Book Review: Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

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Maskerade

Discworld #18, Witches #5

by Terry Pratchett

genre: fantasy, mystery

Summary from Goodreads

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, the Discworld’s greatest witches, are back for an innocent night at the opera. Naturally there’s going to be trouble, but at the same time there’ll be a good evening’s entertainment with murders that you can really hum to.

Book Review: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

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Guards! Guards!
Discworld #8

by Terry Pratchett

genre: fantasy, young adult

Summary from Goodreads

Here there be dragons . . . and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis (“noble dragon” for those who don’t understand italics) has appeared in Discworld’s greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all . . .).

Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, an ancient and long-forgotten volume–The Summoning of Dragons–is missing from the Library’s shelves. To the rescue come Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot, and the rest of the Night Watch who, along with other brave citizens, risk everything, including a good roasting, to dethrone the flying monarch and restore order to Ankh-Morpork (before it’s burned to a crisp). A rare tale, well done as only Terry Pratchett can.

Book Review: Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

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Monstrous Regiment

Discworld, #31
by Terry Pratchett

genre: fantasy, adventure, young adult

No damsels in distress here!  If you want a book with a strong female protagonist, this is a book for you.  This is very much a “one grain of rice may tip the scale” story.  I actually had a scene from Mulan playing in my head when Polly cut off her hair to join the army even though her reasons for doing so were a little different.

Summary

Borogravia doesn’t have scenic mountains or natural resources, they don’t even have a god who is all there in the head metaphysically speaking, but the people are proud that it’s theirs and they are willing to kill for it.  So willing that they’ve gone into war with almost, if not all, of their neighboring countries.  Everyone knows they’re losing, but no one is willing to say it.  Men come back missing body parts if they come back at all and the last of the recruits seem too young to have sprouted any facial hair.  Among them is Polly Perks, a plain girl who doesn’t need to do much more than cut her hair and stuff socks down her pants to pass for a boy.  She’s joining the Ins and Outs to find out what happened to her brother Paul, but the journey ends up being much more than a rescue mission as she learns not everything is as it seems.

Book Review: Eric by Terry Pratchett

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Eric
Discworld #9*
by Terry Pratchett

genre: fantasy

Eric is a fourteen year old demonologist who wants three things out of life: endless riches, the most beautiful woman in the world, oh and yeah- to rule the world.  What he gets is Rincewind, a wizard better at running away than granting wishes.  I’m always up for “be careful what you wish for” cautionary tales and this one did not disappoint.  It had me chuckling and turning pages wondering how they were going to get out of each new wish.  As the King of Hell puts it, “the whole point of the wish business was to see to it that what the client got was exactly what he asked for and exactly what he didn’t really want.” (location 583)

Eric has a few drops of very interesting wisdom like laughing at the world to keep from losing your mind.  Humans are more devious than demons as the demons take note from the humans on how to dethrone their leader and how best to torture people in Hell.  Inspiration from literature includes Homer’s Iliad and Dante’s Inferno.

It’s a cute, possibly young adult story and very quick to read.  I’ll read it again, but it didn’t blow me off my feet.

4 out of 5 stars

-Eliabeth Hawthorne

 *The Discworld series are all about the same world, but do not need to be read in order.

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Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

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