johnrickardjr's Full Review: Terry Pratchett - The Truth
For those who don't know, the Discworld series began as a spoof of fantasy novels, set on a world carried on the back of four elephants carried themselves on the back of a giant turtle, complete with wizards, barbarians and dragons. As the series has evolved, it's targets have got wider, including British public (private schools in the US) schools, politics, the nature of God, Opera, and now the Press. As the series has gone on, the Discworld has become more and more modern - I'd say we've reached the Victorians by now.
This book targets the Press. The main character has been running a newsheet - expensively engraved and distributed to the wealthy, but that changes when he discovers the print press, and overnight the Discworld gains it's first two newspapers - our heros serious paper, and the engravers guild's tabloid. The plot revolves around a plot to get rid of the Patritian, ruler of Ankh-Morpork, which gives the new press something to get it's teeth into.
The plot examines the attitude of government and the police to the press, the nature of the news, and the preference of most readers for 'olds' familiar news repeated to confirm their views of the world. The normal parade of entertaining characters cross the stage, including most memorably a vampire obsessed with light, who works as the photographer for the paper. So do the clever Pratchet word plays - The Truth shall make you Free become The Truth will make you Fret. We also get some amusing cameos from more established characters, especially from the city watch.
This is a very entertaining and thought provoking book, I recommend it to you all.
This book - another plan to get rid of the Patrician.
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