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Witches Abroad | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Terry Pratchett | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Discworld | The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Eric, Moving Pictures, Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, Small Gods, Soul Music, Feet of Clay, Interesting Times, The Firth Elephant, Going Postal | ||
There are many lands on the Discworld. There is Lancre, mountainous and independant. There's swampy Genua. And of course there is the indescribable Ankh-Morpork. And there is also ultra-religious Omnia, which is expecting its next prophet any time now. And it's pretty obvious that it's going to be High Inquisitor Vorbis who will hear the great god Om speaking to him. But there are a few surprises in store for the church. For it is Brutha, a dull boy more given to tending cabbages than anything actually religious, who is the one to hear the god. And the great god isn't actually all that great.
I loved this story. It's a wonderful poke in the eye at all the conservative, by-the-book beliefs of the world. Omnia is so repressive that it makes for a fine example of all the negative sides of religion. And, as usual, Pratchett still manages to make it funny, ot st least humorous, all the way through. As a bonus, over the course of the book he also takes more than a few shots at old Greek philosophy, which is worth the price of the book in itself.
Brutha is a very down-to-earth sort of fellow. A little slow, perhaps, but definitely someone people will feel akin to. Vorbis, meanwhile, is a wonderful villain without being a cackling mustache-twirler. The one is convinced that, as the de facto head of the church, anything done for his glory and betterment is in fact for Om, and anything that does not somehow promote Om's majesty is an offense against the church. That is, against him. Brutha, meanwhile, simply believes. The contrast is striking, and remarkably pithy.
If I had one problem with the story, though, it is the "wandering through the desert" bit. It is important, true - several important revelations occur there, and Brutha really develops as a character there. So does Om, for that matter. But it's just a bit too long, a bit too slow. It's a big speed trap in the middle of the novel. It doesn't stop everything, but it does slow it down terribly.
As a whole, however, this is a great book. It perfectly explains the metaphysics of Discworld divinity. It's also amusing, even funny at times, as Pratchett's books tend to be. Best of all, it's just plain fun.
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