Terry Pratchett's the Truth (Methuen Drama)

Rating:
Summary: A superb book
Review: "The Truth" is up there with Pratchett's best. I don't know if it is because I enjoy the Guards series most or because Pratchett did something special for the 25th Discworld novel (can you believe it?!) but this book just rocked ... (it was a book with rocks in, even).

"The Truth" is another social semi-satire, like "Moving Pictures" or "Soul Music" but one which does not set out to preach a social message as much as just create plain good fun. All of the favorite Ankh-Morpork characters are in there but there are some great new ones, particularly Otto von Chriek, a reformed vampire hired as an iconographer for the Discworld's first newspaper, the book's namesake. Once you recall Pratchett's favoured method of creating flash photography and the effect this may have on said vampire, (not to mention the general nature of vampires) you should start to glimpse the boundless humorous possibilities.

As always, Pratchett's knowledge of the human psyche (headology) is superb and his characters are a joy to watch (er, read?). The dialogue and behaviour of the Patrician, in particular, is a study in mastery of human psychology and behaviour. Many of this book's passages made me laugh out loud, (as always, embarrassing on an aeroplane), and this is always a good yardstick -- I laughed more than I could remember than for any other book in the last 2 or 3 years.

If you are a Discworld reader, grab this book and dive in. If not, read a few of the Guards series and those with a similar theme ("Guards, Guards", "Moving Pictures", "Soul Music" should do it) in order to best appreciate this one.

Rating:
Summary: What just happened?
Review: ...I just finished The Truth; when does it get good? I'll agree with previous reviewers on one point only: the Discworld series has been in need of new blood. The established groups of characters have all had many books devoted to them, have grown in complexity and humanity, and have become quite beloved among the fans, but at the same time they may have begun to run out of stories. Pratchett himself seems to be sensing this; both Carpe Jugulum (the most recent Witches book) and The Fifth Elephant (the last Watchmen book) had a strong feeling of finality about them, as if he was determined to put his all into one last brilliant work featuring Granny Weatherwax or Sam Vimes. And of course, with the seeming passing of former casts, new blood is being introduced. That's the first trouble with The Truth. Most of Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork stories (and all of his best ones) have featured Sam Vimes as the (anti-) hero. Now Vimes has been replaced by idealistic newspaper editor William de Worde, and Lady Sybil by William's lady friend, Sarcharissa. I realize I'm going to sound like a Crochety Old Discworld Fan here, but William and Sarcharissa are no substitutes. William is appealing and likable, but he's just not very interesting. Pratchett paid surprisingly little attention to him for a main character; if he had then he might have come to life, but as is, the author's done this sort of thing better before. Sarcharissa also has more of the stock Pratchett heroine from his very early books in her than anything else. Okay, so now that I've made plenty of enemies by bashing the new characters, let's talk about the plot. Discworld plots usually range from perfect to somewhat hit-or-miss, but this one downright misses. Too many satiric targets are being aimed at. The Truth tries to make fun of both the press in general and of Nixon and Watergate in specific, thus making it both a book in the vein of Soul Music, which goes after a pop-culture phenomenon, and one like Jingo, which shoots for a specific topic. With all of this plus an almost entirely new cast, neither the characters nor either plot is given enough time, and in the end it suffers from a severe lack of development or resolution. You get the sense that you have missed a crucial scene somewhere; you're never quite sure how things got from A to B. So if the characters aren't so good, and the plot isn't so good, what is left but humor? A mediocre Pratchett book in terms of the other two factors usually has the saving grace of being funny, but no such luck here. The style is as amusing as ever, but much of the descriptions of the city- I couldn't tell if they have been actually reused from other books or are so similar that you I couldn't tell the difference. There are a number of cameos from famous characters (the Bursar's scenes being a case in point) that don't have any place in the plot; these only serve to distract instead of adding humor or easing the transition to William's story. As for the villians, Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip...they're funny, all right, but did anyone else think that they read like out-and-out parodies of Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere? The resemblence was too similar for me to ever take the New Firm seriously nor laugh at them very much. The Truth, appropriate to its subject, is at least free of the typographic errors that plagued The Fifth Elephant (except on one memorable occasion when a character called Deep Bone has his name written "Deep Throat".) The cover, rendered in not two but three nasty colors, is not pretty, but it does the job and doesn't hurt like the last one. The real reason that I had such a problem with The Truth is its author. We are now so used to Pratchetts' churning out brilliant book after brilliant book that our standards may have become too high. If anyone else had written this book I would have liked it far more, but compared to Jingo or The Fifth Elephant, it doesn't stand a chance. Is The Truth an excellent novel? Of course. Is it an excellent Pratchett novel? Not really. And you can quote me.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth and Droll Vegetables
Review: Pratchett is a former journalist himself, so I suppose it was just a matter of time before journalism was held up to the fun-house mirror that is the Discworld. Perhaps it is his experience in the trade that makes this such a wonderful story.

William de Worde is the estranged younger son of a noble family. He earns a living providing private reports on the news of Ankh Morpork to foreign rulers. On his way to deliver his latest report to his engraver, William is struck by the power of the press; in this case, a runaway wagon carrying a moveable type press that dwarves are smuggling into the city. One thing leads to another, and, this being the Century of the Fruitbat, before long "The Ankh Morpork Times" is on the streets, and William is launched on a career as an editor, publisher and investigative journalist.

The economy of Ankh Morpork is built on institutionalized corruption. There's no shortage of work for a budding investigative journalist, including the latest plot against the Lord Vetinari, the city's ruler. Soon William and his newspaper are pitted against conspiring nobility, a competing tabloid, assassins and the City Watch, to name just a few.

From the subtle - watch the typos in the newspaper's masthead - to the slapstick - a vampire photographer who cannot survive the bright light of his camera flash - there are a lot of laughs in this book. Some of the humor clearly traces to Practhett's journalism experience; Mr. Windling and his amusing vegetables, for example. But as has been the case in the last 10 - 12 Discworld stories, the humor is a means to an end and not the end itself. Pratchett makes important points as he entertains, and raises difficult questions. What is the Truth, anyway? And does anyone care? In Lord Vetinari's apt phrase, don't readers want the Olds, rather than the News? And why does printing something make it more true?

And Pratchett addresses larger issues, too. Among the fascinating new characters is Harry King, the King of the Golden River, who will recycle absolutely anything. He is wealthy, has a certain economic power, but absolutely no prestige. William's father, a member of the Old School Nobility, regards his privileges as a right. He has prestige, but what power he had is slipping away. And Gunilla Goldmountain, a dwarf who can turn lead into gold, but would really like to be married instead. Tulip, otherwise an illiterate stock villain, has a deep, informed appreciation of all things art. People are complex, and the relationships between people and society are still more complex. Pratchett reminds us of that reality by holding our life up to the funhouse mirror he has created.

There are echoes of Watergate - William's informant is "Deep Bone" - and echoes of all those old newspaper movies like "His Girl Friday" and "The Front Page" in the relationship between William and his reporter, Sacharissa. Pratchett is particularly good at making use of our cultural references in his jokes and his points. Allusion-spotters will have a field day.

Like all Pratchett's books, "The Truth" is great fun to read and still rewards a thoughtful reader. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Effort
Review: This is another terrific Discworld book. I loved the new characters and I enjoyed watching Ankh-Morpork assimilate this new cast into the city. The meandering plot about the rise of two competing newspapers and a conspiracy to depose the Patrician was a great set-up for the new characters. And this doesn't even begin to describe the details of the plot - featuring the dangers of a vampire who experiments with dark light, a parody of the Watergate Investigations, the comic team of the killers Mr. Pim and Mr. Tulip, the estranged relationship between William de Worde and his Father, and on and on. I thought William de Worde was a fine protagonist - and Otto Chriek was marvellous. I look forward to them as minor characters in future books - just as the Watch were minor characters in this book. Plus, Pratchett's philosophical musings were hilarious, and The Truth, as usual: "This is a newspaper, isn't it? It just has to be true until tomorrow."