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Тъмната страна на слънцето
Дом Саболос притежава куп неща за завиждане. Наследник на управляваща династия и на интересна съдба, с робот последно поколение за прислужник и планета за кръстник, Дом обитава един свят, в който дори смъртта невинаги е фатална. Макар и да е предвидено да бъде убит, той ще оцелее, и то сдобивайки се с нов тен и с мисия, обречена на успех...
С "Тъмната страна на слънцето" Тери Пратчет се подготвя за написването на "Страта", а оттам и на поредицата за Диска.
С "Тъмната страна на слънцето" Тери Пратчет се подготвя за написването на "Страта", а оттам и на поредицата за Диска.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
123 people are currently reading
5700 people want to read
About the author
Terry Pratchett
684 books46.1k followersSir Terence David John Pratchett was an English author, humorist, and satirist, best known for the Discworld series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983–2015, and for the apocalyptic comedy novel Good Omens (1990), which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
Pratchett's first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. The first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983, after which Pratchett wrote an average of two books a year. The final Discworld novel, The Shepherd's Crown, was published in August 2015, five months after his death.
With more than 100 million books sold worldwide in 43 languages, Pratchett was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 and was knighted for services to literature in the 2009 New Year Honours. In 2001 he won the annual Carnegie Medal for The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, the first Discworld book marketed for children. He received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2010.
In December 2007 Pratchett announced that he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer's Research Trust (now Alzheimer's Research UK, ARUK), filmed three television programmes chronicling his experiences with the condition for the BBC, and became a patron of ARUK. Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, at the age of 66.
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January 29, 2023
I think, for the preservation of sci-fi as a book genre, this book should only be read by either fans of Terry Pratchett himself or of obscure, vintage sci-fi. And I reason thus...
Terry Pratchett is an amazing writer. Of fantasy. I know many people would argue, but I don't think he would have become half the writer he was if he had not been writing in the fantasy genre. His ability to write about people is what made him wonderful and well-loved, but putting that in to a fantasy setting made it.
The Dark Side of the Sun is a half-decent attempt at sci-fi. It has all the elements of a humorous lark á la Hitchhiker's and has some great imagination when it comes to technology, but there always seemed to be too much happening at once. Terry had a hard time explaining everything in a well-thought out manner.
The best thing about this book? If you're a PTerry fan, it is the sheer amount of Discworld references (I say references, but this was a pre-cursor to Discworld so it's more of a starting point). We have Small Gods here, Hogswatch and klatch and probably a couple of character traits in the robots and humans. Widdershins may as well be on Discworld, only a Discworld that is 2000 years in to the future and has more advanced technology than the slide rule.
It is a fairly decent yarn, with a good story arc and some great comedy sci-fi moments. The humour was lacking slightly, as if he was just a little apprehensive. The ending was useless in all fairness, but you can see the tiny seedling shoots of PTerry's genius here. I mean, it was published about five years before Discworld, and it's nice to know that a man like PTerry started his career with a slight failure. It makes you feel good about yourself.
Imaginative? Yes. Humorous? Fairly. Epic to read about Hogswatch before Discworld had even been born? Totes. It's nice. It's a very quick read. It'll make you chuckle a little, if only at how rubbish it is considering who wrote it. But it's hugely enjoyable because that's what he does to you. He makes you enjoy stuff, the bastard.
Terry Pratchett is an amazing writer. Of fantasy. I know many people would argue, but I don't think he would have become half the writer he was if he had not been writing in the fantasy genre. His ability to write about people is what made him wonderful and well-loved, but putting that in to a fantasy setting made it.
The Dark Side of the Sun is a half-decent attempt at sci-fi. It has all the elements of a humorous lark á la Hitchhiker's and has some great imagination when it comes to technology, but there always seemed to be too much happening at once. Terry had a hard time explaining everything in a well-thought out manner.
The best thing about this book? If you're a PTerry fan, it is the sheer amount of Discworld references (I say references, but this was a pre-cursor to Discworld so it's more of a starting point). We have Small Gods here, Hogswatch and klatch and probably a couple of character traits in the robots and humans. Widdershins may as well be on Discworld, only a Discworld that is 2000 years in to the future and has more advanced technology than the slide rule.
It is a fairly decent yarn, with a good story arc and some great comedy sci-fi moments. The humour was lacking slightly, as if he was just a little apprehensive. The ending was useless in all fairness, but you can see the tiny seedling shoots of PTerry's genius here. I mean, it was published about five years before Discworld, and it's nice to know that a man like PTerry started his career with a slight failure. It makes you feel good about yourself.
Imaginative? Yes. Humorous? Fairly. Epic to read about Hogswatch before Discworld had even been born? Totes. It's nice. It's a very quick read. It'll make you chuckle a little, if only at how rubbish it is considering who wrote it. But it's hugely enjoyable because that's what he does to you. He makes you enjoy stuff, the bastard.
February 5, 2024
Dom is on a quest to find the mythical Jokers. They’re a race of amazing engineers who are presumed to have gone extinct before any of the 52 currently living races came to be. The only Joker text still around is a poem that states that they have gone to a new home at the dark side of the sun. And it’s clear that someone is trying very hard to assassinate Dom before he finishes his quest.
Dom definitely reminds me a bit of Rincewind, the first protagonist in the later Discworld books. The world building in particular is quite detailed and you can already notice some things in here that will later be expanded upon in the Discworld series. Which makes this book a nice little bonus read for Discworld fans. I also quite like the idea of an ancient advanced civilization lost in time. It’s a concept that’s been done before but it still fascinates me tremendously to be honest.
This is a very early Pratchett novel. Here he’s still experimenting, honing his skills and trying to find his own writing style. A big part of this story is about p-math and predicting the future. This is actually quite a brilliant idea in theory and the twist at the end is pretty cool, though this doesn’t always make for an exciting story.
It’s a fascinating science fiction concept done well with great world building and interesting characters. Though it’s a bit overly complicated at times and doesn’t have the most exciting plot.
Dom definitely reminds me a bit of Rincewind, the first protagonist in the later Discworld books. The world building in particular is quite detailed and you can already notice some things in here that will later be expanded upon in the Discworld series. Which makes this book a nice little bonus read for Discworld fans. I also quite like the idea of an ancient advanced civilization lost in time. It’s a concept that’s been done before but it still fascinates me tremendously to be honest.
This is a very early Pratchett novel. Here he’s still experimenting, honing his skills and trying to find his own writing style. A big part of this story is about p-math and predicting the future. This is actually quite a brilliant idea in theory and the twist at the end is pretty cool, though this doesn’t always make for an exciting story.
It’s a fascinating science fiction concept done well with great world building and interesting characters. Though it’s a bit overly complicated at times and doesn’t have the most exciting plot.
March 10, 2022
Im Grunde bin ich ein großer Fan von Terry Pratchetts Werken, aber ich muss gestehen, dass ich mich mit diesem Buch erstaunlich schwergetan habe. Das liegt wahrscheinlich nicht nur daran, dass ich bisher hauptsächlich seine unsterblichen Scheibenweltromane gelesen (und genossen) habe, sondern auch daran, dass es sich bei diesem Buch um einen ziemlich komplizierten und manchmal etwas wirren Science-Fiction-Roman handelt, bei dem der Autor sich anscheinend nicht entscheiden konnte, ob er die Geschichte ernst meint oder ob sie als Parodie konzipiert ist. Daher fiel es mir manchmal etwas schwer, der Handlung zu folgen und nachzuvollziehen, was der Autor uns Leser*innen damit eigentlich sagen wollte. Natürlich ist auch dieser Roman gut geschrieben (er stammt schließlich von Terry Pratchett, dem Godfather of Fantasy!), aber leider konnte ich mich dafür bei weitem nicht so begeistern wie für die meisten seiner anderen Werke. Trotzdem von mir noch solide drei Sterne.
April 28, 2012
Having gone back and read (and been pleasantly surprised by) Strata recently I knew it would only be a matter of time before I went even further back in to Pratchett's formative publishing years and happily I was not disappointed, especially as now I am a fan of science fiction rather than a guy who loves Discworld and was willing to give anything written by Terry Pratchett a go.
I remembered really enjoying this one, quite a bit more than Strata in fact, and that is still true all these years later. The fun that is had with Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics and the concept of The Foundation sequence would have been completely lost on me first time around for example but the influence of those books is clear and (aside from Pratchetts obvious talent for telling a story) I would suggest that is a primary reason for this being a highly entertaining space adventure.
The way ideas have been recycled from this book into Strata and then into the Discworld books is not just fascinating but also an enjoyable experience for me as a matured reader, whereas I remember finding the stuff that would later appear in the Discworld as being a bit dull in comparison when I read this the first time round.
The fact that this book was published a year before the initial publication of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was a bit of a slap in the face for me as I felt certain whilst reading that Pratchett had been influenced by Douglas Adams, yet it appears that perhaps the style of Pratchett may have actually influenced the space-faring life of Arthur Dent instead.
I can see the flaws of the work (there are a few, sure) and perhaps if I wasn't a massive fan of the author already I might not think so highly of what could probably be classified as run of the mill sci-fi, BUT there are so many positives in this book as a precurser to the Discworld that I enjoyed it a lot more than I, perhaps, should.
I remembered really enjoying this one, quite a bit more than Strata in fact, and that is still true all these years later. The fun that is had with Isaac Asimov's Laws of Robotics and the concept of The Foundation sequence would have been completely lost on me first time around for example but the influence of those books is clear and (aside from Pratchetts obvious talent for telling a story) I would suggest that is a primary reason for this being a highly entertaining space adventure.
The way ideas have been recycled from this book into Strata and then into the Discworld books is not just fascinating but also an enjoyable experience for me as a matured reader, whereas I remember finding the stuff that would later appear in the Discworld as being a bit dull in comparison when I read this the first time round.
The fact that this book was published a year before the initial publication of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy was a bit of a slap in the face for me as I felt certain whilst reading that Pratchett had been influenced by Douglas Adams, yet it appears that perhaps the style of Pratchett may have actually influenced the space-faring life of Arthur Dent instead.
I can see the flaws of the work (there are a few, sure) and perhaps if I wasn't a massive fan of the author already I might not think so highly of what could probably be classified as run of the mill sci-fi, BUT there are so many positives in this book as a precurser to the Discworld that I enjoyed it a lot more than I, perhaps, should.
January 4, 2018
Pratchetts version of Dune. A classic style space-opera with all of the problems that implies but shorter and with the usual Pratchett wit. It isn't a comedy though, in fact while its not overly serious you could barely even call it a satire. About as funny as The Fifth Element.
As i said it has all the problems of space-opera, too many characters, too many names, too much technobabble, too many weird concepts etc. but its short so not as annoying. There were still several occasions when i literally have no idea what happened, mostly action sequences.
Also a lot of Discworld terms thrown about so longtime fans might get a kick out of that.
Its good but not great. It does make me wonder though if Pratchett actually liked writing fantasy or just stuck with it because it received more approbation? If this had been a success instead of 'Colour of Magic' would he have continued on from here and been known as the worlds funniest sci-fi writer? No doubt in another universe he did ;) .
As i said it has all the problems of space-opera, too many characters, too many names, too much technobabble, too many weird concepts etc. but its short so not as annoying. There were still several occasions when i literally have no idea what happened, mostly action sequences.
Also a lot of Discworld terms thrown about so longtime fans might get a kick out of that.
Its good but not great. It does make me wonder though if Pratchett actually liked writing fantasy or just stuck with it because it received more approbation? If this had been a success instead of 'Colour of Magic' would he have continued on from here and been known as the worlds funniest sci-fi writer? No doubt in another universe he did ;) .
July 20, 2012
For the amount of pages this book had, it took me a while to get through. It was not an easy read, perhaps feeling a bit more like an experimental book? Indeed, to my knowledge Pratchett has not really made a habit of writing sci-fi, possibly with good reason.
I think this books main fault is in the fact it is too alien. Strange places, ideas and people were explained by even stranger places, ideas and descriptions, making it difficult to know what was going on.
Having said that, the concept or 'moral' of the story was epic in its way and touched upon some very cool and original perceptions of the Universe and our ultimate place in it.
Recommended for either hardcore sci-fi or Pratchett fans only.
I think this books main fault is in the fact it is too alien. Strange places, ideas and people were explained by even stranger places, ideas and descriptions, making it difficult to know what was going on.
Having said that, the concept or 'moral' of the story was epic in its way and touched upon some very cool and original perceptions of the Universe and our ultimate place in it.
Recommended for either hardcore sci-fi or Pratchett fans only.
June 7, 2020
Terry Pratchett was a great writer of humorous fantasy novels, but not everyone knows he tried his hand at straight science fiction before starting on the Discworld books. I had a real problem rating this book - I really need to be able to give it four stars for ideas and three for quality of writing.
Pratchett takes us on a whirlwind trip (there's probably not more than about 50,000 words in the book, but he packs a huge amount in) around a future universe where there a few humanish species (plus intelligent robots and a couple of strange entities like a conscious planet that acts as a bank), living in the shadow of a much older, mysterious disappeared species known as the Jokers, who left behind vast, incomprehensible monuments. The central character, Dom Salabos, is about to take over his planet-wide family company... except first he has to survive increasingly frequent attempts on his life and to discover a destiny put in place by his father.
To get the less positive bits out of the way, it's not a particularly original plot, and Pratchett is still finding his feet as an author - it can sometimes be difficult to follow his writing, and the whole thing is incredibly rushed (the love interest, for example, is introduced so late in the book that she (one of the few female significant characters) is little more than a caricature. Equally, some really interesting settings which look designed to be the locations for interesting set pieces (a maze planet, for example) are just used in the background, suggesting this was perhaps intended to be a significantly longer book. Perhaps the weakest aspect is 'probability math', a version of Asimov's psychohistory on steroids, which is even more improbable (ahem) than the original and is tied into a kind of many worlds hypothesis universe.
However, on the plus side, there's loads of invention here. Although some aliens are classic humans in a different shape, others are genuinely alien-feeling. There's lots of fun technology (including a sarky robot that puts Marvin the paranoid android to shame) and Pratchett piles on the content, from an inverted society where the rich lead very spartan lives to the aforementioned one-of-a-kind conscious oddities. For Discworld fans, you will even find a couple of religious concepts (Hogswatchnight and Small Gods) that he reused in his fantasy books.
It's a fascinating period piece (first published in 1976), both for Pratchett fans to see how his writing evolved and as a piece of idea-packed, if imperfectly written, science fiction.
Pratchett takes us on a whirlwind trip (there's probably not more than about 50,000 words in the book, but he packs a huge amount in) around a future universe where there a few humanish species (plus intelligent robots and a couple of strange entities like a conscious planet that acts as a bank), living in the shadow of a much older, mysterious disappeared species known as the Jokers, who left behind vast, incomprehensible monuments. The central character, Dom Salabos, is about to take over his planet-wide family company... except first he has to survive increasingly frequent attempts on his life and to discover a destiny put in place by his father.
To get the less positive bits out of the way, it's not a particularly original plot, and Pratchett is still finding his feet as an author - it can sometimes be difficult to follow his writing, and the whole thing is incredibly rushed (the love interest, for example, is introduced so late in the book that she (one of the few female significant characters) is little more than a caricature. Equally, some really interesting settings which look designed to be the locations for interesting set pieces (a maze planet, for example) are just used in the background, suggesting this was perhaps intended to be a significantly longer book. Perhaps the weakest aspect is 'probability math', a version of Asimov's psychohistory on steroids, which is even more improbable (ahem) than the original and is tied into a kind of many worlds hypothesis universe.
However, on the plus side, there's loads of invention here. Although some aliens are classic humans in a different shape, others are genuinely alien-feeling. There's lots of fun technology (including a sarky robot that puts Marvin the paranoid android to shame) and Pratchett piles on the content, from an inverted society where the rich lead very spartan lives to the aforementioned one-of-a-kind conscious oddities. For Discworld fans, you will even find a couple of religious concepts (Hogswatchnight and Small Gods) that he reused in his fantasy books.
It's a fascinating period piece (first published in 1976), both for Pratchett fans to see how his writing evolved and as a piece of idea-packed, if imperfectly written, science fiction.
October 5, 2013
I wonder if Pratchett is embarrassed by this book or whether he simply sees it as a necessary part of learning to become an author?
This book, like Strata, is from his "science fiction / fantasy" stage where he concentrates too hard on the things about fantasy worlds which make them different - specifically the technological gizmoes.
In later life, Pratchett came to realise that all good story-telling is ultimately about characters (not necessarily human!). As readers, we do not care about the allegedly fantastical elements of fantasy worlds: we do invest such things with our emotions. We need "people" of all species that we can worry about,lovve, hate or cheer on to ultimate triumph.
Fortunately for the reading public, Pratchett did learn this lesson and gave us the wonderful Discworld books.
This book should only be read by afficionadoes of Pratchett who wish to trace his development as an author. Don't give it to someone who is just coming to the Discworld for the first time - you will lose a fan!
Best forgotten in my opinion and it has been to the extent that I can barely remember the plot.
This book, like Strata, is from his "science fiction / fantasy" stage where he concentrates too hard on the things about fantasy worlds which make them different - specifically the technological gizmoes.
In later life, Pratchett came to realise that all good story-telling is ultimately about characters (not necessarily human!). As readers, we do not care about the allegedly fantastical elements of fantasy worlds: we do invest such things with our emotions. We need "people" of all species that we can worry about,lovve, hate or cheer on to ultimate triumph.
Fortunately for the reading public, Pratchett did learn this lesson and gave us the wonderful Discworld books.
This book should only be read by afficionadoes of Pratchett who wish to trace his development as an author. Don't give it to someone who is just coming to the Discworld for the first time - you will lose a fan!
Best forgotten in my opinion and it has been to the extent that I can barely remember the plot.
May 27, 2012
I have a special relationship with four pairs of first albums. Sure, as musicians mature, the best among them become more technical, more complex, ‘deeper’ in many ways; yet in very special cases, the combination of youthful drive and youthful naiveté can produce what in hind sight is their best work.
The four bands in question are Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Blind Guardian. Their contributions and accomplishments are many, but the first two albums rock forever.
Which brings me to The Dark Side of The Sun and Strata – Pratchett’s first two ‘albums’ (not counting his early Carpet People demo). Naïve, a bit clumsy, yet buzzing with the energy of the point in life when everything is possible, and one specific direction has not yet been chosen in favor of the infinite other ones. These are my most favorite – as in uplifting and energizing Pratchett books. I heartily recommend them to all lovers of cool old-school science fiction adventures, as opposed to social satires in fantasy setting.
The four bands in question are Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Blind Guardian. Their contributions and accomplishments are many, but the first two albums rock forever.
Which brings me to The Dark Side of The Sun and Strata – Pratchett’s first two ‘albums’ (not counting his early Carpet People demo). Naïve, a bit clumsy, yet buzzing with the energy of the point in life when everything is possible, and one specific direction has not yet been chosen in favor of the infinite other ones. These are my most favorite – as in uplifting and energizing Pratchett books. I heartily recommend them to all lovers of cool old-school science fiction adventures, as opposed to social satires in fantasy setting.
May 14, 2018
Very interesting early Pratchett novel, full of colorful characters and some deeper philosophy..... plus I can still see some early Discworld and Strata ideas floating around, from made worlds complete with fossils, to mentions of small gods and Hogswatch.
April 26, 2012
A cute story. Popcorn for the brain. The usual tongue-in-check social commentary of all Practchett's discworld tales.
A good read.
A good read.
December 30, 2017
P is for Pratchett, and this is my first Terry Pratchett novel somehow. He's often recommended alongside of Douglas Adams, though it must be confessed that Pratchett was genuinely a writer (as opposed to a guy like Adams, who really resisted that title).
He has a very facile way, like Adams, of spooling out wild scifi (more fantasy, really) concepts and this book throws more things at the wall than you can shake a stick at, for such a short novel. It could be hard to follow or visualize at times, like with Neuromancer, though if the latter is occasionally opaque, this is more translucent and occasionally quite brilliant with its imagery.
Case in point, the "sundogs".
It, like many SF novels, is basically a mystery. Having just read The Night of Kadar and The Douglas Convolution, which are also mystery-centered SF, I give the ending here—the solution to all the mysteriousness—a "satisfying". Didn't blow me a way but was more than merely acceptable.
It's remarkable how Pratchett manages to give this book an epic feel. I was really worried when I was ten pages out he was going to fluff the ending and he did not so, bravo and four stars.
He has a very facile way, like Adams, of spooling out wild scifi (more fantasy, really) concepts and this book throws more things at the wall than you can shake a stick at, for such a short novel. It could be hard to follow or visualize at times, like with Neuromancer, though if the latter is occasionally opaque, this is more translucent and occasionally quite brilliant with its imagery.
Case in point, the "sundogs".
It, like many SF novels, is basically a mystery. Having just read The Night of Kadar and The Douglas Convolution, which are also mystery-centered SF, I give the ending here—the solution to all the mysteriousness—a "satisfying". Didn't blow me a way but was more than merely acceptable.
It's remarkable how Pratchett manages to give this book an epic feel. I was really worried when I was ten pages out he was going to fluff the ending and he did not so, bravo and four stars.
September 12, 2020
My book club wanted to read a book by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett is of course the widely beloved fantasy author and creator of the legendary Discworld series. Naturally, we chose one of his other books. I am sad to report The Dark Side of the Sun does not live up to the expectation of Pratchett’s work.
The Dark Side of the Sun was Pratchett’s second novel and the first aimed at adults. It really shows. It lacks the tremendous humor and wit of the Discworld books. I get the feeling the setting was intended to be comically absurd, but it never surpassed the bounds of serious science fiction and did not include any straight men like Arthur Dent for contrast. It has some puns (mainly playing off the creepy Creapii) and obscure references, but they fall flat (the one exception being a funny joke about Asimov’s Laws of Robotics).
This book is really a common pulp adventure of the 1960s and 1970s. It has all the hallmarks of the era: a fast-paced romp through colorful settings with almost no character or thematic depth. There are lots of hasty action scenes with acts of derring-do by our courageous hero Dom Sabalos, though he usually escapes by quirky chance rather than solid planning or skill. I do appreciate some of the many concepts it throws against the wall. The living planet First Sirian Bank, the living water Chatogaster, the five classes of robots, the endlessly variable Creapii, the tech - all of these were interesting if not mindblowing. It reminds me of the superior Norstrilia published the year before (not to suggest any inspiration). The Dark Side of the Sun is ultimately a fun, low impact story.
Unfortunately, this book has many of the flaws of pulp as well. It has a plot that jumps from set piece to set piece. Those jumps do not always make sense. Sometimes one scene just ends, and the character wakes in the next scene. Other times, Dom suddenly has knowledge that leads him to the next step. Those jumps are particularly frustrating, as they seem contrived to cover up that the author wanted the previous scene to last a certain length and had no believable way to transition to the next scene. It creates the sensation of fits and starts with the character being restrained or accelerated artificially. The story also manages to have far too much exposition without actually explaining the universe or plot or character motivations well. I find myself asking why certain plot points happened or why characters involved themselves, and the answer is ultimately “the plot said so.” Characters are plot devices. Conversations make no sense. The abrupt ending slams into the reader. The story is as disjointed as it is flashy.
I think the core of this story is poker. The entire plot is driven by p-math, which is effectively statistical magic. The future can be told by p-math down to an individual level. It works perfectly for the 52 known races, but the Jokers throw it all into doubt. Dom relies heavily on intuition and luck in his search for the Jokers. I am not sure how this ties into the themes of discovery and perspective that are explicit with the Creapii and others, but there are too many connections to ignore. I wish Pratchett had gone farther with it to the point of real satire or parody. It would have been much more unique.
I will admit, The Dark Side of the Sun is my introduction to Pratchett’s written work. The others in the group had all read Discworld books previously, and their reactions were much less favorable. I can only imagine it would be like me finding a standalone book by Douglas Adams and discovering it to be a bog-standard pulp space opera. I could not recommend that book, and I do not recommend The Dark Side of the Sun. Still, I find myself wishing that current writers would publish new stories that combine the fun of pulp adventures with the quality we expect from modern genre novels. Sometimes I want books that are just fun, but I never want books that are bad.
CHARACTER LIST (abridged)
The Dark Side of the Sun was Pratchett’s second novel and the first aimed at adults. It really shows. It lacks the tremendous humor and wit of the Discworld books. I get the feeling the setting was intended to be comically absurd, but it never surpassed the bounds of serious science fiction and did not include any straight men like Arthur Dent for contrast. It has some puns (mainly playing off the creepy Creapii) and obscure references, but they fall flat (the one exception being a funny joke about Asimov’s Laws of Robotics).
This book is really a common pulp adventure of the 1960s and 1970s. It has all the hallmarks of the era: a fast-paced romp through colorful settings with almost no character or thematic depth. There are lots of hasty action scenes with acts of derring-do by our courageous hero Dom Sabalos, though he usually escapes by quirky chance rather than solid planning or skill. I do appreciate some of the many concepts it throws against the wall. The living planet First Sirian Bank, the living water Chatogaster, the five classes of robots, the endlessly variable Creapii, the tech - all of these were interesting if not mindblowing. It reminds me of the superior Norstrilia published the year before (not to suggest any inspiration). The Dark Side of the Sun is ultimately a fun, low impact story.
Unfortunately, this book has many of the flaws of pulp as well. It has a plot that jumps from set piece to set piece. Those jumps do not always make sense. Sometimes one scene just ends, and the character wakes in the next scene. Other times, Dom suddenly has knowledge that leads him to the next step. Those jumps are particularly frustrating, as they seem contrived to cover up that the author wanted the previous scene to last a certain length and had no believable way to transition to the next scene. It creates the sensation of fits and starts with the character being restrained or accelerated artificially. The story also manages to have far too much exposition without actually explaining the universe or plot or character motivations well. I find myself asking why certain plot points happened or why characters involved themselves, and the answer is ultimately “the plot said so.” Characters are plot devices. Conversations make no sense. The abrupt ending slams into the reader. The story is as disjointed as it is flashy.
I think the core of this story is poker. The entire plot is driven by p-math, which is effectively statistical magic. The future can be told by p-math down to an individual level. It works perfectly for the 52 known races, but the Jokers throw it all into doubt. Dom relies heavily on intuition and luck in his search for the Jokers. I am not sure how this ties into the themes of discovery and perspective that are explicit with the Creapii and others, but there are too many connections to ignore. I wish Pratchett had gone farther with it to the point of real satire or parody. It would have been much more unique.
I will admit, The Dark Side of the Sun is my introduction to Pratchett’s written work. The others in the group had all read Discworld books previously, and their reactions were much less favorable. I can only imagine it would be like me finding a standalone book by Douglas Adams and discovering it to be a bog-standard pulp space opera. I could not recommend that book, and I do not recommend The Dark Side of the Sun. Still, I find myself wishing that current writers would publish new stories that combine the fun of pulp adventures with the quality we expect from modern genre novels. Sometimes I want books that are just fun, but I never want books that are bad.
CHARACTER LIST (abridged)
January 11, 2011
A I Shall Wear Midnight le puse 4 estrellas por ser Pratchett cuando se merecía 3. A este le pongo 1 estrella por ser Pratchett, porque si llega a ser otro autor, no lo habría conseguido ni acabar.
Este libro, junto a Strata, supone una inmersión en el género de la ciencia ficción. Bueno, "ciencia ficción" en el sentido amplio de las space operas, las navecitas con hiperespacio, los extraterrestes pintorescos y demás. Porque la ciencia no solo brilla por su ausencia, sino que tampoco tiene pies ni cabeza. Cualquier libro del Mundodisco tiene más ciencia que esto. Pratchett dijo en una entrevista a raíz de su colaboración con Stephen Baxter que a principios de los 80 se decidió por la fantasía cuando pudo haber tirado por la ciencia ficción de estos primeros libros. Loado sea Om por hacerle ver el camino.
Como ciencia ficción, a menudo parece una mezcla entre La guerra de las galaxias y La guía del autoestopista galáctico, solo que antecede a estos dos. Es curioso, parece que estas dos obras, por lo que respecta a su temática y desarrollo, no son tan innovadoras como cabría pensar.
Este libro es del 76, con lo que teóricamente es el segundo libro de Pratchett, antes incluso de Strata y antes también de que empezara el Mundodisco. Cuando digo "teóricamente es el segundo libro", me refiero a que The Carpet People se publicó en 1971, pero se reescribió en 1992. No me quiero ni imaginar la barbaridad que sería The Carpet People antes de que el Pratchett "adulto" metiera mano. Todos tenemos un pasado chungo, y este libro es un testimonio del de Pratchett.
Solo recomendado para fans letales que quieran ver el lado oscuro del maestro. El que se atreva con este libro, que vaya preparando café para no caer sopa a los cinco minutos. Como curiosidad para los fans del Mundodisco, hay semillas aquí y allí que recuerdan al Mundodisco: hay dioses menores, posibilidades de una entre mil millones, Vigilia de los Puercos, gremio de asesinos, e incluso algo muy parecido a Tethys (La luz fantástica).
No estoy de broma, luego no quiero lloros. Este libro es aburrido como él solo y no tiene ritmo ni pies ni cabeza. Si se trata de leerlo para poder decir "me he leído todo Pratchett" y uno tiene una vena masoca, adelante. En cualquier otro caso, mejor abstenerse.
Este libro, junto a Strata, supone una inmersión en el género de la ciencia ficción. Bueno, "ciencia ficción" en el sentido amplio de las space operas, las navecitas con hiperespacio, los extraterrestes pintorescos y demás. Porque la ciencia no solo brilla por su ausencia, sino que tampoco tiene pies ni cabeza. Cualquier libro del Mundodisco tiene más ciencia que esto. Pratchett dijo en una entrevista a raíz de su colaboración con Stephen Baxter que a principios de los 80 se decidió por la fantasía cuando pudo haber tirado por la ciencia ficción de estos primeros libros. Loado sea Om por hacerle ver el camino.
Como ciencia ficción, a menudo parece una mezcla entre La guerra de las galaxias y La guía del autoestopista galáctico, solo que antecede a estos dos. Es curioso, parece que estas dos obras, por lo que respecta a su temática y desarrollo, no son tan innovadoras como cabría pensar.
Este libro es del 76, con lo que teóricamente es el segundo libro de Pratchett, antes incluso de Strata y antes también de que empezara el Mundodisco. Cuando digo "teóricamente es el segundo libro", me refiero a que The Carpet People se publicó en 1971, pero se reescribió en 1992. No me quiero ni imaginar la barbaridad que sería The Carpet People antes de que el Pratchett "adulto" metiera mano. Todos tenemos un pasado chungo, y este libro es un testimonio del de Pratchett.
Solo recomendado para fans letales que quieran ver el lado oscuro del maestro. El que se atreva con este libro, que vaya preparando café para no caer sopa a los cinco minutos. Como curiosidad para los fans del Mundodisco, hay semillas aquí y allí que recuerdan al Mundodisco: hay dioses menores, posibilidades de una entre mil millones, Vigilia de los Puercos, gremio de asesinos, e incluso algo muy parecido a Tethys (La luz fantástica).
No estoy de broma, luego no quiero lloros. Este libro es aburrido como él solo y no tiene ritmo ni pies ni cabeza. Si se trata de leerlo para poder decir "me he leído todo Pratchett" y uno tiene una vena masoca, adelante. En cualquier otro caso, mejor abstenerse.
January 6, 2018
Dom Sabalos is destined to be assassinated on the day he becomes Chairman of his home planet, Widdershins. However, Dom survives this assassination attempt , and, upon being shown a recording of his father predicting Dom's death, his father also predicts he will go on to find Jokers World. After viewing this, Dom feels compelled to do so and sets off, against the wishes of his very powerful grandmother.
There's a sentient planet, who's also a bank; a sentient body of water; the sundogs! There's everything you could possibly expect or want from a Pratchett Sci-Fi novel.
Well.
First things first: After all the Pratchett I've read (ALL of it), it's really funny coming back to his first adult novel and seeing how many kernels of Things to Come are in here. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he'd written this after Discworld and The Long Earth.
But it's definitely not as tight as his other novels. I don't think it's that bad, but Pratchett's my favorite author (you should see my Pratchett shelves sometime); I'm biased. Situations and scenes aren't as fleshed out, described, or overall explained as they'd go on to be in later books. It still retains all the Pratchett-ism you'd come to love in his later works though, trust me; it's very funny (I mean, the scene with Isaac and the other robots? Try not laughing at what he calls them), but this is more comedic Sci-fi than the satiric fantasy most fans have come to know him for.
Would I give it to someone new to Pratchett? I definitely say let them read around the rest of his catalog and then come back to this one. But, of course, one never really knows unless one tries it out.
There's a sentient planet, who's also a bank; a sentient body of water; the sundogs! There's everything you could possibly expect or want from a Pratchett Sci-Fi novel.
Well.
First things first: After all the Pratchett I've read (ALL of it), it's really funny coming back to his first adult novel and seeing how many kernels of Things to Come are in here. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he'd written this after Discworld and The Long Earth.
But it's definitely not as tight as his other novels. I don't think it's that bad, but Pratchett's my favorite author (you should see my Pratchett shelves sometime); I'm biased. Situations and scenes aren't as fleshed out, described, or overall explained as they'd go on to be in later books. It still retains all the Pratchett-ism you'd come to love in his later works though, trust me; it's very funny (I mean, the scene with Isaac and the other robots? Try not laughing at what he calls them), but this is more comedic Sci-fi than the satiric fantasy most fans have come to know him for.
Would I give it to someone new to Pratchett? I definitely say let them read around the rest of his catalog and then come back to this one. But, of course, one never really knows unless one tries it out.
July 26, 2013
Here is the thing, I do not understand why there are so many negative reviews and bad ratings on this book.
I myself have quite enjoyed reading this book, yes it is void of some more thorough descriptions but they are not so much needed to be able to enjoy the book.
The thing is this is one of Terry Pratchett's earliest books and is not riddled with cleverly placed satiric sentences that catches you off guard and you find yourself laughing out loud in a public place looking like a complete idiot.
Now if you are a seasoned Discworld reader and you do decide to take the leap of the rim and visit the other worlds, you need to clear your preconceived views of the goodness of the Discworld novels, you need to read these earlier Terry Pratchett books as if you have never read any of his books before and never heard of him before either, only then will you be able to fully enjoy them.
I myself have quite enjoyed reading this book, yes it is void of some more thorough descriptions but they are not so much needed to be able to enjoy the book.
The thing is this is one of Terry Pratchett's earliest books and is not riddled with cleverly placed satiric sentences that catches you off guard and you find yourself laughing out loud in a public place looking like a complete idiot.
Now if you are a seasoned Discworld reader and you do decide to take the leap of the rim and visit the other worlds, you need to clear your preconceived views of the goodness of the Discworld novels, you need to read these earlier Terry Pratchett books as if you have never read any of his books before and never heard of him before either, only then will you be able to fully enjoy them.
February 17, 2018
This is clearly early Pratchett: the ideas run rampant, too much is happening, and while mildly humorous, it lacks the wit and wisdom of later works. Yet I found it refreshingly creative and fun. It is really a YA novel - a teenage boy is seeking the secrets of the galaxy while pursued by murderous killer robots. Light and fun.
September 6, 2018
MEH... not my cup of tea...
September 30, 2019
Zu chaotisch, zu durcheinander, nicht wirklich durchdacht. Es wirkt nicht rund, als Leser hab ich mich immer wieder verloren gefühlt, die Geschichte und die Charaktere haben mich auch kalt gelassen. Hin und wieder kommt mal Pratchett's Art, sein Humor, durch. Ich bin ein Prachtett-Fan, aber das war ein Griff ins galaktische Klo.
October 11, 2015
In my most humble opinion everybody should be always (I mean in each moment of a human being life) reading at least: one spiritual book, a (maybe non) fiction book and one written by Terry Pratchett. Now, you may get a wrong idea of what is going on up here, but in a near future I will write something about the first two “must be reading”. Now you are here to read about the third one.
If you ever read a book by Terry Pratchett you may have noticed a feeling of “okeyness” within your day to day life. For instance, I am thinking in the Discworld books. There you can read such things that whatever you are going through it may not be such a big deal. It makes you widen your focus, see your issues from different points of view, and there are moments when you stop seeing them. Definitely they are essential books for these stressful days.
Let me go for the one I chose for this occasion: “The Dark Side of The Sun”. I bought this book three or four moths ago, when I was two thousand miles from home (yes, I just have searched in google miles vs km). I was on Erasmus doing a thesis about let's say “amazing stuff”. In one of those moments when I felt somehow homesick I read that Pratchett had passed out. That made me feel the urgency to go and buy one of his books. I did so. However I did not read it until a month ago, when I was looking for some “stress cure”, nonsense therapy, or... have some fun. Not only I found the dose of whatever I was looking for, I also found a really well built world in a quite short book. I found a bit of Asimov. I found Gods. I found perfectly illogical things. I found puppies raining from the sky. I found a book to read again.
I picked this particular book because I was looking for a book not related with the Discworld series. However it was somehow related. To avoid saying too much about it I will say that I had the feeling that “The Dark Side of The Sun” is strongly related with the book “Small Gods” (I did not read this last one).
Terry Pratchett builds a world (in fact a whole universe) with more than fifty races, including robots, humans and big guys (lakes, planets, puppies...). Some time paradoxes, conspiracies and the most tasty ingredient; a prophecy. In fact, in the world everything is already written down, everything happens because it has to happen. It has been already calculated. Among those calculations there is one that will change everything.
You may agree that in our world, chaos is something relative, unpredictable and... chaotic. However in a world where the future can be computed it has a complete different roll. It is not so relative, not so unpredictable and... not so chaotic. In fact in a world like this, prophecies are more than prophecies. We are dealing with Prophecies. At this point I would like to remind you that we are dealing with Terry Pratchett. It happens to be that some predicted actions do not evolve as expected (as predicted), what leads us to some chaos. And just to put the lid on it, some predictions around the “Prophecy” fail.
Conclusion: chaos. If you want something that makes you smile, something that deals with flying shoes, magic swords, chaos and randomness, get some Terry Pratchett book. I am sorry, I am biased, I do not think I can say anything negative about his books (maybe too chaotic but even though you get used to it).
Highly recommended.
If you ever read a book by Terry Pratchett you may have noticed a feeling of “okeyness” within your day to day life. For instance, I am thinking in the Discworld books. There you can read such things that whatever you are going through it may not be such a big deal. It makes you widen your focus, see your issues from different points of view, and there are moments when you stop seeing them. Definitely they are essential books for these stressful days.
Let me go for the one I chose for this occasion: “The Dark Side of The Sun”. I bought this book three or four moths ago, when I was two thousand miles from home (yes, I just have searched in google miles vs km). I was on Erasmus doing a thesis about let's say “amazing stuff”. In one of those moments when I felt somehow homesick I read that Pratchett had passed out. That made me feel the urgency to go and buy one of his books. I did so. However I did not read it until a month ago, when I was looking for some “stress cure”, nonsense therapy, or... have some fun. Not only I found the dose of whatever I was looking for, I also found a really well built world in a quite short book. I found a bit of Asimov. I found Gods. I found perfectly illogical things. I found puppies raining from the sky. I found a book to read again.
I picked this particular book because I was looking for a book not related with the Discworld series. However it was somehow related. To avoid saying too much about it I will say that I had the feeling that “The Dark Side of The Sun” is strongly related with the book “Small Gods” (I did not read this last one).
Terry Pratchett builds a world (in fact a whole universe) with more than fifty races, including robots, humans and big guys (lakes, planets, puppies...). Some time paradoxes, conspiracies and the most tasty ingredient; a prophecy. In fact, in the world everything is already written down, everything happens because it has to happen. It has been already calculated. Among those calculations there is one that will change everything.
You may agree that in our world, chaos is something relative, unpredictable and... chaotic. However in a world where the future can be computed it has a complete different roll. It is not so relative, not so unpredictable and... not so chaotic. In fact in a world like this, prophecies are more than prophecies. We are dealing with Prophecies. At this point I would like to remind you that we are dealing with Terry Pratchett. It happens to be that some predicted actions do not evolve as expected (as predicted), what leads us to some chaos. And just to put the lid on it, some predictions around the “Prophecy” fail.
Conclusion: chaos. If you want something that makes you smile, something that deals with flying shoes, magic swords, chaos and randomness, get some Terry Pratchett book. I am sorry, I am biased, I do not think I can say anything negative about his books (maybe too chaotic but even though you get used to it).
Highly recommended.
August 3, 2018
What a disappointment! I do realize this was Pratchett's first proper novel, even though he, for example, wrote the childrens' book The Carpet People (I liked this one, see my review here) before this one. Afterwards came Strata, which was a try-out for his Discworld series. To be honest, despite the problems Strata had, it was better written and more consistent than The Dark Side of the Sun.
In his first novel, Pratchett tried his luck with a Sci-Fi story, the effort itself commendable. But even if this is a quick read, it's hard - except for certain moments - to put your mind to it, to picture the different characters, events, and so on. At least, I had problems with this little novel.
Sure, there are fragments and signs of Pratchett's humour and beliefs, which are expressed better and more coherent in the later Discworld novels. Here, I found, the humour and some setting elements were comparable to Douglas Adams's famous The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which came out later and were better worked out (in my opinion).
The Dark Side of the Sun is about a character, Dom, who's about to rise in function, is on a quest to find Jokers World, but encounters several problems to prevent him from succeeding. Even from his relatives he's not to expect much help (that's what I understood). Robots, eh, humanoids, are also part of the story.
Of course there's probably some thought behind this story, be it philosophical, satirical, a parody on the typical space-based Sci-Fi stories (?), ... In any case, Pratchett used many difficult words, but also wasn't consistent when letting the Phnobic do the word: the creature is supposed to lisp, hence double s in most words, but not everywhere. There were also some comma's missing (hello, clarity?) and a few conjugations were incorrect (like he forgot to edit the phrases, or maybe his editor forgot).
On several occasions the story swerved off topic: Dom (and his friends) are doing something, the next instant they're elsewhere already. Bridging events could have been better. There were moments I wanted to throw the book away.
In short: not a recommended read at all, unless you're a tr00 die-hard fan of Terry Pratchett and are desperate to read anything he has written.
In his first novel, Pratchett tried his luck with a Sci-Fi story, the effort itself commendable. But even if this is a quick read, it's hard - except for certain moments - to put your mind to it, to picture the different characters, events, and so on. At least, I had problems with this little novel.
Sure, there are fragments and signs of Pratchett's humour and beliefs, which are expressed better and more coherent in the later Discworld novels. Here, I found, the humour and some setting elements were comparable to Douglas Adams's famous The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which came out later and were better worked out (in my opinion).
The Dark Side of the Sun is about a character, Dom, who's about to rise in function, is on a quest to find Jokers World, but encounters several problems to prevent him from succeeding. Even from his relatives he's not to expect much help (that's what I understood). Robots, eh, humanoids, are also part of the story.
Of course there's probably some thought behind this story, be it philosophical, satirical, a parody on the typical space-based Sci-Fi stories (?), ... In any case, Pratchett used many difficult words, but also wasn't consistent when letting the Phnobic do the word: the creature is supposed to lisp, hence double s in most words, but not everywhere. There were also some comma's missing (hello, clarity?) and a few conjugations were incorrect (like he forgot to edit the phrases, or maybe his editor forgot).
On several occasions the story swerved off topic: Dom (and his friends) are doing something, the next instant they're elsewhere already. Bridging events could have been better. There were moments I wanted to throw the book away.
In short: not a recommended read at all, unless you're a tr00 die-hard fan of Terry Pratchett and are desperate to read anything he has written.
November 1, 2022
Early on in Pterry's career, he had a couple of different writing strands going in his head. One as we all know was Fantasy and turned into the Discworld series, the other was the universe of ideas that led to this book and to Strata.
When I first encountered Pratchett, I actually preferred Strata to his discworld book - I was more of a sci-fi reader than a fantasy reader at the time - and for many years I hoped for more in the Strata universe. They never came and I do love discworld but it was great revisiting this early book.
The Dark Side of the Sun is not a mature work, when you compare it to the later Discworld books, going from reading Night Watch to reading this, it is really obvious how much he matured as an author and that is fun to see too.
The Dark Side of the Sun still has the host of popular/ culture/ science/ social commentaries and references in it that make reading Discworld books such a rich expereince. The writing is a bit rocky and the plot kind of trembles a bit here and there... but go back to The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic and you will see the same thing. At least I do.
This was a fun book, light-hearted and full of cleverness. I was surprised and delighted to find little precursors to the Discworld books; Hogswatch night happens here too, even though no worlds are carried through space on the backs of giant sea chelonians.
When I first encountered Pratchett, I actually preferred Strata to his discworld book - I was more of a sci-fi reader than a fantasy reader at the time - and for many years I hoped for more in the Strata universe. They never came and I do love discworld but it was great revisiting this early book.
The Dark Side of the Sun is not a mature work, when you compare it to the later Discworld books, going from reading Night Watch to reading this, it is really obvious how much he matured as an author and that is fun to see too.
The Dark Side of the Sun still has the host of popular/ culture/ science/ social commentaries and references in it that make reading Discworld books such a rich expereince. The writing is a bit rocky and the plot kind of trembles a bit here and there... but go back to The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic and you will see the same thing. At least I do.
This was a fun book, light-hearted and full of cleverness. I was surprised and delighted to find little precursors to the Discworld books; Hogswatch night happens here too, even though no worlds are carried through space on the backs of giant sea chelonians.
June 1, 2011
As a big Discworld fan, this was interesting to read in that its publication predates The Color of Magic by about half a dozen years, and it is sci-fi instead of fantasy. In spite of that plus the fact that Pratchett's writing was still in its formative years, it bubbles over with his lively imagination (reminiscent perhaps of Leonard of Quirm?). Its primary science theme, that there is a near infinitude of universes where every possible outcome of our decisions occur, is a theme that is likewise referred to at times in the Discworld canon (e.g.
Jingo
).
All in all an enjoyable read, perhaps of more interest to the existing Terry Pratchett fans than to general sci-fi fans. Also, though there is some subdued humor and parody, there is nothing like what you find in the Discworld books. I would not recommend it as a first Pratchett novel to the uninitiated, instead recommending Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters .
All in all an enjoyable read, perhaps of more interest to the existing Terry Pratchett fans than to general sci-fi fans. Also, though there is some subdued humor and parody, there is nothing like what you find in the Discworld books. I would not recommend it as a first Pratchett novel to the uninitiated, instead recommending Guards! Guards! or Wyrd Sisters .
April 12, 2016
2,5 stars. I am not really sure, if I liked this standalone sci-fi novel. I am a fan of Terry Pratchett's writing, of his style, his ideas. But is later work is more structured, more elaborated than this. This is one of his earlier stories and it is not quite as mature as the books, I fell in love with.
The story follows Dom, a humanoid creature of the planet Widdershins, who tries to solve two mysteries: who wants to kill him and what is the secret of the ancient race "Jokers".
The persiflage I love so much can be found in this book as well as the author's appreciated talent to bring all the opened up strands to one conclusive ending.
Still, I had trouble to get into this story. By trying to take us away to a far away, much more evolved future, the author steps in a common trap: you can't explain the things well which you made out to be too evolved for humans in our day and age. Trying to write about things too complex and to unbelievable for humans is always an oxymoron. By trying to create this world the story is crammed with not quiet scientific ideas about a future technology which again can't be described satisfyingly. The result are fantastic ideas which boarder on gibberish.
It is an engaging enough and short read. But if somebody is just starting out with Terry Pratchett's work I wouldn't recommend this book to begin, but strongly suggest to start out with the Discworld-Series.
The story follows Dom, a humanoid creature of the planet Widdershins, who tries to solve two mysteries: who wants to kill him and what is the secret of the ancient race "Jokers".
The persiflage I love so much can be found in this book as well as the author's appreciated talent to bring all the opened up strands to one conclusive ending.
Still, I had trouble to get into this story. By trying to take us away to a far away, much more evolved future, the author steps in a common trap: you can't explain the things well which you made out to be too evolved for humans in our day and age. Trying to write about things too complex and to unbelievable for humans is always an oxymoron. By trying to create this world the story is crammed with not quiet scientific ideas about a future technology which again can't be described satisfyingly. The result are fantastic ideas which boarder on gibberish.
It is an engaging enough and short read. But if somebody is just starting out with Terry Pratchett's work I wouldn't recommend this book to begin, but strongly suggest to start out with the Discworld-Series.
September 21, 2011
This is an early Pratchett non-Discworld book.
It's very different from the books in the Discworld series.
The main thing that struck me was the way that Pratchett today ties up all the loose ends. Everything comes full circle. Whatever appeared earlier in a book comes to its conclusion or plays its part later on. In this book the feeling of loose ends being tied up didn't happen for me.
***SPOILER ALERT***
For instance, the Head of Security, Korodore - quite an important character earlier on - died quite dramatically and that was it. He appeared no more and had no bearing on what happened afterwards. Nor did the pirate phnobe who found him after the first assassination attempt. I don't understand the role of Dom's tutor, Hrsh-Hgn, nor that of Sharli and Tarli later on either. Or of Joan and Keja. It was as if characters appeared and events happened but it was all haphazard. The sigificance of each event and each character was lost on me, I'm afraid.
But it was a good exercise for me to see that writers, even those who are published, get better and better the more they write. And I'm so glad that Pratchett DID keep writing!
It's very different from the books in the Discworld series.
The main thing that struck me was the way that Pratchett today ties up all the loose ends. Everything comes full circle. Whatever appeared earlier in a book comes to its conclusion or plays its part later on. In this book the feeling of loose ends being tied up didn't happen for me.
***SPOILER ALERT***
For instance, the Head of Security, Korodore - quite an important character earlier on - died quite dramatically and that was it. He appeared no more and had no bearing on what happened afterwards. Nor did the pirate phnobe who found him after the first assassination attempt. I don't understand the role of Dom's tutor, Hrsh-Hgn, nor that of Sharli and Tarli later on either. Or of Joan and Keja. It was as if characters appeared and events happened but it was all haphazard. The sigificance of each event and each character was lost on me, I'm afraid.
But it was a good exercise for me to see that writers, even those who are published, get better and better the more they write. And I'm so glad that Pratchett DID keep writing!
January 4, 2016
This book is so ... weird.
It's one of his early books, and it lacks polish. It has bits that show up in his later work - both Discworld and the Long Earth. It's got lots of bizarre creatures and languages and customs that aren't explained, or aren't explained well.
On the other hand, somehow I actually cared about the main character and his pet and his robot. A great deal of the time I had no clue what they were doing, or why, but I did care what happened to them. I give that to Pratchett's skill as a writer and not to any natural empathy for green men with lizardy pets and sarcastic robots.
Plot - some prince is searching for Jokers World to find the start of the universe. Or at least the people who populated the universe? I think? I know it was the holidays and I read most of the story before falling asleep, but er....yeah. I think that was the plot.
Okay, if you're a Pratchett geek and you want to read everything by him, yes, you should read it. Otherwise, you're not missing a thing.
It's one of his early books, and it lacks polish. It has bits that show up in his later work - both Discworld and the Long Earth. It's got lots of bizarre creatures and languages and customs that aren't explained, or aren't explained well.
On the other hand, somehow I actually cared about the main character and his pet and his robot. A great deal of the time I had no clue what they were doing, or why, but I did care what happened to them. I give that to Pratchett's skill as a writer and not to any natural empathy for green men with lizardy pets and sarcastic robots.
Plot - some prince is searching for Jokers World to find the start of the universe. Or at least the people who populated the universe? I think? I know it was the holidays and I read most of the story before falling asleep, but er....yeah. I think that was the plot.
Okay, if you're a Pratchett geek and you want to read everything by him, yes, you should read it. Otherwise, you're not missing a thing.
July 5, 2018
I have not read Pratchett for a while and never a sci-fi.
This is (not surprisingly ) lighthearted and imaginative.
I didn't enjoy this as much as when I read "Mort" for instance but then there is a good chance I am just older and grumpier.
The story is all over the place.
We are spun from planet to planet, often for just half a page to meet some odd alien before dashing off again.
The silly names of people and races I did find annoying.
As you would expect, short, sharp, well written and quite far-out-there.
This is (not surprisingly ) lighthearted and imaginative.
I didn't enjoy this as much as when I read "Mort" for instance but then there is a good chance I am just older and grumpier.
The story is all over the place.
We are spun from planet to planet, often for just half a page to meet some odd alien before dashing off again.
The silly names of people and races I did find annoying.
As you would expect, short, sharp, well written and quite far-out-there.
April 28, 2013
This is one of Terry Pratchett's early science fiction novels. It's been years since I first read it, so I decided to do so again yesterday. It's quite good. You can see some of the ideas that evolved into Discworld elements in this. The scenes, however, are sparsely sketched, sometimes making it difficult to visualize what is going on. Still, it is humorous and thought provoking. I recommend it.
March 14, 2015
I enjoyed this one way more than Strata!
[proper review to follow]
[proper review to follow]
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