Saturday, 20 March 2021 10:11 pm
Book Review: Thief of Time
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deckardcanineNo, not A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman; after The First Eagle, I never felt like trying another Leaphorn and Chee mystery. Instead, this is the 26th of 41 Discworld novels, from 2001, following shortly after The Fifth Elephant and shortly before the next on my shelf, Night Watch, without either one's focus on the Ankh-Morpork city watch.
Like so many things, time doesn't work the same way on the Discworld as it does in our reality. It can be transferred like a substance from one place to another, which is just what the History Monks make their business. It can also be trapped and effectively stopped for most purposes, apparently just by the operation of a clock with perfect accuracy. A little-known horde of legalistic spirits called Auditors hopes to have just that happen, with the unwitting help of timepiece-loving idiot savant Jeremy Clockson, because they consider people too chaotic. At the same time, Death decides to rally his fellow Horsemen for the Apocalypse, tho they're not as set on it as he is. (Either Terry Pratchett had a bigger part in the style of Good Omens than I realized, or Neil Gaiman left a mark on him.) Fortunately for the world as we know it, a handful of others can also resist the halt of time when it occurs a little past the halfway point.
As often happens, the Harper Collins back-cover summary is not ideal. It mentions only two major characters: Lu-Tze, a rule-breaking yet revered History Monk who opts to serve as a sweeper; and Lobsang Ludd, a novice with a record of impossible thefts that points to his adeptness at temporal manipulation. In addition to them and characters in my prior paragraph, we have Miss Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Death's adopted daughter, who uses her powers to be a teacher somewhat like a cross between Miss Frizzle and Mary Poppins, albeit more dour. From time to time, we hear from the Death of Rats, who sounds pretty cute to me but annoys Miss Susan greatly. Apart from Death, the only character I knew from another volume is Nanny Ogg, whose present relevance is strictly as a past midwife. Jeremy could not do his finest work without an Igor, and unlike in TFE, we become privy to Igor's thought processes. He is most suspicious of Lady LeJean, the disguised Auditor who hires him and Jeremy, but she's developing second thoughts herself.
Indeed, one of the running themes in ToT is that a human form has a strong influence on the entity within, affecting the Horsemen (including the secret fifth one) as much as the Auditors. Perhaps I should say that the story asserts that bodies in general practically have a life of their own, as evident when the repeatedly reborn History Monk abbot intersperses his sagacious adult sentences with infantile outbursts.
I have to say that this is the most bizarre Terry Pratchett work I've ever read. I could expect weirdness from a semi-comedic British time travel story, but even the episodes I've seen of Doctor Who don't match this level. On one hand, that makes the book a likely choice for the most creative and imaginative Discworld entry; OTOH, it's easily the most confusing to me so far, despite all the help from prior readings. I don't think any of the characters make sense of everything, and they give up on offering a theoretical explanation. Furthermore, none of the key characters are relatable; even the few who are fully human have extraordinary abilities and unorthodox mindsets.
In light of that, it figures that this would be where Pratchett pokes fun at Zen Buddhism. I'm kinda glad he didn't restrict his religious mockery to the Abrahamic faiths, tho some of the political incorrectness might not sit well with modern U.S. readers. In particular, a few pages have a bunch of pseudo-Chinese puns such as "the art of sna-fu."
One unique feature I vaguely appreciate is the use of "Tick" in between sections with different focuses -- while the clocks are still ticking, anyway. It adds a feeling of suspense, enhances the usual Discworld minimalist chapter-free divisions, and may help you pick a stopping point. I dunno; it worked for me.
Funny? A little. Exciting? Maybe. Broadening? Sure. It's hard to rank in comparison with other volumes when it's so strange. I might recommend it to Discworld veterans who want an intellectual challenge.
My next read is Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. You may question my decision to follow immediately with another brainy work whose cast I can hardly identify with, but at least I know that much going in. Besides, I was looking for another sci-fi on my shelf, and it's been longer since I read Dune than since I read Foundation and Empire.
Like so many things, time doesn't work the same way on the Discworld as it does in our reality. It can be transferred like a substance from one place to another, which is just what the History Monks make their business. It can also be trapped and effectively stopped for most purposes, apparently just by the operation of a clock with perfect accuracy. A little-known horde of legalistic spirits called Auditors hopes to have just that happen, with the unwitting help of timepiece-loving idiot savant Jeremy Clockson, because they consider people too chaotic. At the same time, Death decides to rally his fellow Horsemen for the Apocalypse, tho they're not as set on it as he is. (Either Terry Pratchett had a bigger part in the style of Good Omens than I realized, or Neil Gaiman left a mark on him.) Fortunately for the world as we know it, a handful of others can also resist the halt of time when it occurs a little past the halfway point.
As often happens, the Harper Collins back-cover summary is not ideal. It mentions only two major characters: Lu-Tze, a rule-breaking yet revered History Monk who opts to serve as a sweeper; and Lobsang Ludd, a novice with a record of impossible thefts that points to his adeptness at temporal manipulation. In addition to them and characters in my prior paragraph, we have Miss Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Death's adopted daughter, who uses her powers to be a teacher somewhat like a cross between Miss Frizzle and Mary Poppins, albeit more dour. From time to time, we hear from the Death of Rats, who sounds pretty cute to me but annoys Miss Susan greatly. Apart from Death, the only character I knew from another volume is Nanny Ogg, whose present relevance is strictly as a past midwife. Jeremy could not do his finest work without an Igor, and unlike in TFE, we become privy to Igor's thought processes. He is most suspicious of Lady LeJean, the disguised Auditor who hires him and Jeremy, but she's developing second thoughts herself.
Indeed, one of the running themes in ToT is that a human form has a strong influence on the entity within, affecting the Horsemen (including the secret fifth one) as much as the Auditors. Perhaps I should say that the story asserts that bodies in general practically have a life of their own, as evident when the repeatedly reborn History Monk abbot intersperses his sagacious adult sentences with infantile outbursts.
I have to say that this is the most bizarre Terry Pratchett work I've ever read. I could expect weirdness from a semi-comedic British time travel story, but even the episodes I've seen of Doctor Who don't match this level. On one hand, that makes the book a likely choice for the most creative and imaginative Discworld entry; OTOH, it's easily the most confusing to me so far, despite all the help from prior readings. I don't think any of the characters make sense of everything, and they give up on offering a theoretical explanation. Furthermore, none of the key characters are relatable; even the few who are fully human have extraordinary abilities and unorthodox mindsets.
In light of that, it figures that this would be where Pratchett pokes fun at Zen Buddhism. I'm kinda glad he didn't restrict his religious mockery to the Abrahamic faiths, tho some of the political incorrectness might not sit well with modern U.S. readers. In particular, a few pages have a bunch of pseudo-Chinese puns such as "the art of sna-fu."
One unique feature I vaguely appreciate is the use of "Tick" in between sections with different focuses -- while the clocks are still ticking, anyway. It adds a feeling of suspense, enhances the usual Discworld minimalist chapter-free divisions, and may help you pick a stopping point. I dunno; it worked for me.
Funny? A little. Exciting? Maybe. Broadening? Sure. It's hard to rank in comparison with other volumes when it's so strange. I might recommend it to Discworld veterans who want an intellectual challenge.
My next read is Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah. You may question my decision to follow immediately with another brainy work whose cast I can hardly identify with, but at least I know that much going in. Besides, I was looking for another sci-fi on my shelf, and it's been longer since I read Dune than since I read Foundation and Empire.