It's been a minute, but I'm back to the Great Discworld Re-Read! The first of the next two books is the next in the Death arc of books, Reaper Man (1991).
This is one of the few books where I enjoy the wizards of Unseen University, mostly because they are so very out of their element. The focus is on what happens when people can't die, because the Auditors (a form of being that is determined to make sure all the rules are followed no matter what) determine that Death has become too human and needs to be removed and replaced. There are a few consequences of this, largely that without Death, people don't know how to die. The biological processes stop (as we see with wizard Windle Poons who dies and, after not being met by Death or told what to do or where to go next, comes back to his body), but the soul doesn't know what to do. Poltergeist activity builds up as there's too much life force, and that activity starts taking the form of some very strange things never before seen in Ankh-Morpork.
In the meantime, Death has been given a life timer of his own, and he has a few days of life before he will die. He decides to go into the world and live while he has the chance, and discovers that there are absolutely terrifying aspects of life that he'd never contemplated before. Reading about Death learning how to dream is fascinating in a way, just from taking a different perspective on something that happens so naturally to most of us.
I enjoy watching Death learn more about life, and watching the wizards work through the problem of the build-up of life force. The outcome of the life force is a little odd and feels a little out of left field, but it's still fun. Meeting characters like Reg Shoe and Mrs. Cake for the first time, knowing that they'll be coming up in later books, is always fun - I really appreciate seeing characters introduced that I know will be important later on.
Overall, it's not my favorite of the Death books, but it is a lot of fun.
Next up is Witches Abroad (1991).
Ah, the witches of Lancre. They're not the first characters I reach for when I think of Discworld, but I always enjoy reading their tales. This time, another witch in Lancre who happened to have been a fairy godmother dies, and she leaves her wand to Magrat, along with a mission - the poor girl in Genua must NOT marry the prince. It's up to Magrat to stop it from happening, and of course, Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax are determined to come with her and "help."
This is a travelogue across the Disc with several fairy tales thrown in, but not the kinds of fairy tales that end happily ever after. There's a lovely spin on them, looking at what the actual impact of the stories would be. Looking into the mind of a wolf that's been made to think it's human enough to take on the role of the Big Bad Wolf of Little Red Riding Hood's tale is horrifying as the wolf is driven mad by the magic used to make it play the part it was never meant to play.
Watching the witches deal with all parts "foreign" is hilarious in a way that manages to avoid being cringey, mostly because the way they interact with the other cultures is being mocked for their tone-deafness, rather than acting as though they are completely in the right to treat all other cultures as failed versions of their own. It's a delicate line to walk and Pratchett does it very well. Learning about Granny Weatherwax's history and her family also helps develop her character and helps her become a more fully-formed character, rather than a caricature. It's one of the best parts about reading a long-running series - there's so much more opportunity to develop characters and worlds more thoroughly than a single book or even a trilogy.
The re-read is going more slowly than I had originally planned, but I'm grateful for that - it's giving me a little treat through the months, something to read that I know I'm going to enjoy in the midst of the books I've checked out from the library or the nominees for the Hugos that I'm working on now. It just means the series is going to go on longer than I had thought when I started it, but there are worse things in the world.
Next up is Small Gods, another one of my favorites!
No comments:
Post a Comment