Surprisingly, there are very few book reviews on this blog yet I read so many! These have included some by Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Ian Cummins and numerous others but I'll just review a couple of these books in this post.
1. Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels.
I'm just a couple of books from having the whole set. I re-read the ones I have in 2023. If you know and love Discworld, there is nothing I can add but, if you want to try a few, here is some useful information.
Death appears in many of the books. Obvious when you think about it, really. He is a weary old bag of bones with a strong sense of duty (well, except for that one time...) and has a grand-daughter Susan, a horse named Binky and a manservant, Albert. His speech is denoted in small capitals, such as I COULD MURDER A CURRY.
Lord Vetinari is a dictator although that seems a bit harsh, considering how well he runs the main city of Ankh-Morpork by keeping ahead of everone and everything. He is also in many of the books.
The Wizards of the Unseen University provide the mad-cap element and the Witches from varioius other regions of Discworld are generally practical and helpful within their communities. Rincewind is a failed wizard who travels throughout the Discworld and has many adventures, featuring in several of the books.
The Watch reports to Lord Vetinari, they are responsible for law enforcement and are, for the most part, let by Captain Vimes. There are also guilds who are allowed to control their own (otherwise unlawful) business within parameters set by Lord Vetinari; these includethe assassins guild, thieves guild, etc.. The Watch is featured in many of the Discworld stories, particularly those set in Ankh-Morpork.
Moist Von Lipwig is featured in three stories. He resurrected the Post Office, ran the bank and was instrumental in the Rail system.
Ankh-Morpork is a truly cosmopolitan city, home to humans, wizards (including one orang-utang), dwarfs, golems, trolls, at least one werewolf and a vampire - you name them, you'll find them there.
Gods have a following. Between them, they cover everything, including cutlery drawers, but are not usually significant in most of the stories.
There are many other characters popping up now and then and the themes of stories are parodies of the world we live in but with a quirky, humorous twist.
2. Neil Gaiman - Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) and a book of his short stories.
Perhaps you've watched Good Omens on TV? I had already read the original book and subsequently the script of the first story after the TV show. It was excellent. The sequel (without Pratchett) was not quite as captivating, in my opinion, as he seemed to have difficulty focusing on 'real' people rather than angels and demons. It left a cliff-hanger at the end which screamed, "There must be a Season 3" and, let's face it,we all want to see more of Crowley and Aziraphale.
Gaiman's book of short stories illustrates just how many weird ideas are floating around his head - not all happy thoughts, either. He's a good writer and, to be fair to him, I am not a fan of short stories, but if it's your way of escaping from your real life for a while, by all means give it a go.
3. Ian Cummins - The Wrong Briefcase, My Time Again, Social Murderer.
Three different novels, three different genres. Take your pick.
The Wrong Briefcase is like a TV drama in that it's about people who you may know through work, the local pub, parents at the school, neighbours, etc.. It focuses on two characters, each with their own story, totally unaware of each other. One is an ambitious man, Mark, whose personal life is changing; the other is James, a family man and our link to his father Harry's business. The story begins with Harry deciding to invest all his cash for his upcoming retirement to secure his and his wife's future - but he leaves the briefcase full of money in a taxi. The next person to use the taxi is Mark who picks up the briefcase, thinking it's his own, forgetting that he didn't have one with him that day. Harry turns to his son, James, to help find the briefcase but soon dies, leaving James to 'tidy up' his affairs. The book follows Mark with his new found wealth and James as their lives change but never cross. Of course, there's a good twist at the end.
My Time Again is about a man, Graham, who has lived for 70 years when he is transported overnight back to 1970, when he was starting at University in London. His body is now that of an 18 year old but his seventy years of memories are still in his mind. This leads him to make different choices second time around. The author uses real life events to guide the story along, with Graham occasionally trying to change outcomes. But what may happen when his seventieth birthday approaches again plays on his mind, and he is determined to unravel the mystery before it's too late.
Social Murderer is darker than the previous two books. Whilst murder-mysteries are the most popular of genres, I prefer less death and more feel-good. That said, however, it's a well thought through story of trying to identify the murderer before he continues his killing spree. Eventually, the detective finds out that victims are randomly chosen from their social media profiles - hence 'social murderer' - with the qualifying criteria being that their names that can be arranged in a specific pattern to solve a simple puzzle. The murderer has promised a huge reward for the first person who solves the puzzle. Will he/she be caught before the puzzle is finished and the prize claimed?
So that's it. You can buy Pratchett's and Gaiman's books practically anywhere; Ian Cummins' books are all available on Amazon books and Kindle.
P.S. I posted this book review years ago and can only remember the first and last books mentioned! Sadly, my Kindle is over ten years old and has stopped functioning.
