2008 Woodie Awards
Let's Get Ready to Giggle
Maureen Stemmle
Issue date: 11/10/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 2 next >
"If it was true that the act of observing changes the thing which is observed, it is even more true that it changes the observer."
Disc World is what would happen if Pierce Anthony and Kevin Smith decided to drunk together and pretend that they were J.R.R. Tolkien.
However, as is, Disc World is the rather twisted, satirical little brainchild of one Terry Pratchett. Disc World is the setting of so many of his books, including this week's topic, Soul Music. Terry Pratchett's style of writing is a lot like that of Pierce Anthony's Xanthe novels, if he decided to grow up. There are a lot of puns; A LOT of puns in his books but they are a bit more sophisticated than those of Mr. Anthony. You actually have to think about them a bit before the humor gets you. A delayed groan affect so to speak.
A perfect example lies in name of one of the key characters, Imp y Celyn, a rather gifted musician on his way to ... somewhere. (He does not quite know where yet). This name has a very definite meaning when translated from Imp's language. Celyn is a name for the Holly plant. Just leave the y the way it is. Imp is a word for new growth, like a shoot, or more appropriately a bud. Just think on that for a bit, on what his name translates to.
One of the main characters is named Susan. She goes to an all girls' preparatory school on Disc World. She has a rather interesting background, for she is, indirectly, an heir to Death. As in the understudy for the grim reaper. The only issue is that she does not know it. Similar to the character Bethany from the movie Dogma? God has ski ball, Death has meaning in existence. Each goes missing in search of their aim.
Susan, obsessed with the precise and logical, gets drawn into a job where what is logical and precise are meant to be manipulated, yet what rules that are there should, from Death's perspective, be followed strictly. A job meant for an immortal, temporarily filled by a teenage mortal girl. The only thing is that she has these strange dreams and can see things that should not be, things that no one else sees. For example, the woman who looked like a milkmaid, who stole the tooth out from under her dorm mate's pillow, or the rat with the cloak and scythe. Then one day she runs into Imp on the job.