Book review: Pratchett Quadruple Feature

When I started this post, I thought it was just going to be a double feature: Feet of Clay and Unseen Academicals. Then I realized I hadn't yet talked about Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents or Carpe Jugulum. So strap yourselves in and let's go for a four-book ride on the back of the world turtle.

We begin with the one-off; that is, the one I can't tie readily to the other three. Amazing Maurice!

Brief synopsis: Maurice is a talking cat and a con-artist, who works with a bunch of talking rats who are in search of rat paradise. Or rat utopia. Or something. 

Briefer synopsis: Pratchett takes on the myth of the pied piper. 

Briefest synopsis: Cats and rats and death.

Sir Terry gives some advice: "A good plan isn’t one where someone wins, it’s where nobody thinks they’ve lost." He makes some snarky observations about cats: "I’M SURPRISED AT YOU, MAURICE. OF COURSE THERE ARE NO CAT GODS. THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH LIKE WORK." He defies germ theory: "Life’s bad enough as it is without having to worry about invisible things you can’t see!"

Battles are fought and lives are lost and people are freed, from their literal and metaphorical shackles. It's the whole Pratchett package.

***

Next, let's visit the witches, the watch, and the wizards. Of the three, the witches are my favorite, the watch next, and the wizards? Eh, they're alright. 

CJ has the redoubtable trio of Ogg, Weatherwax, and Nitt dealing with mind-altering vampires.

I just love their characterization and depth. Nanny is always ready with a smile and pick-me-up: "Oh, we’re always alright. You remember that. We happen to other people." Granny is always ready with a frown and some (not always nice) truth: "Don’t trust the cannibal just ‘cos he’s usin’ a knife and fork!" And Agnes is always plowing through some self-doubt and reminding us that we may not be born witches, but can become so. That even the most mousey can have some vim: "It was the sort of grin that Agnes supposed was called infectious but, then, so was measles."

Agnes ain't having with no jumped-up, mind-bending vampire. No matter how pretty he is.

CJ is where Ankh-Morpork's strategy breaks down - letting the siege-rs in doesn't work this time. It usually does. We see it play out countless times on the Disc. But that's why you need Granny, and Nanny and the whole witch crew. To stand at the boundaries between light and dark. To make hard decisions. To say, "No. We will not be bamboozled by your glamor. We will not hand ourselves over to you."

***

UA and FC both deal with creatures getting their "humanity" - because in the end, Terry believes in humanity. He believes that it's worth it. That humanity is something to strive for. This also crops up in The Next Generation, and exploring what it means to be human is one of my favorite things that sci-fi does. "The Measure of a Man," regarding Data's humanity, is quite possibly the best Trek episode; go forth to Netflix and behold your humanity!

Anyway.

FC deals with slavery and self-determination and responsibility and government. It is, admittedly, a bit heavy. But this line? This I wanted to shout from the rooftops, wonky capitalization and all: "In the Fyres of Struggle let us bake New Men, who Will Notte heed the Old Lies." Let us make new mistakes, not old ones. Let us learn.

UA is lighter, about football (soccer), Romeo and Juliet, and cooking. So much cooking. Cooking as therapy ("Nothing cleans stubborn stains like suppressed anger."), cooking as metaphor, cooking as safety. Food unlocks doors. Food unites. Food is life.

***

As I said before, I like the witches better than the wizards. However, both understand and respect the magic system of Discworld: don't use too much or you'll screw things up. I think that's why this series works so well as a fantasy series, or at least why I, a hater of fantasy, like it so much. Pratchett puts constraints on the world that make it NOT magical, or at least not overwhelmingly so. Then, what's left to deal in is the human stuff, the real stuff.

I don't read Discworld because I'm particularly into football, or the postal system, or dwarf battles, or the fashion industry. I read it because it teaches me about being human, about valuing being human. It teaches me to question, to explore, to not accept the surface version of the truth. It teaches me to stand up and shout when necessary, and to retreat when appropriate. It teaches me.

xo, 

Devo

Incidentally, if anybody wants to buy me this illustrated copy of Mort, I wouldn't say no.