A tidal wave wipes out the entire population of the island, leaving only two people: the native Mau, who was in a canoe at the time, and the English girl Daphne, who was on a ship that plowed into the island. What begins as tragedy turns into a story of hope and laughter. Refugees from neighboring islands trickle in, and slowly the Nation is reborn. Though this was not half as funny as the back cover promised, it was a fun read and brought up some interesting questions and religion and science. The epilogue, however, felt unnecessary. It did nothing for the story and made the ending seem somehow less satisfying. But otherwise it's a fine story. ( )

Mau thought he was paddling his dugout canoe home to his small island to be greeted by the elders eager to celebrate his “passage into manhood.” But a tidal wave ravages his island, located somewhere in the South Pacific, and Mau returns home only to find dead bodies, his entire family gone. But wait – he is caught off guard when ”trousergirl” Daphne (an English girl), whose ship was deposited on the island by the wave, suddenly appears before him. Then a pregnant woman, and next a woman with a baby. Still others make their way to the island, and Mau has to help, because if he doesn’t, who else will?

Imagine desperate Mau wrangling milk from a mother pig to feed a human baby. And “demon boy” Mau wrestling with the gods, and barely escaping a shark attack. The survivors reinvent civilization, exploring language, religion, and science as they struggle to survive. Deeply philosophical and laugh-out-loud funny, the inimitable Terry Pratchett has crafted an original, masterful tale, reminiscent of Robinson Crusoe and Lord of the Flies, and with all the nail-biting tension of The Hunger Games and Lost.

A slightly disappointing Pratchett; I can't help feeling I've seen most of these ideas before from him - and those I haven't are straight out of central casting - Atlantis, Peter Pan, Robinson Crusoe [but of course that's Pratchett's stock in trade, taking common myths and putting his own spin on them]. Still better than a lot of fiction you'd read. "Thinking - this book contains some" is a bit of a condescending author's note at the end, but hey I'm not really the target audience for this. ( )

After all the previous glowing reviews I am afraid that I must inject a note of dissent.

I found Nation just short of boring. It was Peter Pan meets Atlantis meets Mother Goose in the other leg of the trousers (Pratchett fans will understand what I mean).

Mau can never become a man because a tsunami wiped out the whole population of his island home after he had completed his 'manhood' trials but had not yet been initiated, and therefore didn't have the tattoo of manhood.

Various people arrive at the island and a new community starts to form and a new nation is born. But then he and Daphne, one of the castaways, discover something wonderful in a cave and this changes the whole aspect and direction of the Island Nation.

I found the book rather derivative, lacking in humour and far too long. Obviously written for adolescents, I can't see many of them sticking with it to the end.

Sorry,Terry ... ( )