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Summary: The Bromeliad Trilogy
Review: An amazing book! Makes you wonder (and laugh) at nearly everything you know and do. Buy it, then loan it to a friend.
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Summary: A very enjoyable read
Review: Besides being wonderful and exciting books, they also contain extremely interesting insights on religion and tradition. It shows that one persons idea of a clear, straightforward, and logical idea can seem like absolute tripe one who is a zealot of another. Also, the channel works both ways-something more religious, hate-filled zealots should realize. Possibly, that's why some people dilike the book-it makes them think too much on a subconcious level. This book has other, smaller insights, and, of course, a very humorus and addictive plot. One of Pratchetts finests.
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Summary: Just discovered
Review: I've just discovered Terry Pratchett's works and boy am I mad! Where has this author been? Why did I not know about these great books before now? Great, now I've got to spend the next six months reading and re-reading everything T. Pratchett has written just to get caught up. Would somebody please tell the people who run the bestseller lists about this author so they get their rightful place at the top of the lists? Thank you! Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood--A Tour of Southern Homes and Gardens. Very funny and disturbing but with great imagination like Pratchett.
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Summary: The Cutest Trilogy
Review: I've never read any other Terry Pratchett novels apart from these. They don't take place in Pratchett's discworld so it's accessible to anyone not familiar with it (like me). Truckers is the story is of a huge bunch of Nomes who live in a massive Department Store called Arnold Bros (est 1905). They have lived there so long that they have forgotten what came before. They have no idea how the human world works and their mysterious talking box only gives them the slightest of clues. But they usually misinterpret what it says. For example, the store often has a mammoth sale, even tho there are no mammoths for sale. After receiving the horrible info that the store will be demolished the Nomes hatch a daring plan to escape in one of the delivery vans. Diggers (a rather Christmassy story) picks up as soon as the Nomes stop their truck and make a new home in an abandoned quarry. But as soon as they settle in word has it that the quarry is to be re-opened (by order). Their talking box speaks of a spaceship orbiting the earth for thousands of years apparently awaiting their return. So some of them take-off for Florida to stowaway on a shuttle launch while the rest plan an escape in an old Digger (jekub). Wings is not so much a sequel as it is 'what happened elsewhere during Diggers'. It's the most interesting of all three as it has the most story. The Nomes' plan is so far-fetched and impossible that it's so funny to see it actually work. I really like these stories and perhaps some day I'll start reading the discworld series. But this is fine introduction to the writing of Terry Pratchett.
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Summary: Hurray for Mr. Pratchett!
Review: It is a rare person that could avoid enjoyment of Mr. Pratchett's work.
Here, he sends up - gently, and with something very like fondness - those of us with Religious or Scientific leanings. He makes a direct hit on the conflict between those ludicrous extremes.
We laugh as he points and giggles, and are delighted. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Warning! Subverts innocent children!
Review: Pratchett's subtle dismantling of treasured beliefs is nowhere better displayed than in this trilogy. Relating three epic journeys, he follows a small group of small people emigrating from their ancestral home in the country. The chips aren't down, but there aren't enough in the truck stop's trash bin. And there aren't any more rats. These little people, the nomes, must find a new home. Snatching a ride on a lorry, they find one. It's a department Store, Arnold Bros, [est 1905], inhabited by thousands more nomes. Divided into family clans, the nomes of The Store believe it to be the entire universe. Masklin and his little group, therefore, cannot exist! They're from Outside - beyond the universe.
Their universe, however, is threatened by something worse than "Fire Sale" or "Final Clearance". There's a demolition order issued and "Everything Must Go!" For real. Masklin, who led his little tribe in from Outside, must now lead them and thousands of others back there. The escape from The Store - the abandonment of a known universe - is traumatic. It's also a side-splitter. Just how do 10 cm "people" arrange to drive their own lorry? "Let's have a bit of fast, down there!" doesn't start to convey Pratchett's descriptive powers. Nor the clashes of personalities involved in steering, signalling and achieving "Lots and lots of stop!" The stopping results in the nome community taking up residence in a rural quarry.
The exodus of the nomes from the universe of The Store to a promised land Outside generates a whole range of new problems. Not the least of which is the knowledge that this isn't the end of the journey. Masklin possesses a small "black box" which imparts arcane information about what this "Moses" of nomes must do to return his people to their real home. It's going to take more than nicking a store lorry. They must travel further - to a place called "Florida" - then into Outer Space. It will require planning, daring and ingenuity, but one nome is up to the task. Masklin's sense of purpose would shame a missionary. Yet, even in the face of incredible dangers and novelty, some nomes have to be restrained in their eagerness to explore new universes. Others, of course, hang back in the security of what's known - even when that foundation changes.
Throughout these stories, the implications of scale are paramount. How readily would you perceive 10 cm high "people" scurrying about beneath your feet? If you were that tall, how would you perceive the universe? Gurder, the young Abbott, manages to come to grips with the existence of Outside the Store. But leaving it doesn't mean abandoning Arnold Bros [est. 1905]. He insists that Arnold Bros [est. 1905] is present everywhere, and all the time. With each new reality, Gurder is able to adjust his frame of reference. Sound familiar? At the other end of the scale, Pratchett introduces us to the Amazonian Tree Frog. These tiny creatures inhabit the flowers of the "bromeliads" - plants living in trees instead of the ground. Their universe is one blossom - until one peers over the edge.
Take up this trilogy and peer over the edge. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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Summary: The Bromeliad Trilogy
Review: Terry Pratchett has formally been know to write about rodents but is now writing about Nome's in this fantastic fantasy called The Bromeliad Trilogy. When Masklin ( a young Nome) decides to move his clan of Nome's to a better place because there are getting to be too many dangers where he lives the story gets started. Soon Masklin and his clan find themselves being whisked away all over the place always being guided by a mysterious black cube they call "The Thing". Over the course of the story you will see inside the characters and will feel like you are thrown into the story as rolls along. This is a must for you who always ask "what is going to happen next"
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Summary: A modern British Kid's-Level Fantasy
Review: Terry Pratchett has written a few good kid's books, and this is one of them. Written at about the 6th grade level, I'd rate it equal or better that the Harry Potter or Limony Snickett books. The only flaw is the occasional British reference or term. Most US kids don't know a lorry and a truck are the same thing. I'd say it gives them some early insight into the minor differences in our cultures.
A good read for a 6th to 8th grader, but far too shallow for the average adult.
Rating:
Summary: A modern British Kid's-Level Fantasy
Review: Terry Pratchett has written a few good kid's books, and this is one of them. Written at about the 6th grade level, I'd rate it equal or better that the Harry Potter or Limony Snickett books. The only flaw is the occasional British reference or term. Most US kids don't know a lorry and a truck are the same thing. I'd say it gives them some early insight into the minor differences in our cultures.
A good read for a 6th to 8th grader, but far too shallow for the average adult.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious trilogy
Review: Terry Pratchett reached prominence with the hit Discworld series. Since that series has a flat planet on the back of a turtle, it stands to reason that Pratchett can make almost any unlikely plot work. In this case, he mixes scifi and fantasy with a healthy dose of satire in the Bromeliad Trilogy. In "Truckers," a small band of tiny nomes, led by the desperate Masklin, have nearly been killed off by the rough life on city streets. But then they find themselves in the vast Store (also called Arnold Bros, est. 1905) where there are even more nomes -- nomes who think that Outside is a legend. But they're about to have a rude awakning -- in less than a month, the store will be demolished. And if the nomes don't get away quickly, they'll be wiped out too. "Diggers" picks up the tale of the nomes after they escape the doomed Store. They take up resident in an abandoned quarry and start to make new lives there. But when the quarry is set to be reopened, a new, long-term plan must be made -- they must get the Thing (a little talking black box) back to the ship that brought them to Earth in the first place! "Wings" is a parallel tale to "Diggers," as Masklin struggles to get the Thing back to their ancient ship. To do that, the Thing says, it needs to go to Florida. Masklin and his friends haven't got the faintest idea where Florida is or how to get there. But to save their tiny race, Masklin will venture into the unknown -- a huge flying truck called a Concorde. But will they be successful in finding the ship? A civilization of tiny people living in a department store sounds like the dorkier juvenile fantasy stories, but Terry Pratchett's unique spin makes it thoroughly entertaining. He sprinkles the books with Bible-like quotations ("And Arnold Bros (est. 1905) said, Let there be Signs, so that all within shall know the proper running of the Store"), and plenty of humor ("You may be interested to know that we've just broken the sound barrier!" "All right, own up. Who broke it?"). He also provides us with the Thing (a computer), which tends to be a bit more human in outlook than the nomes. While "Wings" has somewhat less tension (because we KNOW what's going to happen), it's fun to see the highly improbable schemes of the nomes being put into action. They're so innocent and pleasant that it's impossible not to root for them. Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy isn't as complicated or strange as his other works, but it is immensely funny and very well-written. Recommended for kids and adults alike.
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