Subject: Review : Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man

From: [email-masked] (Al Crawford)
Date: 27 May 91 17:07:09 GMT

Apologies if anyone sees this twice - I posted this earlier today (or so I
thought) but it doesn't seem to have gone out (didn't even appear at my local
site). Maybe something to do with my cross-posting it to rec.arts.sf-reviews -
if r.a.sf-reviews is moderated it'll probably have been held up until the
moderator approves it. If this is the case, shouldn't the moderator really
have posted some sort of welcome message before now though? Anyways...

Here's a rather rushed and not particularly good review of Reaper Man I threw
together yesterday afternoon. It's not meant as a piece of literary criticism
or even serious reviewing, it's just designed to give folk an idea what the
book is about and whether it's worth putting out $$$ on.

-----

			Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
			   A Review By Al Crawford

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.

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 stage.

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 at the end. 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 in the past.

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.

Sorry - no ISBN number or price as I've left the book at home. If anyone is
really desperate for these details (vital if you want to order it, I suppose)
mail me and I'll try and remember to bring the book in.

--
		   Al Crawford - [email-masked]
	    "All the same, we talk on telephones across the haze."