captaind's Full Review: Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man
My favourite Discworld book has long been Mort. A large part of the reason for this was due to the fact that it starred Death, my favourite character. So when I got Reaper Man, I thought it might just take over the mantle that Mort had worn for so long.
Discworld is a place where myths are real, where people are… well, people… where anything can happen… and where Death exists as an anthropomorphic personality, complete with black robes, scythe, and TALKS LIKE THIS (so you can always tell from a quick glance at the page if Death is on it or not!). He has a thirst for new experiences though, so he does all sorts of things that anthropomorphic representations aren’t really supposed to do. One of these was to adopt a daughter. Another was to take on an apprentice. (These both happened in the afore-mentioned Mort). He also journeys down to earth on occasion when not on business, for example to find out what this alcohol business is all about.
There are things in the multiverse (Discworld exists in just one of the possible universes, or realities, you see… the idea is that everything MUST exists at some place at some time) of Discworld called Auditors. They are the Filing Clerks of the multiverse, so to speak. They do not like disorder. Thus, they do not like what Death is doing. And they have powerful friends…
So Death finds himself out of a job. He gets to live in the real world, gets a job on a farm, and turns out to be a dab hand with a scythe…
Meanwhile, on the Discworld, people are dying… and their souls just hang about because there is no-one to cut their ties to their bodies. Some they simply re-inhabit them and become zombies (one such is Windle Poons, the oldest member of Unseen University, home of Ankh-Morpork’s wizards). Others simply float around aimlessly terrifying people. And a new menace is arising in the shape of little round spheres with miniature cities in them with what looks like snow when you whirl it around, and wire trolleys on wheels that have minds of their own…. Worst of all, it’s up to the Wizards to sort it out…
And that’s as much of the plot as you’re going to get from me. (You may think I’ve told you too much, but believe me there’s far, FAR more to that plot than what I’ve given you above.
The writing style is Pratchett through and through. Basically, it’s hysterical. The characters are always good, but with this one featuring Death and Arch-chancellor Ridcully, two of the absolute best, you really can’t lose. There are some excellent new characters, including the wonderful Reg Shoe (activist for Dead Rights – yep you read it right), a werewolf that is a dog apart from full moons, another werewolf who is vaguely human apart from on full moons, the farm landlady with a secret past, pretentious vampires, Moto, Unseen University’s dwarf gardener (that is, a gardener who is a dwarf, not a gardener who grows dwarves) – who has been around wizards so long that no event, no matter how bizarre or dangerous, can ever phase him - and many more. Much of it is vintage Pratchett, which means it’s about as good as humour writing can ever get…
Except for two things. I enjoyed the first part of the book but it wasn’t fantastic – the plot seems to move rather slowly, and while the writing was certainly very good, it wasn’t brilliant – and brilliant is slightly worse than what I’ve come to expect from Pratchett. However, the second part of the book is inspired. However, the book as a whole is only worth 4 stars, I feel, also partly because it is one of the shortest Discworld novels. Length isn’t the most important thing but it’s a shame there wasn’t more of it.
There are some priceless moments in here though, which stand out as among the funniest I’ve ever read in any book, Discworld or otherwise. Look out for Ridcully meeting his brother, and a take on the intro sequence to Raiders of the Lost Ark…
This is not quite as good as the absolute crème-de-la-crème of Discworld, but it is still a jolly good read and extremely funny. No self-respecting Pratchett fan could ever be without it…
Thanks for reading my review. Please take the time to rate it, and if there was anything you didn’t enjoy please leave a comment so I can improve it. You may also be interested in my reviews of the first 2 Discworld books – The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. There’s a link to my personal favourite at the top of the review. :-D
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