Reaper Man

Rating:
Summary: Death........gets fired?
Review: Keeping with Terry Pratchett's "there is no such thing as an impossible plot" line of thinking, Reaper Man showcases an unemployed Death and a world where dying has become a lot harder than it used to be. One of Pratchett's greatest skills has always been showcasing characters who can view the human race from the outside, thereby giving a unique perspective to humans and their many quirks. And no one gives a better commentary on the human race, than Death. For those keeping score, this is the second book in the "Death and Co." sub series of Discworld.
Promptly dismissed after being declared too compassionate and sympathetic towards humanity, Death takes up a job as a farm hand in an attempt to put his centuries of scythe experience to good use. He adopts the name "Bill Door" and begins to craft a normal life for himself. However, without Death doing his Duty, many people on the Disc are having trouble crossing over. And what happens when Bill Door meets the new Death?
Overall, this is above average for Pratchett and has some truly witty commentary on the human condition. This is also a good jumping-on point for new readers as prior Discworld reading is helpful, but not necessary.

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: Brilliant, savvy - a must-read!
Review: REAPER MAN is my introduction to Pratchett. Upon finishing it, I immediately ordered four more Pratchett novels. The man's a comic/cosmic genius. I had always been put off by what appeared to be the mass market packaging of his books. I thought he was just another pop fiction author. I couldn't have been more wrong. The usual comparison is to Douglas Adams, whom I also greatly admire, but I find that I respond even more viscerally to Pratchett.

It's not too difficult to figure out who the main character is in this book. But this Reaper has less to do with a Durer print than he does with the character as filtered through the mind set of Monty Python in THE MEANING OF LIFE. "Bill Door," the Reaper's flustered attempt at a moniker as he assumes his earthly identity, is one of the drollest, funniest comic characters in recent literature. He is a master of understatement. His deadpan delivery is spot on. The puns and the throwaway lines come fast and furious, throughout the book. Yet Pratchett also adds a sense of poignancy as the Reaper engages in a terrestrial romance with the somewhat addled, but strong willed Miss Flitworth. We come to care about what happens to them.

Pratchett does a masterful job of juggling several subplots, involving Wizards, a Wolfman and several other equally bizarre, but comical secondary characters. I couldn't describe all these plots and subplots coherently if I tried. Suffice it to say that what would dissolve into pure incoherence in a lesser writer's hands, holds up like juggled hourglasses in Pratchett's hands.

I had the impression that Pratchett couldn't be an important writer "and" be as prolific as he's been. Wrong. I've started several of his other books (THE COLOR OF MAGIC, THE LIGHT FANTASTIC, SMALL GODS and INTERESTING TIMES) and see that some of my favorite characters are included in other volumes. I can't wait to finish them! I definitely have to thank my Reviewer Friends for having urged me to check into Pratchett Land. As parallel universes go, Discworld can't be surpassed!

BEK

Rating:
Summary: It's a wonderful afterlife
Review: Death, the grim reaper, is tasked with harvesting people's souls after they have died. He has always existed beyond Time and beyond life. But he has angered the Great Ones, and now he has to share the same fate as those he reaps: he is dying. He decides to take a holiday in order to make the most of the limited time he has left. But without Death present to claim people when they move on, things are bound to go wrong as life energy builds up and wreaks havoc on Discworld. Windle Poons, the oldest wizard at Unseen University, finds that upon his death he has nowhere to go. So he returns to his body until he can finally pass on. In his quest to find Death, he finds life. "Reaper Man" alternates between two story lines: a mostly serious one about Death and a mostly whimsical one about Poons and his fellow wizards as they battle a new life form that threatens to take over the disc.

Although the character of Death was introduced in earlier Pratchett books, here he is fleshed out (if you will pardon the pun) into a fascinating character. He becomes a farm hand and switches to reaping crops instead of souls. He wrestles with the concept of saving a life instead of claiming one. He learns to get along with the townspeople and forms an interesting, and ultimately moving, relationship with Miss Flitworth, the elderly spinster who owns the farm. Now that he is faced with his own death, he begins to experience the vulnerabilities and emotions that other mortals face. I found Death to be a quite likable entity, and I think other readers will also.

The late Windle Poons evokes a lot of laughs as he tries to make his way in the world of the still living. He hooks up with a group of the Undead when he joins the Fresh Start Club, an organization that fights for equal rights for the deceased. The club members include a shy banshee, a reluctant vampire, a boogeyman, and a reverse werewolf. Poons, the wizards, the Undead, and a medium named Mrs. Cake are caught up in a funny and magically madcap race to save Discworld from a fate far worse than death.

As is usual in his books, Terry Pratchett includes wonderful nuggets of wisdom and philosophy scattered here and there between the laughs. Among the thought-provoking ideas he includes here are the relationship between belief and the object believed in, and the trolls' theory on why living things move backwards through time. He laments the intrusion of suburban sprawl and the proliferation of shopping malls. His characters ponder the meaning of life and death. This is not merely a story to race through and enjoy. It is a story to savor, and its ideas will stick with the reader long after the book is closed.

Eileen Rieback

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: Brilliant!
Review: This book got me hooked on the Discworld. Need more? The ideas of spreading cities, along with the wizards, Reg Shoe, and others make it hard to resist for any avid reader.

My only advice is to avoid it if you're short on money or don't have a library near you. With around 30 books in the series it can get pretty expensive =p