Roy Adams reviewed Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #11)
The interesting afterlife of Wizard Poons
5 stars
DEATH is still my favorite character.
Paperback, 320 pages
chinese language
Published by 河南文艺出版社.
本书是《新手死神五部曲》的第二本,讲述了我们看起来冷酷却想做人的死神终于拥有了一次做人的机会!死神化身农场帮工,负责收割小麦。死神在这个过程中感受生命,更加深刻地体会到了活着的快乐,生命怒放的姿态!一起狂欢吧!
DEATH is still my favorite character.
Yo!
Sometimes death becomes a man. Reaping the harvest. And sometimes existence prolongs when death gets out of job, allowing the span of someone's life, which is is only the core of somebody's real existence, to extend, allowing for more and more ripples.
Reaper Man was the first Discworld novel I ever read, and one of the ones I have read the most often, but I haven't read it since either my mother or Sir Pterry died.
It was good to read it again, after having known the grief of losing mom. Comforting. Such insight into death, and Death, and what it means to know that life has to come to an end. This remains one of my favorite Discworld Novels, and it is unquestionably one of the most profound.
But Terry always delivered even the hard lessons with a nice dose of laughter.
I read Reaper Man right after Mort, and was a little confused about the apparent lack of continuity. Where is Mort during all of this?
However taken as a stand alone, it was a very good story about Death, who never seems too happy about having to do his Duty. Understandably.
This was my introduction to the Auditors, which objected to Death developing a "personality". This seems like a fair point, as much as I dislike agreeing with the Auditors. The follow up to this premise is interesting and entertaining.
I enjoyed the subplot of Windle Poons and the effects of an uncontrolled life force, which was integral to the overarching storyline, not to mention amusing. However most of the other Wizards and the snowglobe storyline felt too disconnected and random, merely a vehicle for puns and jokes.
Bill Door's story is engaging, touching and my favourite part of this …
I read Reaper Man right after Mort, and was a little confused about the apparent lack of continuity. Where is Mort during all of this?
However taken as a stand alone, it was a very good story about Death, who never seems too happy about having to do his Duty. Understandably.
This was my introduction to the Auditors, which objected to Death developing a "personality". This seems like a fair point, as much as I dislike agreeing with the Auditors. The follow up to this premise is interesting and entertaining.
I enjoyed the subplot of Windle Poons and the effects of an uncontrolled life force, which was integral to the overarching storyline, not to mention amusing. However most of the other Wizards and the snowglobe storyline felt too disconnected and random, merely a vehicle for puns and jokes.
Bill Door's story is engaging, touching and my favourite part of this book.
A great story about death (the person), with unique and hilarious magic and people.
Not as fun as Mort, but still lots of great moments from Death, the has retired and decided to become a farmer. Leaving the world to get too full of life and dead people to wander in limbo.
Brilliant as Pratchett usually is!
I really enjoy this one.
This is a weird one. Something about Death geting fired, and snow globes that hatch into malls, which are actually predators that suck the life out of cities. Well, they actually hatch into shopping trolleys that build malls like bees build hives. Like I said, it's weird.
I've audio read this one back to back with Hogfather and it doesn't hold up my former 5 star rating. I guess it's due to the storylines being so similar. It was just too familiar how the life force creates embodied curses and the belief creates minor "gods".
Having said that, it's complaining on a high level, since I've read it for the fifth time now. So it's by no means anywhere near bad or mediocre or anything other than great on a normal reading scale. Just not Pratchett-perfect.
As usual, I enjoyed Death's plot more than the wizards, although Windle Poon was great. The shift between the two could have been better, although they were individually fun.
Death might lose some of his charm if he were the only focus of the book, but I would have preferred more of him and less Windle.
Read years ago, now revisited. Stunningly profound and at times wickedly funny.
Terry Pratchett's books are always fun and clever. The most hilarious scenes in Reaper Man involve the wizards, in their attempts to help their dead--or, undead- fellow wizard Windle Poons. Why? Because DEATH is being forced to retire, and there are immediate problems in Discworld without him. Not to worry, though, things always come right in the end, and Windle even makes some interesting friends and has the time of his life--or unlife. Whatever. Even DEATH get to live a little! And after the laughter, there is always a touch of wisdom.