![]() ![]() “But he just killed me! Strangled me with his bare hands!” Undershaft, the chorus director of the opera, suddenly discovers, in a sort of out-of-body way, that he’s been murdered and is now talking to Death: Since there is a killer loose in the opera house, there are a good number appearances of Death, a character, all skull and bones, who shows up in nearly every one of Pratchett’s Discworld books but rarely as often as in Maskerade.įor instance, Dr. The old terror of human impermanence - it doesn’t get more serious than that. It was the terror of impermanence, the knowledge that all this would pass away, that a beautiful voice or a wonderful figure was something whose arrival you couldn’t control and whose departure you couldn’t delay. It was one of the most ancient terrors, the one that meant that no sooner had mankind learned to walk on two legs than it dropped to its knees. It stalked the place like a great dark animal. (If this sounds like a take-off on the Phantom of the Opera story, it is - except, of course, for the witch part.)Īnyway, at one point, Granny is ruminating about opera as a performance is underway: Nitt, nee Agnes Nitt, a sister witch from Lancre who has come to the big city to become an opera star, and (b), incidentally, solve the mystery of a series of murders at the Opera House. Granny Weatherwax is at the at the Ankh-Morpork Opera House with her sidekick Nanny Ogg in order to (a) lure back Perdita X. He employed them to wrestle with the deepest human longings, dreads and values, such as in this scene from his 1995 Discworld novel Maskerade. Pratchett’s delightfully humorous and endlessly readable books weren’t only aimed at getting a laugh. Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.In his more than four dozen novels, Terry Pratchett was often silly, witty, wacky and goofy. You can read more book reviews or buy Maskerade by Terry Pratchett at. You can read more book reviews or buy Maskerade by Terry Pratchett at .uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free. Probably better read after a few of the other Discworld books (in particular those featuring the witches) but complete in itself nonetheless. This book didn't cause me to pause too often, but did provoke some questions about the nature of reality, and how much effort people are prepared to make to entertain or deceive an audience. So in addition to providing a bit of light relief, there's usually much to think about during and after reading one of his works. He has a great eye for detail and the ridiculous nature of much of daily life as we know it, and transports this loosely to the Discworld. His humour isn't for everyone: it's wry, ironic, and often requiring some knowledge of literary works. I don't usually laugh aloud with Pratchett, but I smiled several times while reading the book and even chuckled a couple of times. Oh, and an investigation of why the opera house, despite its success, seems to be losing money at a rapid rate. There's also the publication of Nanny's book of promiscuous recipes for which she hasn't received any royalties, and a great deal of general discussion about the opera - what is real, what is expected, what goes on behind the scenes. As ever, there are many intertwining sub-plots, the most encompassing of which is a kind of murder mystery at the opera house, loosely spoofing 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Of course that's only one small part of the book. She travels to Ankh Morpork to join the opera, and is followed shortly afterwards by Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, who hope to persuade her to return. It's a novel that features the witches, primarily Agnes Nitt, a rather well-built girl from Lancre who wants to be a singer. This is the 18th 'Discworld' book by Terry Pratchett, and one I thoroughly enjoyed both on first reading about seven years ago, and more recently. It also has something to say about the nature of reality and how far people will go to please an audience. ![]() Summary: Laugh aloud funny, Maskerade is a worthy contribution to the Discworld.
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