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Reaper Man: A Discworld Novel by: Terry Pratchett

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Rating: - Entertaining, but definitely a weaker effort in the series

The Auditors of Reality are unhappy with the Death of the Discworld, who has shown signs of individuality and - shudder - a personality. They decide to fire Death and recruit a replacement. Death accepts this decision stoically, and decides to spend his last few days of existence sampling life, adopting the alias of handyman Bill Door and going to work on a remote farm.

Unfortunately, Death's absence causes some anomalies. Windle Poons, the oldest wizard on the Disc, is upset to discover that, despite dying, he can't move on to the next life. As a result, he has to spend the interim as a zombie but, thankfully, he finds some help from Ankh-Morpork's resident undead rights movement. At the same time, an unusual plague of odd novelty items is afflicting the city. The wizards of Unseen University investigate and discover that something rather unusual is taking shape outside the city walls...

Reaper Man is, in the sometimes complicated hierarchy of Discworld novels, the second book to feature Death in a major role (following on from Mort and running ahead of Soul Music) and the first to feature the Unseen University wizards in a major role (although, confusingly, many of them appeared in a supporting capacity in Moving Pictures and the Librarian has been around since The Light Fantastic). Some of the City Watch (from Guards! Guards!) also crop up.

This slightly complicated arrangement probably adds to the schizophrenia of the novel. In all of the Discworld books prior to this, the storylines usually converge at the end and the story is usually quite focused. Reaper Man instead sprawls, with Death/Bill Door's adventures and the subplot of the wizards/Windle Poons not really gelling together. There is a vague link between them, but otherwise the two stories don't really intertwine, resulting in a rather disconnected feeling to the book. This is added to by the wizards stuff being quite funny and the Death stuff being quite serious (the advent of the Death of Rats aside).

Pratchett is also pursuing another satirical target here, following on from films in Moving Pictures and police procedurals in Guards! Guards! Unfortunately, the target is rather weak - Pratchett apparently doesn't like shopping malls, hates muzak and isn't keen on combine harvesters - and there's a distinctly half-hearted feeling to proceedings here. The book never really seems to come together and fire up like the best books in the series, despite many individually good moments and some funny lines. Ultimately this appears to be a case of Pratchett trying to be serious and even moving but also trying to throw some chaotic comedy into the mix as well, and it doesn't work. It's notable that when Pratchett separates the two out - as he does in the double-whammy of the more serious Small Gods and the funny Lords and Ladies - he does very well, but the mix here does not work as effectively.

Reaper Man (***) is readable and interesting, but definitely one of the less successful books in the series. It is available now in the UK and USA.

Rating: - Book Eleven in the Discworld Series

Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and is one of the most popular authors writing today. He lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire and says he 'doesn't want to get a life, because it feels as though he's trying to lead three already'. He was appointed OBE in 1998. He is the author of the phenomenally successful Discworld series

There is just no other author about who writes like Terry Pratchett. His humour is second to none. There are one or two writers who are trying to get close to him, but failing miserably.

When the dustbin men or the bus driver's go on strike you know what chaos is caused to the infrastructure of society, so imagine what it must be like when Death goes missing, after all he is probably the Number One Public Service. For all his rough manner, Death was a likeable guy who will be sadly missed.

Death's disappearance is the key to all sort of mayhem and laughter on the Discworld as Terry Pratchett weaves his magic yet again. (Perhaps he went to the Unseen University as well). Anyone who has read a Discworld book will know what to expect in spades. Anyone who hasn't, you don't know what you are missing.

Rating: - One plot shone like a diamond, the other sunk like lead

Reaper Man was the last Discworld novel I had left to read. I really want to say that it wasn't a let-down and that I thorougly enjoyed it, but that wouldn't be entirely true. The story has two, relatively-unassociated plot arcs, one which follows the trials of Death attempting to live as a mortal, and the other which tells of Ankh Morpork laying eggs that give rise to killer shopping trollies.

It was this latter story arc where my dissatisfaction fell. It started out interesting, and I was anticipating the chaos that would ensure when the undead took over the streets of Ankh Morpork. I thought the mysteriously-appearing snow-globes were going to be some sort of 'lifetimes' for the people who weren't dying, and that Poons and the Fresh Start club would have to retrieve every globe in the city to end the chaos. And I really wish this (or something along these lines) had have happened, because I believe it would have had funnier, more far-reaching consequences than the absurdity that was about to unfold. Killer shopping trollies and a giant organic shopping-mall thing??? Not funny, not plausable for the Discworld, NOT ENTERTAINING. Other instances where chaos had fallen on the city (eg. the events of Sourcery, Moving Pictures, Soul Music, and fires and civil wars) have been alluded to again in later books, but not so in this case and with good reason.

Next time I read Reaper Man I will probably skip the chapters with this story arc, which is a shame because TP introduces some great new characters here; namely, the members of the Fresh Start club and Mrs Cake and her daughter. It would be nice to see more of these characters in future stories because I believe they have some great potential. It's just the plot they found themselves in that stunk.

You might be wondering why I gave it 4 starts, after all this complaining I've just done. The reason is because of the OTHER story that gets told: that of Death and his relationship with Miss Flitworth. I think it's the most becautiful story Pratchett has ever written. Simple, but extremely dignified. You know how it will ultimately end, but Pratchett weaves a masterpeace that you can not stop reading. It is a fablel with a hundred simple messages, yet it is also a story of unfathomable depth. It more than makes up for events set in Ankh Morpork.

So for any other TP fans out there who haven't yet read Reaper Man, I suggest you go for it. Just be prepared for the Windle Poons plot to fizzle out. And read this book sooner than later, because the Death storyline introduces some of the concepts of later novels, such as the Dark Morris dance that the recent 'Wintersmith' revolves around, and the introduction of the Death of Rats, who appears in all later Death novels.

Rating: - Au Lait ?

"Reaper Man" is the tenth book in Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld series. He has gone on to win the Carnegie Medal for "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" and was awarded the OBE in 1998.

Death - tall guy, somewhat underfed, big grin, wears a black robe - appears in more Discworld books than any other character. However, "Reaper Man" is only the second - after "Mort" - where his appearance in anything other than a very brief cameo. Unfortunately, if the Auditors have anything to do with it, it'll also be his last appearance, Since his personality has led to certain 'irregularities', they've decided he should be retired. Unfortunately, one of the side-effects of his retirement will lead to Death's death. However, in the time that he has left, Death packs his belongings and decides to live : he begins by taking a job as a farmhand at harvest-time. Luckily, he has some experience with a scythe....

Death never actually did the killing himself - he left that to assassins and soldiers, for example - he just took over when people died. His retirement has now caused certain complications : since no suitable replacement has yet been brought into existance, the dead aren't quite...staying deceased. Up until this point, one of the perks of being a wizard was that Death himself - and not one of his minor demons - turned up to usher you into the next life. Unfortunately, when Death fails to arrive for Windle Poons, the Unseen University's oldest wizard has nowhere else to go but back to his old body. Windle isn't impressed : he'd planned for reincarnation, not an afterlife as a zombie. With the help of the Fresh Start Club (for the recently undead), he intends to find out what's happening...though with his former colleagues at the University assisting, he might just die trying.

Despite his profession, Death is one of the funniest characters on the Discworld - nobody does deadpan (boom boom) quite like him ! As the second book to give him a starring role, it may prove a slight advantage to have "Mort" - which is also very funny. However, even if you've never read anything by Pratchett before, you should still enjoy "Reaper Man". Very highly recommended.

Rating: - Reaper Man review.

Reaper Man is an intriguing page turner.In Reaper Man Death is missing,presumed dead,and Windle Poons,a recently deceased wizard,along with his rather scary bunch of undead have to find him before the new Death arrives.Meanwhile,over in Quirm Miss Flitworth has found a new person to work on the farm who is very good with a scythe!If you like sci-fi or fantasy then read Terry Prattchett's discworld series.If you enjoy this book then try books 4,16,20 and 26.

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