Hey Hivers & Bookworms,
I have been reading quite a bit this year, a long-lost hobby that I picked up quite aggressively again. I've also been meaning to mix up my blog a bit, need just posting about gaming and fitness for the longest time, so thought I would mix it up. Inspired by a few reviews I read on @steevc's blog, I thought I'd give my first book review a go... Here goes it.
A Closer Look At Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
Original Cover by terryprachett.com
The 11th book in Terry's Discworld series is filled with fantasy and humour and downright weirdness in true Pratchett style.
This is not a tale about love, loss or regret. But a story about all these things, essentially about learning to be human. Terry takes on a wacky and wonderful journey through the eyes of the Two main characters, Death ( as in the grim reaper), a Window Poons, the oldest Wizard in Ank Morpok, who is basically waiting to die.
Death has been around since the beginning of time, a supernatural being whose main purpose is to help souls move on to the afterlife. But the powers that be think Death is taking too much interest in humans and developing emotions. So they fire him and give him human qualities. He now has time in his existence, and time is running out. So he heads out to the real world to live amongst the humans. Still a bag of bones wrapped up in a robe; he heads to the Ramtops, the countryside of the Discworld. Humans don't seem to notice his odd appearance coz their tiny brains can't process things out of the ordinary. Death takes on the human alias Bill Door (just like our @bil.prag ), shacks up with an old spinster and becomes a farmer.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Discworld is going mental because people are supposed to die, but they are not. So they just keep on keeping on and become zombies and so on. Windle Poons is expected to die as all Wizards know when it's their time to go. After 130 years his ready to go, deaf as a doornail and as frail as you would expect someone to be if they survived so long. But to everyone's surprise, his clock just keeps ticking. The rest of the Wizards obviously try their best to get him to the other side, but nothing seems to work. It doesn't take Poons long to figure out his body is working way better as a zombie than as a live human. He can recall everything he ever read or experienced and is basically this vast being of knowledge and wisdom. He goes off on the adventure of a lifetime, trying to end the chaos on the disk.
I won't give away the whole story as it's a great read, and we watch windle and death experience life on the other side; Death as a human and Windle as a bit of a supernatural being. They all find their place in the world. Windle learns how it is to be different and faces some prejudice because his dead. We also see the view of how people tend to treat old people, even when they have quite a bit to offer. Meanwhile, Death is living his best life, being seen as just another human.
All is well till shit hits the fan and our two heroes have to roll up their sleeves and stop the disc from going to blazers.
All in all an excellent read; I gobbled it up in a few days. Thought-provoking and funny in a world that fuels your imagination.
Rating: 5/5⏳⏳⏳⏳
What did you think?
I hope you enjoyed the read. And I'm keen to hear your thoughts on the book. Even better, if you've read it before, tell me how much you loved it!
Much love from Sunny Cape Town,
@Mimismartypants
I always loved Terry Prachett because of his weird an unexpected comparisons and descriptions. His stories are really fun, but those comparisons and descriptions always crack me up. And Reper Man has a decent amount of them.
i took Making Money with me to Amsterdam, like maybe i will read it while in the train and waiting for it, but no :D
Our very own Bill Door makes an appearance on my post - I'm honoured! !LOL
Making money was one of my favourites, partly because it was the first book I read, partly because it was my first encounter with Moist Von Lipwig! And also the first book I read.
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(1/2)@bil.prag, I sent you an on behalf of @mimismartypants
I managed to only read 20 pages on a train station :) but from this quote it looks like it is a good one :)
In true Prachett fashion, things will get mental in a few chapters! 🙂
It is a while since I read this book, but I think I need to read the whole series again some time. My better half re-reads them a lot. Death features a lot in the books and is a great character. When I saw this post I thought of @bil.prag as he told me a while ago that his user name was influenced by this book. I got to meet him at Hivefest.
Nice review. I hope to see more from you.
!PIZZA
LOLs i had the same conversation with @bil.prag hence i mentioned him in the text.
Glad you enjoyed the review; it was fun to write. A break from the usual mundane stuffs. I think i will keep writing them. I haven't gotten through all of Pratchett's books yet, but last year I decided to start in order and read the ones i missed. This one was great, but my favourites are those featuring the watch and the witches!
!PIZZA
I think I have read just about all his books, including the non-Discworld ones. There is a biography of him that I may read too. I met him once at a convention many years ago.
Steeve! You are one lucky guy! You met the main dude himself! What was he like? I'm fan girling out here and have to stop myself from asking too many questions! And no I did not ask any of them in an a high pitched over excited time, lol.
I only had a few seconds with him when getting a book signed, but he was friendly to everyone. This was at a place that made pottery figurines of the characters and we were able to paint our own. That is the only such convention we have been to.
Still pretty cool. Books signed is an amazing plus! And you got a pic! So some fun memories! Maybe I'll get my turn in the next life!
Pratchett is such a clever and witty author; I want to love him more than I do. I recently tried my first Disc World series (Book 1) and couldn't last. Not sure why, everything should have ticked my boxes, but turns out I'm not getting on board with a flying turtle ;)
I'm not going to try and not sound like a fan girl here because I am. You know what, the first time I got handed one of these novels, I had the same reaction. I was told I would love it, and I was like meh when I started. Book gathered dust on my bookshelf for years. The second time another friend did the same thing, I was unemployed and had nothing better to do. So I went for it! Best decision ever. With his older books, he spends a good few chapters setting tone, and it's a whole new world, so lots to set. Push past the first three chapters, and I promise you to get better; when the stories tie into each other, and the pot goes mental, you will struggle to put it down. The colour of magic is also a two-part book, and Rincewind is a good character but not the best. I suggest starting with Guards! Guards! Guards! But give the whole book a chance, so you can like it as much as you should!
Also !PIZZA
Haven't read Reaperman in a looong time.
When I've finished moving I think I'll dig it out and go again
Glad I inspired you to dust off the old covers. I, too buy books I plan t read and never get there. Tis why I have taken to Ebooks. I read anytime, anywhere, even in the dark when I can't sleep. My bookshelf is still growing though. Probably because I have a problem! !PIZZA
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I think Nigel Planer read me this one. Coulda been the other guy. !PGM
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I never actually audio-booked Pratchett before! I usually do non-fiction in audiobooks. But it must have been magical. I started playing real Dhal in the car for the kid, and it's pretty fun. !PGM
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Prachett was a friggin genius... imho the discworld is times more intricate and creative then any LOTR could ever be.
It's awful to consider he started suffering from Alzheimer's before he passed.
Hey it's the Google eyes man! How you doing? I miss the Google eyes pics and the competition. I never had a chance to enter but always like the creative outputs!
LOTR has nothing on the Discworld! We lost him too soon. But he left us with soooo much! !LUV
yesss... it's me! Holdin up overe here. Life took some sudden twists and my time and attention were suddenly under very high demand... my dear @googlyprize competition kind of fell under the truck with all that but I just couldn't find the hours and passion to keep it running the way I had... I'm still safekeeping the prize funds, though. It'll be back in some form eventually.
It was kind of sad to see pretty much nobody posting #googlyeyes anymore after the contest ghosted the fam.
Oh wellll... these days a bit of daily @actifraenk spamming and taking care of the old @dustbunny, @cuddlekitten and @catnet bots is all I maintain on-chain.
@actifraenk sent you a friend request on actifit ages ago... do you still actifit? lemme check...
Well real life kind of trump's the blockchain life. I'm also quite busy so like having the no pressure blockchain life. Makes it more fun. I got tired of carrying my phone and pressure to post actifits that nobody reads. And the app just drains the battery on my phone. I post now and then but yeah. I'm doing a bit more Strava to hive. Coz it's easier posting my workout. Maybe I will post again and I'm just feeling meh about it.
Lol I'm gonna get some googly eye and start posting these. And actifits. Actigoogles lol. Will be a cool thing to do with the kid. She would love it!
I'll read them! But I can only make that a promise if you accept my actifit-based friend request... because then I'll get notifications and my lazy ass won't have to get up looking for the smarty pants.
I have a fan! Just one is enough for me lol. I also have a bunch of tokens I should burn for votes. The lack of acceptance is because i never really use the actifit frontend, but will login from my desktop later and accept. It's not you, it's me lol. !LUV
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yeah, those actifit friend requests get kinda lost, I know... the frontend and the app are a buggy mess, too... and then they want a 5% beneficiary share... ugh... I'm not sure why I am using it consistently, the gamification somehow triggers my OCD to get that 10k every day and diligently post my proof-of-actifitivity?!?
But it's also kind of nice to take those 30 minutes out of the evening to reflect on the day or the day before... maybe someone should build a clone called "reflectivity" and give it a mental health spin in place of the physical fitness aspects?!? hmmmmm...
Ironically I found one googly eye in a box I was deconstructing earlier. I think it's a sign! 👀
time for some #actigooglies ... or at least a one eyed googly cyclops ;)
I'd love to see that :P
Hahaha I'm going to do it. Looked through some of the old stuff and was a little inspired. This is a busy week ahead, working till Wednesday then we going on a roadtrip to a wedding. Will try and acquire a bag of googlyeyes between the madness otherwise next week for sure! I think the kid is gonna love this!
Wow
Please only boost new posts with Ecency Points
Thanks for the note I notice you guys keep refunding my points. Any material I could refer to on guidelines for boosting and promoting?
Thank you for the cuddles Kitty! !LUV
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Now you just being too cute! and I'm having conversations with a bot! LOL