Terry Pratchett - The Nation review

Summary: There is our multiverse. And there is a universe in that multiverse, not unlike our own. It too, has a solar system, and a Jupiter, and an Earth (with the Moon) and an England, which is pretty much an Empire at the point. It has a Newton and a Darwin and even a Royal Society. And it has its share of snotty bastard sailors and an Eastern Pellagic ocean with its share of freckles that our Earth forgot to make because there was too much going on with the big freckles. That earth decided to sneeze right about then, and it had an apocalypse. Not *the* Apocalhpse, mind, just an apocalypse. And that apocalypse left a not-yet-a-man Mau and a pettycoat-galore 13-year-old aristocrat girl Ermintrude, em, Daphne, that has an internal grandmother to get rid of on the island of the Nation al alone. And it is *not* a love story.

It would be a crime to call it witty. It is, but that is not the point. Neither is the point in the book being smart. It is, but in the non-smart, just wise Pratchett way. It is not written for its story, or smarts, or anything mundane like that. It is written for the message, and the message is clear... In a Pratchett kind of way.

This is one of the books you know you'd love to read to your children as a bed-time story, but know you'll never be able to - it would raise too many questions you'd really tire of answering all the time - but that is the point. So I think I'm going to read it to my kids anyway (when I have them). It is precicely the book's message - people must start questioning themselves about the universe again. Either that, or live in blissful ignorance that I see on the faces of so many of my students and classmates. Some of them just want to get finished with the class and move on. No teacher should have to endure that kind of thing. Curiosity should be the way of the student, not blind obedience and learning by heart. But, I'm trailing off. Let's get back to the book.

The language, too, is just beautiful. It is not marvellous. It is not shakespearean English. It is just beautifully woven into a flowing story that moves just at the right pace - slow enough that you have time to reflect, and quickly enough that it doesn't bore you.

It is full of truths, half-truths and observations about the world that make your sleepy inner-geek wake up and stand to attention. It speaks to your tired knowledge-hungry mind to go find answers to the difficult questions, like starting your *own* hypotheses on why we're here, was there a god, does that even matter and where you put your favorite munchies. It does not shed much light on the subject, as it should be. It is by no means a religious text, unless you are a convinced atheist. I can see this book planting the seed of doubt in any convinced believer, whether it is a follower of an actual religion or an anti-religion (ex. atheists). It even briefly mentions Dawkins, in a humorous way, which is not at all obtrusive.

All in all, I'd recommend it, especially if you have never read Pratchett before. It is a one-stop shop for his view of the world, where all magic is headology and all belief is just explanation, and sometimes explanations are meaningless and questions are the wrong ones. Where all people are just people and differences in character separate them way more than any cultural upbringing, skin color or even belief system. It can get pretty bloody for all the right reasons and pretty bad for all the wrong ones. Plus, I love the way he mixes the personal view of the world with the objective one, if that even exists.

In short, I think this book is awsome, you should go read it, and you should keep it on your bookshelf for your kids to read when the old sod has long since stopped appearing on headlines and your kids have a choice between this book and the Russian Folk Tales (which, too, I wholeheartedly recommend) because they don't want to go to sleep and they got banned off their computer for a week for not washing the dishes frequently enough.

Regards,

Gašper