awrc@lfcs.edinburgh.ac.uk (Al Crawford) (05/31/91)
Review Copyright (c) 1991 Al Crawford
%A Pratchett, Terry
%T Reaper Man
%I Victor Gollancz Ltd
%C London
%D 1991
%G ISBN 0-575-04979-0
%P 253 pp.
%S The Discworld novels
%V Book 11
%O hardback, L13.99 (L = pounds sterling)
It's probably best that, before I start my review proper, I state my own
opinion of Pratchett's other books. The only one of his Discworld books to
date that I haven't particularly enjoyed was Equal Rites - it just wasn't
very funny. His first couple of books don't seem to sparkle as much as they
did when I first read them but that's got more to do with his style having
improved over the years than with there being anything intrinsically wrong
with them. So I can be labelled (in big neon letters if you want) "Pratchett
Fan" and if you've been somewhat underwhelmed by his books, bear this in
mind during the review - I probably enjoyed the book more than you will.
Right, now for the review...
Reaper Man has been written `out of sequence' in response to his publisher's
requests for a sequel to Mort, which is probably his most successful
Discworld book to date.
[Note: possible spoilers of other Pratchett Discworld books follow. --AW]
The book relates the story of the events on the Discworld that follow Death
being forced to retire due to his development of a personality. So while
Death (now mortal) adopts a human persona and takes a job on a farm
(bringing in the harvest since he is, after all, handy with a scythe), chaos
ensues as the normal processes of death cease. The spirit world is standing
room only, poltergeist activity is rife and Windle Poons, who up until his
death was the disc's oldest wizard now discovers that he has become one of
the disc's freshest zombies. After hoping he would be reincarnated as a
woman, he finds that he's come back as a corpse.
The book has two distinct plot lines, which more or less never meet. The
first relates Death's time on the farm, the second the events in Ankh
Morpork as chaos mounts following his disappearance. I won't go into any
further detail though, as I don't want to spoil anyone's enjoyment.
There's the usual reuse of characters from earlier novels - Windle Poons
first appeared in Moving Pictures - but in most cases there's no need to
be familiar with the earlier books. The notable exception is the Librarian
- Pratchett has had to explain his `predicament' in every book since The
Light Fantastic. Additionally, we meet a host of new characters in the
form of the Fresh Start club (a group of the undead) several of whom I'd
expect to see appearing in future books. We also meet the Death Of Rats
("SQUEAK!") who surely must make a reappearance at some later date.
So how does it compare with his earlier books? On the whole, it's up to
the usual high standard. The book seems to have better characterisation
and plot than many of his earlier books and there's as much humour as
usual. Perhaps rather less in the way of belly laughs but there's a lot of
subtle humour that really requires two or three reads to appreciate. Any
problems? Only one - the ending, like Windle Poons life, goes on rather
longer than it should with the result that the book seems to fizzle out a
bit. Pratchett's endings have sometimes seemed a little sentimental to me
in the past and while this book has its fair share of sentimentality and
philosophising it doesn't stick out quite so obviously as usual.
And that's about it really - Pratchett has maintained his usual high
standard and this book is every bit as good as Moving Pictures and Guards,
Guards, both of which I rate rather higher than the (generally excellent)
remainder of his books to date. Unfortunately, I can't go into any more
detail without quoting bits and spoiling the fun. To summarise - if you
have read any of Pratchett's other books and enjoyed them, you'll love
this.
--
Al Crawford - Al_Crawford@edinburgh.ac.uk
"All the same, we talk on telephones across the haze."