The Lost Pratchett?? (Only You Can Save Mankind - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: Mitnik

Product:	Only You Can Save Mankind - Terry Pratchett
Date:	18/08/02 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Original, Inventive Plot. Even though it`s 10 years old., Gripping and Witty with a continuous readability

Disadvantages: None.

My Quest was to find a Book in the Sci-Fi Reviews section that hadn`t previously been rated that I`d actually read, Well imagine my shock when I came across this classic from The Master of all things wordly and disc shaped, Unrated and forgotten.. Huddled up in a corner, it`s cover ripped, the glowing aliens on the cover all but devoid of their glow.

So being the kind, book loving soul I am, I picked it up, lovingly restored the cover, and re-read it just to be sure that the story I remembered was indeed the story and not a cross-breed of the millions of stories I`ve read over the years.. (I swear, I have Bilbo Baggins listening to Zaphod Beeblebrox`s Poetry in my mind.. Which will probably explain a great deal to most folk..) Anyways, the book was as I remembered, and so I set out to put the record straight and review this "Lost Pratchett" for those unlucky few who might have missed it because of the lack of a review.

Okay, So Hands Up.. How many of you have played Space Invaders? Lots Of You.. Good.. Now, How many of you have felt sorry for the Aliens? Ahh, not so many.. So, what if I told you the Aliens are actually Real? Infact they are a race called the ScreeWee, and they`ve had enough. They no longer want to die. They Surrender. Well, That`s the entertaining plot that`ll meet you on opening this book. Only You Can Save Mankind is part of the "Johnny Maxwell" series of books aimed at younger kids, but just as much fun for adults too.

So what's Johnny to do? Aliens aren`t supposed to surrender, and computer Joysticks don`t have "Don`t Fire!" Buttons. After all it's only a game, isn`t it? It`s just a game? but apparently not, for when the ScreeWee die, they die (I`m going to save you from an excerpt from Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch here, but for those that think it would enhanced the reading of this review, please feel free to insert it for yourself, For those Women already sick of any Mo
nty Python Sketch, forget I mentioned it in the first place) So Johnny is asked to protect the ScreeWee but for even the best computer games wizard, it's hard enough to save Mankind from the invading hordes, but how do you go about saving the invading hordes from Mankind?

The Book now follows Johnny adventure with the ScreeWee from his initial strange dreams, making him doubt just how much of a game it all is, to his ultimate showdown with his Nemesis, battling for the Salvation of the ScreeWee,

So, that`s what the books all about, but how well does it convey it`s plot? Actually as you`d expect from Terry Pratchett, the characters are well defined. The plot still remains impresivelly original today (It`s was published 10 Years Ago!!) and the many thrills and spills, amuse and entertain with their comic witt and inventiveness. It's a light book, don`t expect too much deep investigation behind the plot, but this story really isn`t lacking from that, and I think a lot of it`s appeal could have been lost if it`d taken a deep route into the plot, but as it stands the story is highly entertaining and has a continuous readability, it took just a few hours to finish it upon picking it up again to re-read it before writting this review.

Summary: