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Title: Reaper Man |
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Review of Reaper Man
They say there are only two things you can count on ...
But that was before DEATH started pondering the existential. Of course, the last thing anyone needs is a squeamish Grim Reaper and soon his Discworld bosses have sent him off with best wishes and a well-earned gold watch. Now DEATH is having the time of his life, finding greener pastures where he can put his scythe to a whole new use.
But like every cutback in an important public service, DEATH's demise soon leads to chaos and unrest -- literally, for those whose time was supposed to be up, like Windle Poons. The oldest geezer in the entire faculty of Unseen University -- home of magic, wizardry, and big dinners -- Windle was looking forward to a wonderful afterlife, not this boring been-there-done-that routine. To get the fresh start he deserves, Windle and the rest of Ankh-Morpork's undead and underemployed set off to find DEATH and save the world for the living (and everybody else, of course).
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Comments for Reaper Man
- Posted on 2008-04-26
Book Eleven in the Discworld Series
Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and is one of the most popular authors writing today. He lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire and says he 'doesn't want to get a life, because it feels as though he's trying to lead three already'. He was appointed OBE in 1998. He is the author of the phenomenally successful Discworld series
There is just no other author about who writes like Terry Pratchett. His humour is second to none. There are one or two writers who are trying to get close to him, but failing miserably.
When the dustbin men or the bus driver's go on strike you know what chaos is caused to the infrastructure of society, so imagine what it must be like when Death goes missing, after all he is probably the Number One Public Service. For all his rough manner, Death is a likeable guy who will be sadly missed.
Death's disappearance is the key to all sort of mayhem and laughter on the Discworld as Terry Pratchett weaves his magic yet again. (Perhaps he went to the Unseen University as well). Anyone who has read a Discworld book will know what to expect in spades. Anyone who hasn't, you don't know what you are missing.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-04-11
Dead On
My second foray into Pratchett's nearly 40-some book Discworld series was just as satisfying as the first. Whereas the first time I read one of the author's more recent offerings "Going Postal" this time I tried something a little older with "Reaper Man." The tagline on the cover read "It's no fun when Death takes a holiday" which could be amended to add "--except for readers of this book."
As the title suggests, "Reaper Man" is about Death, both with a capital and lower-case D. Two stories run throughout the book, finally intersecting at the end. The first is about Death--the Grim Reaper in popular parlance--who is being retired by his masters because Death seems to be developing a personality. With typical bureaucratic foresight, Death's masters have no replacement lined up.
The impact of this is told through the story of 130-year-old wizard Windle Poons. After living a long, dull life at Unseen University, Windle is finally ready to go into the Great Beyond. He finally passes away at his retirement party, but soon finds one hitch: no one is there to collect his spirit. With nowhere else to go, Windle returns to his body and becomes a zombie. Not the mindless, shambling, brain-eating zombies of horror movie fame. Instead, Windle finds true mastery of his body for the first time, giving him super strength and super senses and probably a super odor from decay as well.
Meanwhile, Death decides to see the world and ends up in an out of the way mountain village where he goes to work for the ancient spinster Miss Flitworth doing--what else--harvesting with a scythe. For the first time Death discovers what it means to be alive, experiencing both the triumphs and tragedies of mortality.
Back in the metropolis of Ankh-Morpork, strange events are afoot. Without a Death, many other people are having the same trouble as Windle Poon, leading to disastrous consequences. Windle makes friends with a group of the undead that include a vampire, werewolf, and Bogeyman and finds himself at the epicenter of an invasion of snow globes that are the prelude to a far more dangerous enemy.
"Reaper Man" features more of Pratchett's wit and topical humor that make for an easy and fun read even if you're not really into fantasy--like myself. Really, if this book can't make you laugh then you need a funny bone transplant. Yet while it is humorous and fun, there's also a deepness and meaning to it all, which makes it a great book to read on multiple levels. If you can laugh and learn something that's the best of both worlds, right?
The last thirty pages or so of the book I thought were really excellent. It's the kind of ending that makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Finding an ending that powerful is pretty rare for me and so makes this book well worth reading.
Next up is "Guards! Guards!" The bar has been raised pretty high here.
That is all.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-12-16
Gonna die? Can't die? Don't let it get you down
Reaper Man is the 2nd Death story (after Mort), 10th novel overall, and one of the strongest so far in the Discworld series. Pratchett's unique talents are in full force with Death, an amazingly funny, amusing guy. Reaper Man gets off to a hilarious start with a new set of goofballs, agents of the god Azreal, informing Death that his turn is up. Apparently no matter the (near god-like) occupation or (multi-millennial) tenure, one can be fired and replaced. Such news is not simply a downer for Death; oh no, this unhappy event literally signals his death. For him to die, however, he has to first become alive. He wanders into a corn field and settles down for a day or few as a helping hand for a widow. Life, he finds, is more than he'd imagined. Doesn't take him long to decide that he isn't going to take death lying down.
While Death's learning a few of life's lessons, Discworld is suffering the consequences of his retirement. If a 130 year old wizard--such as the cranky old geezer Windle Poons--kicks off, and Death is not around to move him on, what happens? Zombiehood, that's what (turns out Windle isn't gonna take not dying lying down either). Discworld starts to fill up with extra life (or untended death, which is pretty much the same thing), and the results are a hoot. Some of the later half of Poons' story gets a bit disjointed and silly, but the surrounding cast, from the bumbling wizards to the mildly protesting undead, are well-fleshed out (in spirit, anyway) and laugh-out-loud funny.
The parallel story of Death stays focused and always engaging and funny. And Pratchett goes further with Reaper Man: the conclusion has real substance, providing serious insights with regard to human life and death. Reaper Man is very, very good. Highly recommended.
Score: 5 - Posted on 2007-09-03
Not Free SF Reader
After nicking the title of repo man, quite cleverly. Death is the star of this novel. The Auditors get a little unhappy with him and his increasing independence, which they see as a threat.
He ends up going to work on a farm, which is really pretty funny. When the whole Death role gets messed up, he has to fight to get his old job back.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2007-08-23
"Paper or Plastic?"
Imagine, for a second, this reviewer's bookshelves. Let your eye wander; there's the hardcovers, the Vonnegut collection, Asimov heaped carelessly near the top, next to a carelessly tossed collection of old batteries. And there's the Pratchett collection, book after book dealing with the delightfully organic and weird universe of the Discworld. All of the paperbacks are worn from use, but two stand out: Small Gods, which is waterlogged from being dropped in water, stained from coffee, and so helplessly battered that the front cover has fallen off, and Reaper Man, which isn't much better.
Reaper Man is obviously one of my favorite books in the Discworld trilogy. It was also the first: I randomly picked it up around the age of fifteen or so at an airport, because the cover intrigued me. (I possess what looks like th English version, with various characters parading across the cover on and around Death's horse: the black hardcover shown on Amazon looks nice, but the new bland paperbacks being issued now of this one are awful.) Suffice to say, I was immediately hooked, and what a book to start off with when it comes to an introduction to this series. It's held up well.
When we get down to the facts, this is a DEATH novel. In the Discworld, the reaper man has slowly become a full-fledged character, and because he's no longer just an abstract concept, he suddenly decides he doesn't want to do it anymore. (Existential psychosis: the bane of all thinking creatures.) Suffice to say, the powers that be are not happy, and they set out to make things right. Along the way, a recently deceased wizard who gets a second shot at life has to figure out, along with some very entertaining friends, on what exactly is happening with all this 'unreaped' life around...
This is primarily a book about redemption, the second chance, and what it means to be human. If you read this book and want to learn more about the character of death, here is his serial arc in terms of book titles, although, honestly, it's OK to start with Reaper Man:
ERIC , REAPER MAN , SOUL MUSIC , HOGFATHER
He also, of course, shows up quite regularly in other books as a special sort of cameo. Happy reading, I hope this review was helpful to you.
Score: 5