It has been an unfortunately ill few weeks so I am slightly behind on my posts! Hogfather is the last novel I’ve pulled off the shelf from this year’s designated ‘reading challenge‘. If you’ve been with me the entire year, I would just like to say well done and thank you for the patience you’ve given me while I’ve really been figuring out how it is I blog. It’s been an odd year and I have well and truly not read the 24 novels I intended to but I have read a great deal more than I anticipated.
So, the Hogfather. My copy of this has been kicking around the house for a long time. I’m sad to say that in my brief waltz with Pratchett when I was younger I started this but never finished it. But this time was very different and I am happy to say that recently I started rifling around in my favourite charity shops after the rogue Pratchett novels.
Hogfather – Terry Pratchett
I do love a little silliness in my day to day. I love a little mischief. I love Death roaming around the skies of the Discworld pretending to be the Hogfather.
Maybe I should explain if you aren’t familiar. The Discworld is a world hurtling through space on the back of a giant turtle. It is home to a vast array of peoples, wizards, vampires, fairies and of course include anthropomorphic personifications such as Death and the Toothfairy. Death is of course a very gravelly person, he is a walking skeleton with a big black cloak and tries very hard to understand what it is to be human.
The Hogfather is very much like Santa Clause, and Hogswatch, yes you guessed it, is very like Christmas. And for some terrible reason the Hogfather has gone missing on Hogswatch’s eve and to stop everybody noticing, Death is filling in with his trusty assistant Albert (who is assisting by drinking the Sherry and eating the pies).
Meanwhile a previously undiscovered bathroom has appeared in the Unseen University so naturally, the wizards are prodding around that while some very strange things are going on, such as an appearing Verruca Gnome. Mr. Teatime a paid assassin is doing something quite shady with a group of thugs in a very odd place. Susan, who as it happens is Death’s granddaughter, is dragged in because she is specifically told to stay out of it by Death. Which of course, never works.
Hogfather is a really good balance of storylines. It’s not exactly a quick read but it’s some stellar world building which keeps giving and for something to get you in the Christmas spirit I’d recommend it! Who doesn’t like a group of Carol Singers who will only NOT sing for money? Brilliant fun and I’m pretty sure I’ll read it again next year.
HO HO HO.
The Shelf Wanderer 