Review of Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

In Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork receives a letter from the Agatean Empire demanding that a great wizard be sent to them. He relays this message to the Arch-Chancellor of Unseen University. After conferring with the wizard staff of Unseen University, they come to the conclusion that none of them want to undertake the journey, so they decide that they should send the inept wizard Rincewind. They summon Rincewind through magical means, and then subsequently transport him to the Agatean Empire. Once there, Rincewind finds himself being forced to participate in a revolution quite against his will that it turns out was inadvertently started by an old friend of his. Rincewind wants no part in the revolution and seeks only to escape, but Fate has other plans for him.

This was a really fun and hilarious book. I really love the characters Rincewind and Twoflower, and I was delighted that the Luggage made a reappearance in this book. I highly recommend it to fans of Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series, or anyone that enjoys British humor. While it's probably not necessary to read all of the Discworld books that come before Interesting Times prior to reading it, I would recommend at least reading The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic first, and perhaps Sourcery and Eric as well.

Review of Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett is the story of a young musician named Imp who journeys from his small mountain town to the big city of Ankh-Morpork hoping to make it big. He meets up with a couple other musicians and they form a band but they have little success. When Imp's harp is accidentally destroyed, his band mates purchase a strange looking guitar for him from a mysterious music shop. Imp seems to have no trouble learning to play this new instrument and it seems to cast a spell upon him, his band mates, and everyone who hears his music and he becomes an instant celebrity. Unfortunately there are those that are not a fan of this new music and will go to great lengths to put a stop to it.

This book was pretty funny, and as always I loved Pratchett's use of humorous imagery and phrasing as well as the hilarious footnotes. I also loved all of the music related puns throughout the book. I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series.

Review of Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett is the second Discworld novel featuring the Night Watch of Ankh-Morpork. There is a string of mysterious murders and the victims were killed by a strange new weapon. It's up to the Night Watch to investigate these murders and figure out how they were killed and by whom, all while the captain of the Night Watch is getting married and retiring and new recruits are being trained. This was quite a humorous murder mystery novel and I think I liked it somewhat better than the first Night Watch book, Guards! Guards!. This book takes place after Guards! Guards! and while it's not strictly necessary to read that book first, it does provide background on the characters.

Review of Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett

In Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett the witches of Lancre return from their travels to find that a lot has been going on in their absence. Magrat finds that her boyfriend, the king, has been arranging their wedding before even proposing to her. There's also a new group of young witches who are experimenting with magic without really knowing what they are doing. With Magrat busy with her wedding plans and trying to learn how to be a queen, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg must put a stop to this new young coven and undo the damage they've done.

This book is a hilarious parody that is a mix of The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream. It made me laugh a lot and I'd highly recommend it. Lords and Ladies takes place after Witches Abroad and while I would recommend reading that book first to understand some of the references, it's not entirely necessary. It might also help to be at least somewhat familiar with the Shakespearian plays mentioned and have some basic knowledge of quantum theories, but again it's not entirely necessary to enjoy this book.

Review of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett is the story of a dimwitted novice priest of the god Om, named Brutha, with an eidetic memory who becomes a prophet rather against his will. Unfortunately when Brutha meets his god, Om happens to be trapped in the form of a tortoise and is almost powerless. It's up to Brutha to help Om figure out why this happened and to help restore his god to his former glory. In the process Brutha learns the truth about his religion and that much of what he had been taught was false.

This is a very funny religious satire. It made me grin a lot and at times even laugh aloud. I'd definitely recommend this book to Discworld fans as well as anyone who enjoys British humor, provided you aren't sensitive about the subject matter.

Review of Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

In Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett an old fairy godmother dies and passes on her wand to the young witch Magrat. She travels, with the other two witches in her coven, to a far off city to complete the work her predecessor started. The trio encounter lots of strange events on the journey and things get even stranger once they reach the city. Someone's been making stories out of people's lives and they must be stopped before it's too late. This story is basically a retelling of Cinderella done Discworld style with a bunch of other fairy tales thrown in for good measure. There's lots of laughs on this adventure, and as always the footnotes are very amusing. I'd definitely recommend this book to fans of Discworld, British humor, and fairy tales.

Review of Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

In Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett the Death of Discworld finds himself out of a job when the powers that be fire him for developing a personality. Death is now mortal and must live out the rest of his numbered days among humans until the new Death arrives to take him away. With the Disc temporarily without a Death things can't die properly and a huge amount of excess life force accumulates causing some very strange things to happen. This is a very hilarious book. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

Review of Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett is a humorous tale about what happens when alchemists learn to make film and subsequently movies or "moving pictures". Then suddenly lots of people feel compelled to travel to the small town of Holy Wood and become a part of the moving pictures business. I'm sure it goes without saying what Holy Wood is a satire of. A sort of strange magic is involved with the moving pictures though that not only compels people to get into the business, but that also seems to make the actors go into trances while making the films and be able to do things that they have no experience with. However this magical force is not benevolent and it feeds off the moving pictures growing stronger and more powerful with disastrous results. I would not count this book among my favorite Discworld novels, but it's definitely good for a laugh in places and I'd recommend it to fans of the series.

Review of Eric by Terry Pratchett

Eric by Terry Pratchett is about a young boy who attempts to summon a demon to grant him wishes, but instead of a demon, Rincewind, an inept wizard shows up inside the magic circle. Much to Rincewind's surprise he finds that even though he is not a demon, because he was summoned as one, he has the power to grant wishes. Hilarity then ensues because as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. This book was a short but fun read and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of the Discworld series or just if you enjoy British humor.

Review of Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett is about secret order that decides to summon a dragon with magic to terrorize the city of Ankh-Morpork in order to stage their own hero to defeat it and become the next ruler of the city. However their plans go terribly wrong and it's up to the night watch to defeat the dragon and apprehend those responsible for summoning it. I found the book to be rather amusing even if it's not one of my favorites in the Discworld series. I particularly enjoyed the humorous portrayal of secret societies and the larger than life character of Lady Ramkin, noblewoman and dragon expert.

Review of Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett is a hilarious satire about ancient Egyptian mythology with some Greek satire thrown in as well. Young Teppic, the heir to the Djelibeybi desert kingdom, is sent off to be educated as an assassin because it is one of the professions that provide the most all round education. Shortly after he graduates his father dies and he goes home to take his place as the new king. Wanting to be a dutiful son he decides to build a pyramid for his father that is twice as big as any previously built. The pyramids tend to generate weird quantum energy and the sheer size of the new pyramid being constructed starts to do some strange things to time and space. This book made me laugh a lot and as always I really enjoyed the humorous footnotes.

Review of Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett is about a group of three witches who interfere in the affairs of the kingdom and use magic to try to help restore the rightful heir to the throne after the king is murdered and the killer takes his place. It is a very hilarious parody that is a mix of Macbeth and Hamlet with some other Shakespearean themes thrown in. As always I love Terry Pratchett's use of comedic imagery and footnotes. I definitely recommend this book to Discworld fans and anyone who enjoys witty British humor.

Review of Sourcery by Terry Pratchett

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett is a story of what happens when a stronger wilder form of magic gets reintroduced to the Disc when the world's first sourcerer since the dawn of time is born. The inept wizard Rincewind is recruited, yet again, quite against his will into putting a stop to this new magic before it results in the Apocalypse. This book is quite hilarious and I just love Pratchett's imagery and humorous footnotes.

Review of Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort by Terry Pratchett is the story of a young boy who becomes an apprentice to Death. There comes a time when Death wants to take a bit of time off and leaves Mort in charge of his duties, but things don't go quite according to plan. In some ways the story reminds me of The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Disney's Fantasia. This book is very humorous both in plot and in imagery and I especially love the comedic footnotes. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed other books in the Discworld series or anyone who enjoys British style humor.

Review of Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett

Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett is about a young girl that accidentally gets bestowed with wizard magic in a world where men are wizards and women are witches. She tries to train as a witch but finds it to be inadequate to learn to control her powers and must seek out Unseen University to try to get training as a wizard. While this book wasn't quite as funny as The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic, there were still plenty of bits to make me laugh and I really enjoyed the theme of defying accepted gender roles.

Review of The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett has lots of witty humor and hilarious imagery. It takes place right where The Colour of Magic left off and continues the adventures of Rincewind and Twoflower and this time the fate of the Disc is at stake. It was a very enjoyable read and made me laugh so many times. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys silly British humor.

Review of The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett is the first book in the Discworld series. This book details the adventures of Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist, and Rincewind, a failed wizard who acts as his guide, and lots of other humorous characters. This book is extremely funny, both in the events, and in the imagery used. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys British style humor.

Review of Strata by Terry Pratchett

Strata by Terry Pratchett was a quick but entertaining read. It's about a company that manufactures planets much like Magrathea from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The main character is contacted by a stranger who claims to have found a flat planet seeks to hire her to investigate this flat "discworld". She joins up with this stranger and other crew members on an expedition to explore this planet to try to determine how it was built and by whom.

It's been many years since I read this book so most of it was like reading it for the first time. There were some bits I remembered though and laughed at them just as much as I did the first time. I especially liked the ending. I don't recall if I was as surprised by the ending the first time I read the book since it was so long ago, but it really wasn't what I was expecting and I thought it was very clever.

On the whole I enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. The disc planet in this book is not the same one that is featured in the Discworld series, but it gives you a glimpse into how Pratchett first came up with the concept of Discworld, so I like to consider it a sort of unofficial prequel to the series.

The only thing that bothered me about the book was that there were some parts where it felt like events weren't quite in order, especially towards the end. Eventually I figured out that this was due to flashbacks and it wasn't immediately clear that's what was happening as I was reading it. It's possible this is just due to the way my ebook is formatted, but I don't feel like digging out my paper copy to thumb through it and check.