Witches? Guess it must be nearly Hallowe'en then! (Maskerade - Terry Pratchett)

Name: SWSt

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Maskerade - Terry Pratchett
Date:	22/10/07 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilariously funny, good range of humour, consistently amusing

Disadvantages: Don't read it in public! Maybe just a *touch* too long

During the mid-90s, Terry Pratchett, already well-established with his Discworld series, hit a rich seam which, for me, yielded some of his best novels. Maskerade is one of the best of the best!

Set mostly in the Ankh Morpork Opera House, it sees those two meddlesome old witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg trying to recruit Agnes Nitt as the third witch in their coven, whilst also uncovering the mystery of The Phantom of the Opera.

And there, straight away, you can see the basic plot of the book. As with many other of his stories, Pratchett has taken a well known story, and done what he does best – turned it upside down and approached it from every angle except the one we are most familiar with!

Maskerade is probably one of the most consistently funny Discworld books. It’s not safe to read on trains or in public, as it will definitely have you laughing out loud! One of the strengths of the book is that it has a really broad-ranging sense of humour, taking in everything from slapstick style gags, ridiculous situations, through to clever wordplay, spoofs or recurring gags. Whatever your style of humour, you will find plenty within these pages to make you laugh, smile and at times snort!

The Discworld series is often at its best when it is spoofing something from the real world and showing how ludicrous things are. There are plenty of skits on opera (obviously), publishing and city life, but Pratchett has little digs at anything and everything. As such, even if you don’t get some of the references and in-jokes, you’ll get plenty of others. Better still, all these elements are integrated smoothly into the plot, so both plot and fun go hand in hand. Many comedy books pack much of the humour into the first part, before concentrating on plot in the second (indeed, this is true of some of the Discworld books). Maskerade is consistently funny throughout.

Pratchett is the master of the understatement and the cleverly worded gag, and never has this been more apparent than here. His underplayed delivery and deliberately slow build up (or repetition) of certain themes and jokes builds the anticipation and makes them all the funnier when finally delivered. Pratchett is clearly a man who knows about comic timing.

He’s aided in this by two of his funniest characters taking centre stage: Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, two interfering old busybodies who have a very skewed view of the world. It’s through the squabbling, bickering, misunderstandings and general misbehaviour of these two characters that much of the humour emerges. They have appeared in three previous Discworld novels, but have never been better than here. For me, much of the reason for that is they have been freed from the dulling influence of former third witch – the “wet hen” Magrat Garlick. Now, they are able to bicker and argue to their hearts content and make for much better characters.

The strength of Pratchett, though, is that however ludicrous and grotesque his characters seem, they are never unrealistic. Not only do they operate in a logical way within their own world, but they also seem familiar to us. OK, so we might not know any actual witches like this, but we all know interfering old busybodies who think they know what’s best for everyone! Equally, we all know a drama queen like Christine or a slightly odd, but somehow reliable person like Walter Plinge. As with his plots, Pratchett’s characters hold up a mirror and reflect back to us the more stupid side of human nature.

Another Pratchett strength is his support characters, which are fully rounded and play a real role in plot development, as well as adding to the humour themselves. Each of the support characters feels as real as the witches and again, this helps both to create a fully believable world and ensures everyone gets a chance to be funny. The tone of the book is very consistent and fun and you’ll quickly find yourself sucked into Ankh Morpork and loving every minute it.

Pratchett also has a very readable style which is immediately accessible and welcoming. Established readers of the Discworld will immediately feel comfortable and at home, whilst new readers will not take long to settle in. Although this is actually the fourth witches book, and you will benefit from having read the others, it’s still perfectly readable and enjoyable as a standalone story in its own right. Although (until recently) he has never written in chapters, Pratchett does write in small chunks, which aids readability. It’s a book where you will happily read large sections at once. Alternatively, if you don’t have time, you can simply pick it up, read a couple of sections and then put it down again. The perfect book!

The only downside I can think of is that, like many of Pratchett’s books, it is slightly overlong. This is partly because so many different plot strands and ideas have been introduced that it takes a while to wrap them all up. Having said that, you do feel that perhaps an extra 15-20 pages could have been shaved off the book without losing too much. Despite this, Maskerade continues to entertain right up to the end. If it’s a little overlong, this is easily forgivable, given how much enjoyment it has provided you with over the course of its 200+ pages.

Basic Information
------------------------
Maskerade
Ter ry Pratchett
Gollancz, 1995
ISBN: 978-0575058088

Maskerade is available from Amazon (used) from about 34p, so no excuses not to buy it!

© Copyright SWSt 2007

Summary: You might just die laughing!