Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

 

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The unofficial Lancre coven is missing a member now Magrat is Queen and while Nanny and Granny are firm friends there really has to be some sort of bufferzone or lubricant between them. Agnes Nitt is perhaps the most promising of the young women in the ramtops but she doesn't want to be a witch and does something about it by journeying to Ankh-Morpork to be a singer at the Opera. Agnes has an incredible voice and impresses the powers that be at the Opera House but alas her "look" is now out of fashion, just as in Moving Pictures your appearance is everything, skill and talents can be learnt (eventually) but there is the chorus for Agnes and it includes room and board so she makes herself at home. This being Discworld the Opera House has a resident Ghost who has turned rather more aggressive recently after the sale of the Opera House and its new owners desire to make money. Granny and Nanny fear for Agnus and take a trip to the city and also to collect some royalties for Nanny's book "The Joye of Snacks" which is fortuitous as having a lot of cash comes in handy when they become patrons of the Opera. As the bodies pile up the Watch become involved, the Librarian takes a shine to the Operas organ, the Ghost's secrets are revealed and Senior Basilica (a man with a secret) eats everything put in front of him while Greebo once again in his "human" guise gets to play. Maskerade was a fun novel with huge nods to modern opera and musical theatre as you would expect and having Nanny and Granny thrust into this world was very funny. Agnes however is hit and miss both as herself and as Perdita X Dream but it is an interesting notion that her inherent power is enhanced by what amounts to two personalities and is expressed through music and song more of which is to come in Carpe Jugulum. Overall a strong novel but not the best of the "Witch" subset.

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Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett

 

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"What I did on My Holidays"
On the surface an innocent account of the travels and adventures of Twoflower outside of the Agatean Empire but in reality a tool to be used by the unscrupulous to grow a revolution and then a counter revolution leaving once again one man in charge with the power of life and death over everyone.
Through various machinations Rincewind (unknowingly the subject of a game between Fate and The Lady) visits the Empire to find he has a big role to play and as usual becomes more of a pawn to be used by not only the Emperor but also the manipulative Lord Hung, Pretty Butterfly (a young revolutionary) and unexpectedly Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde who have plans for the Empire. The Luggage naturally follows Rincewind and has a major life changing incident while Rincewind runs, sprints, ducks and dodges his way out of life threatening situations but not unexpectedly becomes the focus of something wonderful before Hex and the University magically return him home but not his home.
Interesting Times was a decent novel and while I am a fan of Rincewind his part in Discworld kinda fell away as Terry introduced more characters and found his footing and large scale storytelling. That said the glimpse into the Empire was entertaining, more of Twoflower and his family was most rewarding and of course Cohen is always a pleasure especially when fleshed out.


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Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

 

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Something new and wild is loose in the Discworld, where it came from we don't know but one thing is for sure, the inhabitants of the Disc are not ready for it but in the meantime, turn the volume upto 11 and just let the Music with Rocks In take you on a journey.
Soul Music has never been a novel I was interested in reading again, even with the development of Susan (Mort and Ysabell's daughter) the main story of rock music being introduced to the Disc and the birth of the rebel musicians, concerts and festivals along with all the negatives of corporate music was too outside the main Discworld focus. In that regard it is simply a matter of taste not a reflection on the writing or story telling Terry is well known for. There is a lot of humour in the story and a lot of it very much linked to music which readers may or may not recognise, pretty sure on my first read I didn't all the references and I may have missed a few this time around. Soul Music is worthy of the Discworld but not a novel I will be going back to any time soon.

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Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

 

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The rebirth of the night watch continues as the Patrician mandates that minority recruits are added to the city watch and there is no way they are going on the day shift so we are introduced to Cuddy (Dwarf), Angua (Female) and Detritus (Troll). Vimes who is due to retire is well out of it but after some unusual thefts, murders and explosions he is well motivated to figure why people are not telling the truth, it doesn't hurt that he constantly being told to not investigate but this is Vimes after all.
Men At Arms is one of my favourite Discworld novels and is well placed within the "City Watch" sub series of the novels. We have a mystery which combines good old human frailties and something new to the Discworld, not a new concept but Terry knows how to write these stories with humour and insights into our own world. The expansion of the Watch is very well done, love all three of the new characters and sets the stage for the inclusion of so many other citizens of the Discworld to add their talents to serving the city.


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