The Blog Fantastic 045: Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett Review

Terry Pratchett passed away earlier this year and like many of his fans, it hit me pretty hard. I’ve only read a small fraction of his Discworld series and none of his other work, but even with so few books under my belt, his mastery of a particular kind of novel is simply unbelievable. I’m regularly amazed that more people don’t talk about him and how simply excellent his writing is. He continuously does things in his books that should be impossible. There’s no way these things should work. Of course we had plenty of excellent articles written about him last spring after his passing, but I find Pratchett simply isn’t part of the regular conversation as some of his peers sitting next to him on the fantasy shelves. Actually, that’ll never happen because Pratchett’s written so many books he easily takes up a shelf or two on his own. My point is that he’s not talked about enough, at least as much as I think he should be talked about.

I’ve tried to rectify that by writing reviews of his Discworld novels as I read them. I read about two per year and they’re always a treat. I usually go to them looking for something lighthearted. They always succeed at making me laugh but Pratchett always delivers a lot of substance to his books. I’m still surprised by this every time it happens. I prepare for it, yet it still hits me when things get really philosophical. Pratchett has the ability to make you laugh and think really, really hard.  

The Blog Fantastic 032: Hogfather review

I’ve been reading the Discworld novels one at a time by publication order. I was going to read the sixth books, Wyrd Sisters but I thought it’d be fun to skip ahead to book twenty, Hogfather because it’s a Christmas book. There were a few problems with doing this because skipping over a dozen books meant that I missed out on books two and three of the Death series (Reaper Man and Soul Music). The biggest problem with that was not knowing who Susan Sto Helit is but you eventually find out while reading this book. She’s Death’s granddaughter. In the grand scheme of things that’s pretty minor and so I’m pleased with my decision to squeeze in a festive book in my reading list for the month.

I said this is a Christmas book and it is but the holiday isn’t quite the same in Discworld. There, they call it Hogswatch and it is celebrated on the last day of the year, December 32^nd. They have a Santa Clause like fellow who go around in his sleigh pull by four boars (Gouger, Rooter, Tusker, and Snouter). He also goes down chimney ands to give gifts to the good girls and boys. Instead of leaving our milk and cookies he’s expected to find sherry and a meat pie. For the most part, he’s rather similar but Santa Clause and Hogfather’s origins could are quite different but I won’t say how because that would spoilt a big part of the book.

In many was Hogfather delivered what I’ve come to expect from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. There was humour abound, much philosophizing and satirizing as well. The structure of the story was different though. The book is made up of four storylines that are all, at best, loosely connected at first. Those storyline are:

1-The Guild of Assassins is hired to murder Hogfather. In turn they hire the services of Mr. Teatime (pronounced the-ah-tim-eh) to do the deed. He accomplishes it successfully in the very beginning of the book but how he did it isn’t revealed until the end of the book. It’s the mystery that ties the other storylines together. 

2-Susan Sto Helit , granddaughter of Death and governess to two children (in a very Merry Poppins way but funnier), is trying to find out what happened to Hogfather. Along the way she is aided by the Death of Rats, a rude raven, and the “Oh God” of Hangovers.

3-In Unseen University, the school of wizards, Archchancellor Ridcully is trying to find out why so many new gods (or anthropomorphic personifications), such as the Verruca Gnome, the Hair Loss Fairy and others,  are sprouting up all over.

4-Since the Hogfather is dead, Death has taken his place in order to fill the void. His main goal is to restore believe in Hogfather in order to bring him back.

As the story progresses some of the storylines cross path and they eventually all crash together for a big finish. It’s probably one of the most satisfying conclusions for a Discworld novel that I’ve read so far. The entire book might be the best so far, actually. While we know who hired the Guild of Assassins we do not know why until the very end. When we do learn why it’s a thematic punch to the face as Pratchett delivers and incredible amount of big ideas that are tied to humanity’s very existence and thriving nature on Discworld which echoes are own existence in the real world in a rather stirring way. 

I won’t spoil it here but Pratchett deals with the notion of why believing in fantasies such as Hogfather or the Tooth Fairy prepares us for believing some of the larger ideas of the universe. It’s form of mental exercise, basically. Stories and fantasies also act as a way for us to explain the world around us when we’re unable to explain it any other way. Learning and understanding how the stories and fantasies evolve throughout the ages also helps to better understand ourselves.

Hogfather delivers on some of the great elements of all Discworld novels. Pratchett has populated his world with dozens of interesting characters. Best of all he knows how to make them interact in ways that feel real but are also zany, completely unusual, and delightfully entertaining. That’s not to mention how witty he is with his narration. Hogfather provides additional proof (as if any was needed) that Pratchett is the king of satire. His observations are accurate and they betray his wise and uncompromising understanding of people and the world we live in. They’re also hilarious as anything you’re likely to come by. The best of all, his humour isn’t one-note. His mastery of all things gut-busting can be found on every single page and it appears in the form that is best suited to the particular scene being told. It includes situational comedy, wordplay, witticism, clever dialogue, comedy of manners, gallows humour, philosophical jokes, etc. You name it and he’s done it. Even multiple times and millions of fans around the world have enjoyed it. You’d be hard pressed to find a better book to give to a book loving friend in order to pass along some holiday cheer. Happy Hogswatch!

The Blog Fantastic 017: The Colour of Magic review

It was the King Colour, of which all the lesser colours are merely partial and wishy-washy reflections. It was octarine, the colour of magic. It was alive and glowing and vibrant and it was the undisputed pigment of the imagination, because wherever it appeared it was a sign that mere matter was a servant of the powers of the magical mind. It was enchanted itself.

But Rincewind always thought it looked a sort of greenish-purple.

Running the risk of sounding like a snobbish expert of all things Discworld, I have to admit that upon rereading The Colour of Magic for the third time, it stands out far more than it used to compared to the rest of the novels (that’s right, all five novels of the series I’ve read so far). It’s structured differently. It’s composed of four novellas or extended chapters (I guess you could also call them parts or sections). Most of the novels in the series aren’t organized in parts or chapters which means that the story isn’t organized that way either. The Colour of Magic reads more like short story collection in which each all the stories flow from one to the other as opposed to a novel which encapsulates one continued story for its entire length.

I was a bit surprised to realize that Pratchett’s influences were more obvious to me than they’ve ever been before. Part of it is that the first two times I read this was during my teens. The other part is that I recently finished reading Swords Against Death byThe Colour of Magic isn’t one continuous story per se, it’s more of a collection of never-serialized stories. Four distinct stories that follow from one to the other which, when read in sequential order, work rather well as a novel. The fact that all four parts focus on a particular story or a long joke (made up, of course, of several smaller and medium size jokes) serves to make me believe I didn’t imagine the influence from Fritz Leiber. I think it’s interesting that Pratchett, the writer being influenced, is better than Leiber, the one influencing Pratchett. It’s not really a fair comment to make because Pratchett has far many more influences than just Leiber and unlike Leiber he’s not afraid to actually put his world building to good use, by which I mean Pratchett doesn’t just throw fancy word combinations onto the page. Octarine means something and some does hubward and so does the designation of “the disc” mean the world.

Fritz Leiber who’s was a big influence for the first and second stories in this collection thought he wasn’t the only influence, that’s for sure. For starters, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (Bravd and the Brown Weasel) appear as characters in the book in the first few pages. The wonderful city of Anhk-Morpork is clearly based on Lankhmar. Heck, it’s right there in the name! The way the book is organized also shows signs of the influence from Leiber.

It’s a bit obvious to say but being the first book in the series, The Colour of Magic is responsible for introducing several staple elements of the series. To name just a few, the planet itself is introduced: it’s flat, held up by four elephants riding on the back of Great A’Tuin, the space turtle. Discworld, the planet, is a very unique location in fantasy and it works very well. It’s one of my favourite fantasy locations of all time (and it would make a great statuette to have in ones living room). Pratchett also introduces the magical importance of the number eight along with the eighth colour of the light spectrum, octarine (which the title references). Anhk-Morpork, Rincewind, Twoflower and the Luggage are also introduced. I love all of these characters, the Luggage especially. They’re all so familiar (maybe not the Luggage) but maintain a specific, how would you say, flavour or essence all their own. Pratchett instantly makes these characters both unique and relatable in a matter of pages. It’s made all the more surprising when you stop and consider how ridiculous these ideas are. Let’s take my favourite (LUGGAGE), made up of a rare tree called sapient pearwood, it has hundreds of tiny legs, has quite the attitude, and is seemingly impervious to all sorts of natural and magical injury.

World-building is actually the one thing that makes this book work. It’s not just fantasy hijinks and magic jokes. For the uninitiated, The Colour of Magic tells four stories involving three mains characters. Rincewind is a washout wizard who’s hired as a tour guide to Twoflower, and ­in-sewer-ants clerk who is on holiday. Twoflower is the first tourist ever on Discworld and it works really well as an introduction because some of the sights he sees and the places he visits are explained to him by Rincewind which, by extension, is also explained to the reader. Accompanied by Twoflower’s Luggage, a sentient wooden chest with an attitude and many endearing qualities (he, it’s, no I’m pretty sure it’s he, is one of my favourite Discworld characters) they go on several fun adventures. In the first story, they meet up, many introductions are made, and half of Anhk-Morpork is burned to the ground. In the second story they meet up with a caricature of a barbarian hero are unintentional captured by an ancient god and defeat it. In the third story the characters get into a bit of a misunderstanding with the Dragonriders of Pern and the whole book ends with Rincewind and Twoflower getting into all sorts of trouble on the Edge which inevitably leads them to travel beyond the Edge of the Disc.

I quite like the idea that everything Pratchett throws into his fictional world seems to work so well together. Discworld isn’t your typical pseudo-medieval setting with magic thrown in, though there certainly is quite a bit of that. There are also modern ideas that come into play in hilarious ways. Pratchett introduces a lot of these elements in the first book making Discworld a series, a location and a universe in which things are ever changing. The overall constants remain the same, but immediately in the first story the concepts of tourism, insurance and economics are introduced. We also learn that as a failed wizard, Rincewind’s always toyed with the idea that there exists something else other than magic. He’s thinking of science but he obviously wouldn’t know that since he’s never encountered science before. He gets to, though, as Twoflower has a few contraptions form his home continent that would quality as a cross between magic and science. He has objects like a pocket watch and a camera, both going by different names, which Rincewind gets to use throughout the novel. The reader is made to understand that all these things were completely unknown to the population of Ankh-Morpork before the arrival of Twoflower.

The Colour of Magic isn’t the typical Discworld novel, at least not if I compare the five books I’ve read from the series. It’s got a bit of a strange structure and it’s nowhere close to the funniest book in the series, it’s hands down the best place to start reading. Perhaps unsurprisingly it serves as an excellent introduction to a couple of the most well-known Discworld characters as well as some of the most popular locations, like the twin city of Ankh-Morpork. More importantly, The Colour of Magic is the first time that terminology unique to the series such as octarine, the Discworld compass: Hubwards (towards the Hub or the center of the Disc), Rimwards (towards the Rim), Turnwise (the direction in which the Disc turns) and Widdershins (the opposite of Turnwise). In order to truly enjoy all that Discworld has to offer, you also have to be a pretty well-read fantasy reader. The more fantasy novels you’ve read prior to reading one of the many Discworld novels, the better the reading experience will be. That’s something I’ve only realized the third time reading it which means you don’t need to have read hundreds or even dozens of fantasy novels before it to enjoy the great fun that Pratchett’s having at everyone else’s expense.

Note on the Cover:

Josh Kirby’s cover to The Colour of Magic is pretty interesting. It’s not my favourite Discworld cover by any means but I do like how he was able to capture the energy of the book inside. This cover is also notable for putting the best character in the center (Luggage!) but the rest of the characters are a bit lost in the mix. Twoflower happens to have four eyes because Kirby catch on that Pratchett’s description of him was meant to convey that Twoflower wears glasses. It’s ok, I didn’t catch on the first tie either. I like how the cover shows a scene from the book. I love it when artists do that but good covers don’t always have to represent something from the story to be good.

The Blog Fantastic 015: Sourcery review

It’s true I’ve only read five Discworld (I say only because Terry Pratchett’s either close to or already has written over 40 novels in the series) but only five volumes into the series I know that I’ll enjoy each new book I pick up. There are things I know will happen once I pick up a Discworld novel off the shelf. I will 1) laugh out loud (which doesn’t happen often with books), 2) snicker while Pratchett makes fun of a fantasy trope I love while simultaneously loving that very same fantasy trope all the more, and 3) learn something interesting and be sent off into deep thought over a brilliant line or paragraph. While Sourcery isn’t as thought-inducing as say Equal Rites, it’s still a damn good book because it’s hilarious. Let’s be honest, the primary reason anyone has for reading a Discworld novel isn’t that it will make you think, that’s just an added bonus, the real reason is that it’ll make you laugh ‘til your abs hurt and your face muscles are tired. In that respect, Sourcery is a success.

The fifth Discworld novel, Sourcery brings us back to the famous character of the first two books, Rincewind the wizard and the Luggage. Most of the humour and the story in this book works because of the characters. It’s a character centric novel and the plot, the little bit that exist, was probably a better and tighter plot but Pratchett had to go throw some magic in there and everything started to fall apart. To this day, he still pretends he had a firm grasp on where this novel was going before it decided to head into another direction all on its own. Please be warned, Pratchett is a professional liar, he writes books for a living. I won’t get into the details of the plot because there isn’t a whole lot of it and it’s much more fun if you discover it on your own. What the story really comes down to is people running around Discworld trying to avoid the nasty effects of the coming of a sourcerer to the flat planet. What made the novel work for me was Pratchett redefining Rincewind as a character and introducing new ones.

Oh, what’s a sourcerer? It’s quite simple really. See, a wizard is the eight son of an eight son (eight being a magical number on Discworld). Something happens with genetics that makes them susceptible to being able to absorb and channel some of the magic of Discworld. As it turns out, the eight son of an eight son of an eight son, or a wizard squared, is something altogether different. They’re not just able to channel magic, they’re a source of magic and none of the rules apply to them.

As I said above, the best thing about this book is the characters: who they are, what they do and how they interact with each other. The main characters of the story are made up of:

Rincewind: a terrible wizard who’s not very courageous but somehow manages to regularly do courageous things and save the world.

Conina: a warrior who live in the shadow of her father, Cohen the Barbarian. All she really wants to do is become a hairdresser but quests keep getting in the way.

Nijel: a barbarian-in-the-making. He’s out on his first quest. It’s almost been a week and he’s doing pretty well. Probably because he’s using his guide book, Inne Juste Seven Dayes I Wile Mayke you a Barberian Hero, written by Cohen the Barbarian.

Luggage: a chest made of sapient pearwood. It runs around on hundreds of tiny legs and gets into all sorts of mischief. It’s also adorable and tougher than nails.

It’s interesting to note that I don’t really consider Coin, the sourcerer of the story, a main character. He’s kind of just there to provide conflict for the others. I’m not sure if that was the intent or if Pratchett just never got around to it because he was busy writing about the aprocralypse and flying carpets.

Look at all that chaos and energy Josh Kirby paints. I love his covers. Too bad mine is an
edited (ahem, incomplete) cover. 

Pratchett makes fun of wizards a plenty. If they’re so powerful why do they just sit around and not do much of anything? That’s because they’re not all that powerful, they’re only wizards after all not sourcerers who are the ones with real power. He also has quite a bit of fun poking fun at barbarian heroes of the sword and sorcery sub-genre. Conina is funny because she’s a female barbarian but we quickly stop laughing once we found out just how effective she is. She’s reluctantly following in her father’s footsteps. Just imagine how much questing she could do if she put her mind to it? In case you’re too lazy to imagine it, she’s Genghis Khan all of Discworld. It’d be pretty terrifying, I guarantee it. Out of all the characters in the book, Nijel wins the prize for being the most ridiculous. He’s the embodiment of a table-top role-playing nerd taking to its extreme conclusion. With the help of his manual he heads off on a journey to actually become a barbarian hero. Nijel is a skinny young man who weighs less than his trusty guidebook and does nothing without first consulting his book. He also gets over silly arguments when the rules mentioned in Cohen’s book are broken. How he survived his time alone before meeting Rincewind and Conina is one of the great mysteries in all of Discworld (at least those five novels I’ve actually read).

Terry Pratchett, or Sir Terry like some have become found of calling him, is a special kind of writer. He’s not just a satirist or a comedian or a post-modern philosopher, he’s all of these combined into some sort of super writer*. I might not as much to say about Sourcery as I have for previous Discworld novels but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong or bad about this volume. It just focused on different aspects of Pratchett’s writing than some of the other books. There were more jokes and less philosophy. Either way, it’s a great novel to read especially for readers of fantasy literature who also have a fondness for British type humour.

*I haven’t check but Sir Terry is probably the eight son of an eight son (of an eight son?) which is why his word fu is so strong. Nobody cracks a joke like he does because nobody has that genetically developed magic manipulation of words. It’s all very scientific and I haven’t really done my research, but I’m convinced he has an advantage no other writers have and that’s what makes him so good. I’m also pretty certain that he has more than one pair of arms because he sure writes a lot.