Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett > Reviews

Advantages: Fun and enjoyable to read
Disadvantages: You may miss some of the jokes if this is the first discworld book you read.

...character from 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 ... Read review

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 ... Read review

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, ... Read review

Advantages: Fast paced, dual plotted parody.
Disadvantages: Settings a little sparse.

As Death stalks the seemingly endless corridor he sees the rows of timers with the sands of life essence slowly trickling away. Out of the corner of the void that is his eye socket he notices something he has never encountered before. A small golden timer with the sands of life essence flowing rapidly from the top to the bottom of its dual bulbs. On closer inspection he sees five letters discreetly, yet undeniably printed across the timer. Those letters ... Read review

Advantages: Very funny, classic moments, great characters
Disadvantages: Too short! Rather weak first half, picks up in second

Discworld is a place where myths are real, where people are… well, people… where anything can happen… and where Death exists as an anthropomorphic personality, complete with black robes, scythe, and TALKS LIKE THIS (so you can always tell from a quick glance at the page if Death is on it or not!). He has a thirst for new experiences though, so he does all sorts of things that anthropomorphic representations aren't really supposed to do. One of these ... Read review

Advantages: Blindingly funny this is a book I simply could not put down
Disadvantages: Should not be read by somebody new to the Discworld series of books as a lot of the humour could be lost

With Reaper Man Terry Pratchett takes his insane sense of humour one step further, he allows Death to take a holiday. This strange event is all triggered by Death realising that his life timer is running out. Having his mortality suddenly thrust on him he decides enough is enough and that he deserves a nice holiday after all the quality reaping he has performed over the eons of existence he has seen. There’s just one problem though, ... Read review

Advantages: Its a great laugh and relief from reality
Disadvantages: Its not the longest book in the world...

I have to say, I loved this book so forgive me if this appears to be a bit biased. This is the second book in the amazing Discworld series that features DEATH as a main character. The plot revolves around Death being made redundant from his current position, ie 'Being the Grim Reaper'. Temporarily, things stop dying which leads to a build up of life force, which in turn causes a whole cart load of mayhem. As the wizards sit at old Windle Poons' ... Read review

Advantages: Very funny book,
Disadvantages: aching sides before I was halfwat through

reaper Man" is the first Terry Pratchett book I read, and I have been hooked ever since. "Death is missing, presumed...er...gone." This is a quote from the book. Can you imagine what would happen if Death, The Grim Reaper, took a holiday? Chaos. With no one to collect all the souls, the dead don't know they are actually dead, so they just continue about their business. Reg Shoe, Dead Rights activist, is suddenly very busy. And Windle Poons, ... Read review

Advantages: its got death
Disadvantages: its a bit weird

Death takes a holiday! This is Terry Pratchett in fine form as usual. Death goes missing (well, kind of) and The Discworld is left to cope without him there to collect the dead. Basically we follow Windle Poons as he approaches death and how he copes with his afterlife and near death (or not very near death as the case may be) experience. We get to learn more about the undead (or the differently alive as Terry puts it) and we also get to see how ... Read review

Advantages: More Terry, and more DEATH
Disadvantages: Huh??!

Haven't written a review for a while, thought I had better come back! Anyway, what can I say. The books based around DEATH are by far the best in the Discworld series. Pratchett has attempted (and succeeded) in showing DEATH in a new light. DEATH makes mistakes, gets drunk and even saves lives! So, what is this book really about. The main premis is that DEATH gets tired of his job, and this is noted by the "Auditors". If you have even been ... Read review

Advantages: It's brilliant
Disadvantages: None

...the country, hence the title: Reaper Man. When in the country, Death, surely Pratchett's most ingenious character meets Miss Flitworth, who eventually helps him to prepare for the coming of the new Death- the Death of Humans. When he comes, you can almost feel the tingling emotion and pathos as all hiss emotions rise to the surface, and he aims his scythe into his midriff: pure drama. Death's characterisation is indicative of Pratchett's skill ... Read review

Advantages:
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Death finds out one day that he's suddenly mortal and that his sand is running out. So he leaves his job. This leads to very inconvenient situations in the world, as no one, or indeed, nothing, is dying. Enter the hero--Windle Poons is an ancient wizard who hasn't done anything worthwhile, or even useful, for a score of years. He dies but doesn't, and suddenly he has superhuman senses and is as strong as an ox. Death, meanwhile, has buggered off to ... Read review