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Reaper Man marks a bit of a watershed in the series as, although it is full of wizards and undead and animated compost heaps, it also contains a lot of thoughtful prose about fate, time, life and the erosion of community spirit due to out-of-town shopping centres. No, really.
The novel ... Read review
Death is missing - presumed... er... gone - which leads to the kind of chaos you always ... more
get when an important public service is withdrawn. Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There's a harvest to be gathered in...
Advantages: Humour, characterisation Disadvantages: The stuff about the shopping trolleys
...the literary.
Reaper Man marks a bit of a watershed in the series as, although it is full of wizards and undead and animated compost heaps, it also contains a lot of thoughtful prose about fate, time, life and the erosion of community spirit due to out-of-town shopping centres. No, really.
The novel is routinely described as 'one of the Death ones'. Death is probably Pratchett's most widely-known character, a seven foot ... ...Ankh-Morpork where, without the Grim Reaper around to guide them on their way, the souls of the recently departed are wandering the streets in a fairly bemused manner. Wizard Windle Poons is the main focus for this subplot, as he wanders the streets of Ankh-Morpork with the rest of Mrs Cake's undead chums. This choice of central character is yet another shift away from the fresh-faced young people that populate Pratchett's earlier work, as Poons ... more
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series started out as a collection of gosh-wow humourous adventures on a flat world carried through space on the back of elephants. As Pratchett has matured as a writer, the characters have grown deeper, the plots have grown stronger and the themes have started to verge on the literary.
Reaper Man marks a bit of a watershed in the series as, although it is full of wizards and undead and animated compost heaps, it also contains a lot of thoughtful prose about fate, time, life and the erosion of community spirit due to out-of-town shopping centres. No, really.
The novel is routinely described as 'one of the Death ones'. Death is probably Pratchett's most widely-known character, a seven foot skeleton with a scythe, black robes and a horse called Binky. He pops up in all the Discworld books, and even a few of Pratchett's other novels, and he always gets the best lines.
This kind of cameo character is all very well, but history shows us that a whole book / film of them can be wearing (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back anyone?). Luckily, even in novels where Death takes a central role, Pratchett keeps juggling the star of his show with a number of other characters.
Having been pressed into retirement by the Auditors of Reality, Death retreats to a remote farm to gather the harvest. Going by the alias of Bill Door, he forms a touching bond with Miss Flitworth, a lonely old farmer.
In the meantime, the 'wacky' quotient of the novel is fulfilled in Ankh-Morpork where, without the Grim Reaper around to guide them on their way, the souls of the recently departed are wandering the streets in a fairly bemused manner. Wizard Windle Poons is the main focus for this subplot, as he wanders the streets of Ankh-Morpork with the rest of Mrs Cake's undead chums. This choice of central character is yet another shift away from the fresh-faced young people that populate Pratchett's earlier work, as Poons is an ancient wizard who (now that he's dead) is articulate, intelligent and experienced.
As Bill Door struggles to adjust to mortality, and as the universe struggles to adjust to immortality, an apparently frivolous subplot about snow globes, shopping trolleys and baby cities keeps the faculty of Unseen University occupied. Following the introduction of Archchancellor Ridcully in Moving Pictures, Pratchett fleshes out a cast of wizards who will return time and time again. The sad fact, though, is that the Chair of Indefinite Studies and Lecturer in Recent Runes are largely indistinguishable, and it's the dialogue that zips between these characters that marks them out rather than their characterisation.
The stuff with the cuckoo city is a little bit deeper than it may appear on first reading, and at the time Reaper Man was published, concern about high streets vanishing under pressure from out of town superstores was front page stuff. But stripped of its topicality, this Discworld mall is a pretty toothless and, worse, unfunny diversion from the greater story happening out on Miss Flitworth's farm.
Repeating the central dilemna of Mort - that there is a set time for everyone to die and that to meddle with this could destroy the world - Bill Door is just getting used to his new life when a new Death arises to claim him.
The battle of the Deaths, most of which consists of a struggle to sharpen Bill Door's scythe to Death-like sharpness, loses the plot again a bit. The true strength of the novel lies in scenes where Death talks with a six year old girl outside a pub, and struggles to get in the harvest before the rains.
And just when it's all getting a bit silly and melodramatic, with the New Death proclaiming himself ruler of all and Old Death challenging Lord Azrael to win more Time, the closing sections of the book choose instead to focus on the personal rather than the cosmic, the way in which Death chooses to spend the last minutes of his time are affecting and just right.
If this was just a story about Ankh-Morpork getting a mall, and the undead community fighting for their rights, Reaper Man would be little more than a footnote in my collection.
As it is, however, with the brilliantly drawn relationship between Death and an old farmer, and highly-crafted scenes of witty dialogue, it remains one of my favourite Terry Pratchett novels, and a great introduction to Discworld as a whole, straddling the barrier between exuberant early material and the more mature work that was to come afterwards.
It costs about seven quid in paperpack, although mine was less than a fiver when I bought it about 15 years ago.
This time I’m armed. With Quotes.
“Reaper Man” is the tenth instalment of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld collection; if you haven’t read the previous nine, then don’t worry, you’ll be finding the time later. And then you’ll be searching for the next fifteen or so. And since the man is still not dead, you’ll find yourself as addicted as the rest of us in keeping up with the goings-on in a world not so much resembling the watched ball but the half-time ... ...the Pratchetts, but there have certainly been a few near scrapes. And anyway, there are surely worse ways to go than laughing your head off…
Death, it seems, has gone on strike. Lives are ending, but not going away. And, perhaps surprisingly given their experience, the Army can’t cover this one. It’s come as something of a surprise to the ancient wizard Windle Poons that the next world is in fact the same one, but with no automatic pilot. Once he’s ...
TallTone 20.12.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Advantages: DEATH. Who's afraid of a seven-foot skeleton with a scythe? Disadvantages: The 'other' plot strand, though funny, isn't quite as strong (to me, anyway).
...are two connected plots to Reaper Man, one involving DEATH and the other the wizards of the Unseen University, as well as various other assorted dead, undead and vaguely alive characters. And shopping trolleys. In the first, Reaper Man could alternatively be called Death Takes an Enforced Holiday. Cloaked figures, The Auditors, who disappear should they develop individual awareness are unhappy with DEATH. As an incarnation, he should also be devoid ... ...of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, Reaper Man is funny and satiric. The idea that shopping malls suck life out of towns and cities is not a new one. Pratchett voices our collective discomfort with the cost of conspicuous consumption that shopping malls and the other little conveniences of life (like shopping trolleys) provide. He even satirises mall music! However, the book has a serious side as well. I certainly chuckle at DEATH’s ...
mattygroves 12.07.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Advantages: Fun and enjoyable to read Disadvantages: You may miss some of the jokes if this is the first discworld book you read.
...The Truth). In Reaper Man there are two separate but linked plots, one involving death (perhaps predictably depicted as a skeleton) and the other involving the wizards from the unseen university (the discs premier school of magic) and the results of the absence of death. The character that features most strongly in Reaper Man is death, the book develops the character of death. Death is relieved of his duties because he develops a personality, which ... ...of reality. The only problem is that without death, souls are beginning to pile up with no one to usher them into the next world. Meanwhile after being given a life death takes binky and an incredibly sharp scythe in search of a job. He finally finds a job as a farm hand and "Bill Door" is the more life filled, but still skeletal incarnation of death. Death however does not have much time to enjoy his new life, as soon as the new death arrives the ...
Azurel 10.08.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Advantages: very funny, doesn't depend on parodying other bits of fiction Disadvantages: Part of a very long series.
How on earth am I going to convey enough about all the plots and characters in this novel without actualy typing in most of a book's worth of review? This is an excellent and very full book. I only hope I can do it some sort of justice. Pratchett's discworld series is now very long indeed. The seting is a fantasy world - The Discworld, a large disc supported by four elephants who stand on the back of a giant turtle. The place often bears an uncanny ... ...a strange resemblance to Shakespeare and a whole host of fantasy novels. (Pratchett having a distinct fondness for parody) Death has been a presence in the books since the very begining and has gradually become quite a presence. "Mort" is worth reading before you have a go at this one, and "Soul Music" has a lot of Death in it as well. They work fairly well out of order, so don't worry too much. The Plots: Death has been fired by the dull beings ...
Bryn_Pearson 29.10.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
Advantages: Funny in places Disadvantages: Over the top in places
...thought that I would give Reaper Man a try. In fact I have had this book finished for a week now and was stuck as how to review it, or what exactly I thought. So lets get on shall we?
PLOT
Death (in the form of the Grim Reaper) has been made redundant, he is old technology, and the cosmic forces want a new Death. Now Death himself is not so pleased about this event, but as part of his compensation and before death himself is reaped by his replacement, ... ...concept such as the Grim Reaper a rather endearing character is great and very novel. But the in my view the shopping trolley idea was not that amusing and I found this part of the book’s plot, disappointing and rather drifting.
MESSAGE
Does Pratchett have a social message? Well, yes I think he does, the redundancy of Death before the cosmic forces have made plans is rather socialist. Is this a swipe at large companies that make the work ...
KingHerrod 27.04.2001
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Advantages: Creative, fun, a real yet unreal work, a great escape Disadvantages: addictive, may drive you potty
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I started reading Discworld from the first book "Colour of Magic" through the series in order until I fell in love with "The Watch" and "DEATH". My favourite books in the series then have to be:
ReaperMan, the tenth book in TerryPratchett's Discworld series, is a classic, and one of Pratchett's best where Death goes AWOL. It's a moving story about my friend and soul catcher DEATH. This story made me fall in love with this character who seems not only free souls but have one of his own. Death discovers that he too can die (he found his own hourglass with time trickling) so he decides to live a little, get a job. But what happens to the dead without a death? Well you'll have to read to find out!
Guards! Guards! welcomes the City Watch and Corporate Carrot and a dragon (yes dragon). Someone has summoned a dragon and the watch ...
