Subject: Terry Pratchett: Lords and Ladies

From: [email-masked]
Date: 13 Jun 1994 16:26:23 -0400

I found Pratchett's new Discworld novel, "Lords and Ladies", mildly
disappointing.  I'm not sure whether it's weaker than its predecessors
or whether it's just not sufficiently fresh to overcome the fifteenth-
sequel syndrome.

Certainly it's noticeably different from the others.  One difference,
noted by Pratchett in his preface, is that it is less-standalone than the
others, but frankly, the carried-over plot elements are minor:  We have
Magrat's semi-engagement to the King, carried over from "Wyrd Sisters",
and the fact that the witches have just returned from their trip in
"Witches Abroad".  A more significant carry-over, though Pratchett does
not mention it, is that there is a lot less explanation of the milieu.
Of course, if Pratchett is assuming that most people reading this book
have read one of the dozen or so prequels, he's probably on safe ground.

It's also a darker novel.  Some of the earlier works have had sharp edges
("Witches Abroad" comes to mind), but here the protagonists are dealing
with something really nasty.  Elves.  Yup, elves.  The premise is that
Elves do indeed have all the charm and glamour that folklore ascribes to
them, but that people have forgotten the other half of the equation, which
is that Elves are cruelty personified.  At one point Pratchett compares
them to cats:  If cats lacked charm and beauty, how would people feel
about their habit of torturing small animals before killing and eating
them?  Elves are in the habit of torturing any creatures they can find
before killing them.

In the Ramtops, the Elves were long ago banished, and are kept at bay by a
circle of stones that most folks have too much sense to go near.  The
exceptions, in this case, are a group of wannabe-witches who think dancing
around the stones is mysterious/dramatic/romantic, and some inebriated
craftsmen who are trying to practice for a play which is certainly meant to
suggest the play within "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (except that they aren't
good enough actors to portray craftsmen being bad actors).  If/when the
Elves do break free, the main line of defense is the three witches -- except
that Magret has quit and Weatherwax has forseen her death and Nanny Og is
busy with the dwarf Cassanunda (the world's second-greatest lover).

It's hard to judge how the book would read to someone unfamiliar with
Pratchett's writing, but I found the book a disappointment, and the
shuttling between the serious and the silly ineffective.  Not so bad that
I wouldn't read it, you understand, but I'd have been just as happy
waiting for a library or used-book store to acquire a copy for me.

%A  Pratchet, Terry
%T  Lords and Ladies
%I  Corgi Canada
%D  1994
%O  $5.99 CDN
%P  382 pp.
%G  ISBN 0-552-13891-6

-----
Dani Zweig
[email-masked]   [email-masked] 

   "You have the reputation of being one of the nicest guys in the field.
    We both know you're a hyena on its hind legs.  How have you fooled
    everyone?"  "By keeping my mouth shut when I read garbage" -- Gene Wolfe