Terry Pratchett

by Andrew M. Butler

In Britain it has been estimated that 10% of all books sold are fantasy. And of that fantasy, 10% is written by Terry Pratchett. That means that 1% of all books sold in Britain are written by Terry Pratchett. So throwing caution to the wind, let's enter a world where the Librarian is an orang-utan, luggage has legs, and where Death may come to visit, on his holidays. A world which is flat and balanced upon elephants stood on the back of a giant turtle. Welcome to Discworld. The success of the best-selling Discworld series has been so phenomenal that there have been radio serialisations, TV adaptations, numerous plays, dozens of audiobooks, pottery figures, calendars, diaries, an encyclopedia, a couple of computer games, a quizbook, a CD of music inspired by Discworld, several fanzines, newsgroups, fanclubs and a couple of Discworld Conventions. There was even a whole volume of criticism discussing Terry Pratchett's work. And this one makes it two. This volume is a book by book analysis of the complete Discworld series and of the other novels by Pratchett. From The Carpet People to Strata, the Bromeliad, The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, Good Omens, The Science of Discworld, the Discworld sequence from The Colour of Magic to Thief of Time, and not forgetting a cat that is Unadulterated, this book covers the lot.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Science Fiction, Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid Discworld reference covering up to Thief of Time as well as Pratchett's non-Discworld books. The reviews are fair and I mostly agree with the book ratings.

What is handy about this guide is that it not only gives a brief synopsis of the story, it lists the characters (including cameos), location, and target of the book (since Pratchett usually has a primary target for his satire in each book).

[Ingvar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really disappointed by this book. The author seemed more concerned about his own interpretation of Sir Pratchett's words, rather than Sir Pratchett's own interpretation of his own words. Which just seemed odd and, well, egotistical.

I was hoping for some more insight into either the books or into Sir Pratchetts minds. But I got neither. Instead I seemed to get some egocentric writers thoughts about what Sir Pratchett meant to have said.

[Tom Loock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a few thoughts:
- Well worth using as a reference work.
- Pity, it only covers the Discworld-novels up to and incl. Thief of Time.
- It is ridiculous to accuse the author Andrew Butler of having and expressing an opinion; even more so as he tries first and foremost to provide information and only adds his personal thoughts.

PS: I can't think of any other book that has such a small typeface throughout. Is that 5 point?

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a good guide to Sir Terry's work up to, and including 'The Theif of Time'. The main characters and locations are listed along with a synopsis of the story and the subtext.

I was really disappointed with this book, I expected it to be about Terry Pratchett himself. Instead it is reviews of his Discworld and other writings. The reviews are purely subjective and include a marks out of 5 score. Because I have read all the books I learnt nothing from this book but glad to have it in my Pratchett collection