Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Book Review: *Strata* by Terry Pratchett

Book: Strata

Author: Terry Pratchett

Goodreads rating: 3

Strata is interesting for a few reasons: 1) the proto-Discworld and prototypical Pratchett(ian?) themes and humor 2) the moral that systems and worldviews can be taken one level deeper, as the protagonist discovers at the climax of the book. It's a deep philosophical point that's fairly well hidden in a story that otherwise feels like an overlong Discworld prototype, not quite as engaging or well written that series and more direct in it's criticisms of religion and human behavior. I think it would've been better as a shorter work.

Still, even a rough version of the quirky yet identifiable characters Pratchett does so well makes for decent reading, and as a big Discworld fan, I found them to be both familiar and alien in an interesting way. Definitely worthwhile reading if otherwise exhausted Pratchett, it's still a decent book even if you're not familiar with his work, though I'd recommend one of the top Discworld books before this one both from a quality standpoint and from an, er, intertextual standpoint.

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