately,
he didn't check the sex of the newborn baby he was handing over wizardy
to...
Eric
More from the Discworld.
Feet
of Clay
One of the Discworld episodes centered around the watch, and specifically including
golems, hence the title. Not one of the most memorable entries, but it rattles along with
the usual verve.
The Fifth Elephant
That's those famous elephants that carry the world, of
course. More from the Discworld.
Going Postal
The wonderful thing about
Terry Pratchett is his ability to combine the familiar, so we get a warm
glow, with enough novelty and unpredictability to keep the pages turning,
and with Going Postal he has done it again big time. Pratchett's
description of the rebirth of the Post Office, a collapsed relic, and its
fight against the semaphore towers (clacks) is masterly. Best of all,
though, is the hero Moist's superb grasp of conmanship - the constant push
towards the edge, and his ability to promise the impossible then deliver in
an unexpected way is a delight. This is, without doubt, one of the best
Discworld books, for once not driven so much by its cast of rich characters
as by Pratchett's usual sharp insight into human nature.
New 5 January 2005
Going Postal
Going Postal
with Neil Gaiman
Good Omens
A brilliant collaboration with Neil Gaiman, this tale the supernatural sees a good
natured tussle between and angel and a devil over the anti-Christ. Unlikely? Well, it is
set in Wales. A delightful book, very different from Pratchett's usual style, but an
excellent counter to run-of-the-mill satanic horror stuff.
Guards,
Guards
The first of the Discworld novels featuring those rich source of joy the guards of
the night watch. We begin with Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon and the unspeakable Nobby,
but soon they are joined by the unlikely innocence of Carrott and the unusual capabilities
of Angua (she's a werewolf in her spare time). Excellent stuff all the way down to the
fine detail, like the motto over the Watch house: FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC
Hogfather
Father Christmas (Santa Claus) is the target in this Discworld episode. His
equivalent, the Hogfather has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Susan the
governess and the might of Unseen University both take on the challenge of finding him,
while Death, rather uncertainly tries to fill in.
Interesting
Times
The Discworld meets Dickens and Rincewind returns to add to
the confusion.
Jingo
War comes to the Discworld as a new country rises between old enemies Ankh Morpork
and Klatch. It's a chance to play on all the old culture clash jokes, and for the
philosophical head of the Watch, Commander Grimes, to ponder the difference between being
a policeman and a soldier. Pratchett's delightfully bizarre (but always likeable)
characters do it again. (US Hardback)
The
Last Continent
More from the Discworld.
The
Light Fantastic
The second Discworld book - as it moves towards seemingly
inevitable collision with a malevolent red star the Discworld is in serious
trouble. Come back Rincewind, all is forgiven...
Lords
and Ladies
One of the darker Discworld adventures, featuring the delightful three witches,
though here Granny Weatherwax has to be something of a geriatric superwoman as they take
on the fairy folk, who turn out to have some very, very nasty traits.
Maskerade
The target for this Discworld contender is Phantom of the Opera. As if this doesn't
bring in enough comic possibilities - and it does - Pratchett throws in his wonderful
witches. Somehow opera will never be the same again after Granny Weatherwax has had her
hand in it.
Men
at Arms
The Watch return on top form in another Discworld novel.
Monstrous Regiment
Although we're back on
familiar discworld territory, this is not one of the novels where he
reprises a set of familiar characters, instead we've a new bunch - as much
a collection of misfits as his Night Watch - who have joined up for glory,
to forget or just because they're downright stupid. With a vampire, a troll,
an Igor (a regular Pratchett character-type - think of the Frankenstein's
movie assistants with a lisp) and one Polly Perks who resorts to shoving a
pair of socks down her pants to be able to pass as male in order to hunt
for her brother, missing in action. New
10 November 2003
Mort
Death comes to us all,
but when he came to Mort he offered him a job ... one of Pratchett's more
interesting characters, DEATH, looks out for a sidekick.
Moving
Pictures
Definitely a highlight of the Discworld series (so strange it isn't on the US
list). Pratchett's target is Holywood in the early days, but in what is probably his
darkest fantasy, the Discworld equivalent proves to be a real monster. Not too different
from the real world. Still plenty of laughs, though.
Night Watch
Night Watch
The latest discworld book centres on Sam Grimes, head of the watch.
He was in danger of becoming a bit too detached from the real world of the
streets, but Pratchett adopts the clever move of throwing Grimes back in
time to an earlier and more dangerous Ankh Morpork - the result is the sort
of edginess that Pratchett produces when he's motoring at his best (e.g. in
Moving Pictures) - great stuff. Updated 10 November
2003
Pyramids
More from the Discworld.
Reaper
Man
DEATH gets a little fed up with the whole business of
despatching people and goes off in search of a more fulfilling career...
Small
Gods
It's all very well if you're a big, well-supported god, but what if you are god of
belly button fluff, and only have one worshipper? It can be tough being a small god on the
Discworld ...
Soul
Music
DEATH's family get mixed up with the tooth fairy and other
unlikely relatives...
Sourcery
More from the Discworld.
Strata
Another example of Pratchett's early work, with some of the approaches which would
make the Discworld series so funny starting to appear. Archeologists are puzzled (to say
the least) to discover that some fossils appear to be carrying protest banners. Boggle.
Thief of Time
In the great stinking metropolis of Ankh
Morpork, an obsessed clockmaker receives an unusual commission from an
excessively beautiful woman whose feet do not touch the ground; strict
school-teacher Susan finds herself summoned by her grandfather Death, to do
him a favour; the monks who manage the even distribution of Time find
themselves with a recalcitrant novice; and dairyman Ronnie Soak muses on his
glory days, when he was the Fifth Rider of the Apocalypse, the one who left
before they got famous. New 13 July 2001
Thief of Time
The Truth
The 25th Discword novel, and still he keeps it up! William de
Worde is the accidental editor of the discworld's first newspaper and must
cope with all the perils that moulding the truth turns up. To some extent a
Watch-based book, but some key new characters.
The Truth
The Truth
Witches
Abroad
The unlikely trio of witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and
Magrat Garlick get to see the world in this excellent second entry in the
'witches' strand of Discworld.
Wyrd
Sisters
We meet for the first time some of the Discworld's most
enduring characters, witches Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and soppy Magrat
Garlick.
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Copyright © Creativity
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Last update 13 September 2006
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