Isis Audio, read by Nigel Planer
Listened to: January, 2012 (at age 33)
Re-read, but this is the first time to it.
If you haven’t read it:
This is the 13th of 38 (at the
time of writing) Discworld novels. It’s
a self-contained book, and can be read without worrying about the rest.
From the back of the book (dead tree
edition):
In
the beginning was the Word. And the Word
was: “Hey, you!”
For
Brutha the novice is the Chosen One. He
wants peace and justice and brotherly love.
He
also wants the Inquisition to stop torturing him now, please…
My reactions (spoilers, but not many or important ones)
Overall:
The Discworld books are getting
better. This one was kind of an odd read
for me – I listened to bits and pieces over several months, and as a result, I
don’t have a really unified feel for it.
It started weak, and ended much better, mostly because Brutha, our hero,
became much more of a character as the book went on.
The jokes are much more subtle than in
previous books, and the whole has a much more serious tone. That’s fitting, I guess, because the main
villain in the book, in his role as “exquisitor” (the past-tense of inquisitor)
spends his time in charge of the torture-you-to-death arm of the Omnian
church. Not really light fare, and it’s
treated seriously (for the Discworld, of course. There’s still plenty of ridiculous and joking.
The beginning is slow, as we’re impressed
upon just how bad our bad guy is, and just how simple our good guy is, but it
takes off once they all get out of Omnia, and into Ephebe, the Discworld’s
version of Greece
The foil for Brutha is Om ,
his god. Incarnated into the shape of a
turtle, Om needs to keep Brutha alive so he
can survive as well, but with very little in the way of divine powers. It’s a fun mix.
At the end, I didn't think it was one of
the best Discworld books, but it wasn’t bad at all.
Rating: 3
Audiobook reader:
The audiobook reader was excellent in this
performance. I especially liked Om ’s voice, but they were all done well, and the reading
pace and emphasis were good.
Other Opinions:
After reading a bunch of reviews, I’m
starting to feel that I was just in a different mood than was needed to fully
appreciate the book. Perhaps I also needed more grounding in philosophy. I liked it, but I
didn't think it was fantastic. Others…
disagree. Often vehemently. All in favor of the book.
There are a whack of other reviews out
there. Here are a few I enjoyed reading.
Nice summary, positive.
Measured, but positive review.
Very positive review.
Another unabashedly positive review.
Wonderful review, highlighting many of the books best moments.
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