Review: Reaper Man

DEATH has dutifully done his job for ages but the powers at be have told DEATH that he is now surplus to requirements. They thanked him, gave him severance pay (his horse Binky) and left him with 'time' of his own. However, when you have 'time', it can run out.

Pratchett is another one of those well-known established authors that I am reviewing. I read his Colour of Magic book last year and sad to say that I didn't really enjoy it. I didn't really get it. I subsequently read Good Omens and two of his YA books, 'Only you can save mankind', 'Johnny and the Dead.' 

I always give authors a second chance and so I picked up Reaper Man. I found Reaper Man much more to my liking. It was much more humorous and the characters gave Pratchett more freedom for his satire. The story is shared among two main characters, DEATH and a wizard called Windle Poons. Much like Colour of Magic, I just didn't really like the wizard characters, but to contrast this I really liked DEATH and the characters that were around DEATH. It was well done how Pratchett moulded DEATH, giving him a more human persona and you really felt his (DEATH) awkwardness of adapting to having 'time'.

Picking up one of Pratchett's discworld novels can be much of a lottery (if you haven't read any before) because they contain different characters and not all characters are created equal.

If you haven't read Pratchett before, I suggest you research a tiny bit before picking up one of his discworld books. I have heard that books containing the city guards are the best and I myself might have to pick up another discworld book. Go on....take the gamble and have some laughs!

Review: Good Omens

What do you get when you get an Angel that thinks heaven is boring? How about a demon that will rather live on earth than destroy it? Now just imagine that the apocalypse is about to come about and this Angel and Demon will do anything to prevent the apocalypse from happening. It sounds like fantasy meets mad magazine and that is exactly what has been produced by Terry Pratchett (discworld) and Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, Stardust). 

I felt that the book diversified too much character-wise. I would have been much happier and more entranced if they had kept to two main characters with a splash of minor characters; instead we have a book with about 4-5 main characters with a splash of minor characters, too much for a one off book. However there have been many times when I have literally laughed out and loud because the satirical genius that is Pratchett does shine in this book even if it is a collboration with Gaiman. Perhaps Pratchett had too much influcence in this book because it was written in 1990 before Gaiman had any stand out novels printed (only his Sandman work was of any worthy note at this time) because I couldn't really sense Gaiman in this book. I felt that I could really feel this book influencing his American God's book and in a sense AG was a better unfunnier version of Good Omens. An enjoyable funny read but perhaps my tastes are more focused towards fine tuned storyline rather than aimless funny story.