10. Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man
I needed something light and funny as I pack up all that's around me. Pratchett always seems to fill this niche.
The "powers that be" don't like the fact that DEATH is developing a personality, so he is fired from his job and in the process discovers that he too will die now. With this revelation, DEATH decides that he wants to "live" so he goes out into the world and becomes a day laborer on a farm, harvesting the corn with his scythe. What the "powers that be" don't realize is that there are serious repercussions. All of a sudden, those who die have no where to go. There is no DEATH to bring them to the hereafter so the space between here and there becomes overcrowded with spirits and a huge backlog of life force starts screwing up life down on Discworld.
One of the first to be affected by DEATH's leave is a 130 year old wizard named Windle Poons. The poor chap was happy to finally die and be reborn. However, when he did die, there was nobody there to help him with the changeover. Since there was nothing for him to do, he returned to his body and became a zombie. It's up to him, Reg Shoe (Ankh-Morpork's leading undead civil rights activist), Lupine (a wereman - a wolf that turns into a werewolf at the full moon), a shy banshee (who leaves notes under doors reading "OOOOOeeeeeeOOOOOOeeeeee" instead of shrieking when someone is about to die), and an agoraphobic boogeyman to save Ankh-Morpork from this overflooding of life force. It's up to them because the wizards from Unseen University are about as baffled as everybody else is with all the weird changes taking place in the city.
Also, with DEATH gone, new forms of death incarnate are popping up all over the place: the Death of Rats, the Death of Spiders, the Death of Flowers, etc. However, because the human perception of what death is is so complicated, the Death of Humans doesn't form, which leads to the overcrowding. What was really interesting with this was the Death of Rats, who is the most developed character of all the Deaths (except for DEATH himself). I can just imagine a little rat, clothed in a black robe holding a scythe going SQUEAK (DEATH always talks in capitals).
Very humorous book yet again. I truly enjoy reading about DEATH and his exploits. It is one of Pratchett's best developed characters. The storyline is classic Pratchett as well. I mean, come on...who else would come up with the ideas of a shy banshee and an agoraphobic boogeyman. LOL I highly recommend this one.
The "powers that be" don't like the fact that DEATH is developing a personality, so he is fired from his job and in the process discovers that he too will die now. With this revelation, DEATH decides that he wants to "live" so he goes out into the world and becomes a day laborer on a farm, harvesting the corn with his scythe. What the "powers that be" don't realize is that there are serious repercussions. All of a sudden, those who die have no where to go. There is no DEATH to bring them to the hereafter so the space between here and there becomes overcrowded with spirits and a huge backlog of life force starts screwing up life down on Discworld.
One of the first to be affected by DEATH's leave is a 130 year old wizard named Windle Poons. The poor chap was happy to finally die and be reborn. However, when he did die, there was nobody there to help him with the changeover. Since there was nothing for him to do, he returned to his body and became a zombie. It's up to him, Reg Shoe (Ankh-Morpork's leading undead civil rights activist), Lupine (a wereman - a wolf that turns into a werewolf at the full moon), a shy banshee (who leaves notes under doors reading "OOOOOeeeeeeOOOOOOeeeeee" instead of shrieking when someone is about to die), and an agoraphobic boogeyman to save Ankh-Morpork from this overflooding of life force. It's up to them because the wizards from Unseen University are about as baffled as everybody else is with all the weird changes taking place in the city.
Also, with DEATH gone, new forms of death incarnate are popping up all over the place: the Death of Rats, the Death of Spiders, the Death of Flowers, etc. However, because the human perception of what death is is so complicated, the Death of Humans doesn't form, which leads to the overcrowding. What was really interesting with this was the Death of Rats, who is the most developed character of all the Deaths (except for DEATH himself). I can just imagine a little rat, clothed in a black robe holding a scythe going SQUEAK (DEATH always talks in capitals).
Very humorous book yet again. I truly enjoy reading about DEATH and his exploits. It is one of Pratchett's best developed characters. The storyline is classic Pratchett as well. I mean, come on...who else would come up with the ideas of a shy banshee and an agoraphobic boogeyman. LOL I highly recommend this one.
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