Reaper Man (Discworld Novels (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: A cohesive ending would have made this perfect
Review: "Reaper Man" has all the elements of a good Discworld book. Old friends -- Death, The Librarian -- show up and reap (pun intended) havoc. A gaggle of befuddled wizards leave the sanctuary of Unseen University to try and solve a mystical dilemma. And a sheltered innocent, an old wizard named Windle Poons, learns a little something about himself. All fine and good. The problem, and thankfully it is a rare occurrence in Pratchett's world, is that these elements don't interact enough to create a cohesive whole. Pity.

Death gets top billing here, and he is fleshed-out wonderfully (a tough task considering he had no flesh to begin with). A supernatural career crisis leads him to a job harvesting crops, where his skill with a scythe is put to good use. A budding relationship with his new employer, Miss Flitworth, teaches him to actually live.

Windle Poons undergoes a crisis of his own. He's died. Well, almost. See, Death is not around to collect him. So what happens? Well, Terry heaps confusing circumstances on poor Mr. Poons. Poons reacts in much of the same way that Death did. He learns to live, too. After 130-years of sheltered existence, not to mention the last 50 years living with a decrepit body, he is liberated by Death. Only Terry could come up with such a wacky but logically sound notion.

The rest of the cast of characters, including the Wizards and a rag-tag group of misfits called the Fresh Start Club, lively wander around the plot, narrowly bumping into each other while providing fine comic moments. The Wizards get a little too caught up in their quest, eventually donning cloth headbands and yelling "Yo!" as if going into Rambo-style warfare. Couple this with their sheltered pomposity, and we get truly funny moments. The Fresh Start Club is quite the inspired creation on Terry's part. Their group is made up of the failed undead, including a bogeyman who's scared of people, a wolf who turns into a man during a full moon, and a shy banshee who, instead of wailing, slips a card under your door that reads: "OOoooEeeeOooEeeeOOOeee". I would have liked to spend more time with this motley crew.

And Terry's concept of what happens when Death is not around (to collect humanity's deceased life force) is a true revelation. It confused me at first, but upon further reflection, I realized that not only has he conjured up a truly poetic invention, but has made a sly comment on the reign of terror consumerism has inflicted on our culture. I'll say no more; just be prepared to sing for your supper because Terry's not about to hold your hand (with explicit explanation) through these sections.

So the elements are all there. But they never interact in any meaningful way. Terry usually manages to tie the varying narrative threads together by the end. The end here is satisfying in its own way (Death's final scenes are poetic and beautiful), but doesn't carry its weight in terms of helping unify the book's structure. It made me think that there were really two or three distinct stories here, slapped together without much afterthought, to create one full-sized book. That was really my only problem. The rest of the book is enchanting and wonderful; a lesser entry in the Discworld series, but fine reading nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic read
Review: I needed something light and funny as I pack up all that's around me. Pratchett always seems to fill this niche.

The "powers that be" don't like the fact that DEATH is developing a personality, so he is fired from his job and in the process discovers that he too will die now. With this revelation, DEATH decides that he wants to "live" so he goes out into the world and becomes a day laborer on a farm, harvesting the corn with his scythe. What the "powers that be" don't realize is that there are serious repercussions. All of a sudden, those who die have no where to go. There is no DEATH to bring them to the hereafter so the space between here and there becomes overcrowded with spirits and a huge backlog of life force starts screwing up life down on Discworld.

One of the first to be affected by DEATH's leave is a 130 year old wizard named Windle Poons. The poor chap was happy to finally die and be reborn. However, when he did die, there was nobody there to help him with the changeover. Since there was nothing for him to do, he returned to his body and became a zombie. It's up to him, Reg Shoe (Ankh-Morpork's leading undead civil rights activist), Lupine (a wereman - a wolf that turns into a werewolf at the full moon), a shy banshee (who leaves notes under doors reading "OOOOOeeeeeeOOOOOOeeeeee" instead of shrieking when someone is about to die), and an agoraphobic boogeyman to save Ankh-Morpork from this overflooding of life force. It's up to them because the wizards from Unseen University are about as baffled as everybody else is with all the weird changes taking place in the city.

Also, with DEATH gone, new forms of death incarnate are popping up all over the place: the Death of Rats, the Death of Spiders, the Death of Flowers, etc. However, because the human perception of what death is is so complicated, the Death of Humans doesn't form, which leads to the overcrowding. What was really interesting with this was the Death of Rats, who is the most developed character of all the Deaths (except for DEATH himself). I can just imagine a little rat, clothed in a black robe holding a scythe going SQUEAK (DEATH always talks in capitals).

Very humorous book yet again. I truly enjoy reading about DEATH and his exploits. It is one of Pratchett's best developed characters. The storyline is classic Pratchett as well. I mean, come on...who else would come up with the ideas of a shy banshee and an agoraphobic boogeyman. LOL I highly recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Reaper Man - A Killer Laugh!
Review: If you've read the other reviews, you probably understand by now that in this episode from the Discworld series, Death gets to take a holiday from his normal duties. This sets up a series of preposterous circumstances that can only be carried off by Terry Pratchett on his insane creation - Discworld.

This was the first of the Discworld novels I ever read, and by far and away the funniest! I was reading it on a flight to San Diego, during the in-flight movie - a taut thriller - and laughed so hard that other passengers were removing their headphones and glaring at me, wondering what I found so hysterical in the film.

This book turned me into a confirmed Terry Pratchett enthusiast. His tongue-in-cheek attitude towards his world and his wonderfully twisted take on life has helped inspire my own looney creative efforts, much to the delight of my children.

Read this book. Then read the entire Discworld series. If you have any sense of humor, you can't go wrong with this one!

Rating:
Summary: Death gets a life!
Review: Reaper Man, the eleventh book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, is probably the most moving and serious book I've read from Pratchett. It's also one of his funniest, which is definitely a good combination. It is a classic, and one of Pratchett's best. It's a moving story about Death (our good friend with the scythe), with a subplot that's almost as good but adds a lot to the humour and has a little something to say of its own.

It's a relatively short book (285 pages), considering what all is going on in it. Death's story has a poignancy that doesn't happen very often in Pratchett's books. He usually has some good social commentary, but not this sort of character deepness. The relationship that develops between Mrs. Flitworth and him is very reminiscent of some western movies. She's the homesteader and he's the hired hand. She's initially suspicious of him, but she needs the help. As time goes by, she becomes more and more trusting, letting him stay in the house during the evening (though he still must sleep in the barn!). Death, of course, is wonderful with a scythe, which is an immense help during the harvest. I enjoyed this story immensely, with Death (or Bill Door, as he calls himself) learning to how to fit in with the locals and generally learning what it is to be human. The ending of this particular storyline is wonderfully moving, with Death showing just how much he has learned (and yet, how much he still has to learn). It's almost enough to bring a tear to your eye.

Almost as moving is the story of Windle Poons. After fifty years of being an invalid, he's finally able to live again. Windle is an irascible, yet still very endearing, figure. It's interesting to see the life that flows back into his body even though he's dead. He joins a group called the Fresh Starters, which is a group that's fighting for the rights of the undead. While he doesn't really believe this is necessary, this is a group of people who fully accept him, which he hasn't had for awhile.

Windle's story provides the majority of the humour in this novel, and it does it very well. While Death's story has it's funny moments, they are more amusing then laugh-out-loud funny. Windle's story, however, has the sequence where the other wizards try to "help" Windle with his problem (the problem being that he's no longer dead). They even go so far as to try to bury him at a crossroads in Ankh-Morpork (at rush hour, even). The antics of the wizards are just hilarious. Once the life force problem presents itself, with killer trolleys running rampant through the city, the wizards decide that only they can stop it. Thus ensue many action movie parodies, including a wonderful riff on Aliens. There has never been so much testosterone evident at the wizards' university. They obviously don't know what they're doing, but the characters are so well drawn and so funny that it makes for great reading.

Pratchett's wonderful characters are the other highlight of the book. I've already mentioned the wizards. The great thing about the wizards in this book, as opposed to Moving Pictures, is that they are actually central to the plot. The other characters are equally wonderful. The Fresh Starters was started by Reg Shoe, a zombie who discovered that the recently dead were not being treated very well by society. Also included as members are: a shy boogeyman, a banshee with a speech impediment (so she slides a piece of paper saying "ooooooweeehooooooo" under the door), two vampires and a wolf who becomes a werewolf every full moon. These characters go great together, and when they try to pitch in and help Windle solve the trolley problem, the events add to the fun. This has to be the best bunch of characters that Pratchett has created.

There are only two niggling things about this book, however. The first is that the two stories don't really mesh that well. Sure, Death's story causes the other, but when the book bounces back and forth between the two stories, it gets a very disjointed feel that's a bit annoying. Secondly, the climax of the Death story is a bit rushed. Similar to Mort, it seems to happen too fast with not enough set up. I think it would have benefited from a few extra pages.

Still, the pluses of this book far outweigh the minuses. This book is classic Pratchett, and should be read as soon as possible. Make this your first Discworld book, if you can. It's that good.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant.
Review: Reaper Man, to my mind, is the pinnacle of Pratchett's career. This is the first book in the series that truly melded the emotion of some of the previous books with the humor that's always been part of the Discworld universe. However, the emphasis is very much on the former in this case: this is Pratchett's most moving book by far.
There are two basic plots in the book. One is caused by the other, but as the story progresses, there is little correlation between the two. Some people have commented on this as being a flaw, but personally speaking, I don't really see how that matters.
This first plot mainly focuses on Death being fired by the Auditors and Azrael. After this is done, he comes to the Discworld, looking to make a new start. He takes a job with Miss Flitworth at her farm, and things go on from there.
The second plot is based around the death of Windle Poons: and his subsequent return, because of the 'lapse in service' caused by Death's exit. Poons was 130 years old, and his return from the dead makes him 'live' again, ironically enough. For him, death is not like a sleep: it is more like waking up again. The problem is that the rest of the world soon raises objections.
While I have mentioned the fact that Reaper Man is the most moving Discworld book, this is not to say that it isn't funny. In fact, some of the scenes in this installment are nothing short of hilarious, particularly in Poons' side of the story. The attempts of his fellow wizards to 'help' him out, and their military endeavors in the latter part of the book (Yo!) are just sidesplitting.
Death's side of the story is very different. There is some humor here and there, (see the scene with the dyslexic rooster), but for the most part, it has a slight air of melancholy to it: at points, it is almost brooding in nature. The character of Miss Flitworth is rather tragic, and Death's interaction with her makes for some very serious conversation. He learns more about humanity in the process, and it definitely leaves a mark, as can be seen in later Discworld books.
Also of note is the landscape Death's story takes place in: Pratchett does an excellent job here. The images he conjures up in his descriptions are wonderful: one can almost imagine the wind whistling through the stalks of golden corn, gleaming in the sunlight. The imagery is also appropriate: i.e. the harvest and all that implies.
The characters in Reaper Man are some of the best ever featured in a single Discworld book. Of particular note are the people in the Fresh Starters club: each individual is immaculately crafted, and very, very funny. Dibbler turns up, as does Sgt. Colon and Modo the dwarf, whose musings on life in the University are amusing, in their own way. However, the wizards steal the show, as always: their antics in this one had me in fits.
Speaking of great characters, Windle Poons (along with Ronald Saveloy in Interesting Times) is probably the best one book character Pratchett ever created. In many ways, Poons is probably the only time a wizard in the Discworld series actually lives up to the image used so often in fantasy: he is noble, fair and wise, a man who knows what the right thing to do is, and goes out and does it, no matter the cost to himself. His saving of Ankh Morpork at the hands of what the extra life force hatches up is an example of this.
The book rolls along at a good pace, and is of uniformly high quality throughout. However, it's the last 30-40 pages of it that make it the classic it is, for they are deeply moving. The somberness of Death's side of the story draws on to its logical conclusion, and at the very end, permeates Poons' side as well. The portrayal of said emotion is handled well: it is not nauseatingly overdone, nor is it too bleak. It's very matter of fact, leaving the reader to pick up on whatever he/she may. Pratchett also uses some great lines in the book: the very last one, spoken by Azrael, is of particular note.
Reaper Man, like a fair number of Pratchett's books, is a celebration of life. It is death that makes us truly appreciate life for what it is, and this, I believe, is the author's message here. This theme, mixed in with some of the best humor the series has seen, is what makes Reaper Man Pratchett's finest book, and a classic novel in every sense of the word. Highest possible recommendation.