Nation (original 2008; edition 2008)

Daphne meets Mau after her boat she was travelling on lands on an island after being in a tsunamai. Mau is an islander who claims it as his island. Refugees come from other islands - this creates tension while they are trying to create a home for them all. A great read. ( )

A tsunami brings two young survivors together to rebuild an island nation. Although the native boy and British girl speak different languages, they're finding a way to overcome their differences as they struggle to survive.

I have to admit, I sniffled a bit towards the end.

This book is probably more of a three-and-a-half than a four star book, but I bumped it up because it certainly isn't a three. I loved Mau and Ermintrude/Daphne and large parts of the story. I just felt the plot seemed to skip some vital explanations to make everything make sense. Also thematically the book was simultaneously heavy-handed and obscure.

It definitely didn't feel like a Terry Pratchett book - it's stylistically very different to any of the Discworld books I've read anyway, even the ones aimed at younger readers. This isn't a bad thing, but it's a little odd when you're so familiar with his work. It's... very matter of fact.

And in some ways, very, very sad. And yet uplifting. And I have no idea what I'm trying to say.

( )

I've read some Pratchett before, quite a while ago, and don't remember much about it, and of course, I've read Good Omens, the book he wrote with Neil Gaiman. So Nation isn't exactly an introduction to Pratchett for me, but maybe a reintroduction. As far as I can tell it isn't exactly typical of Pratchett, since it stands completely alone.

I liked it. I didn't get that into it, really, but I was still interested enough to keep turning the pages and finish it in one day -- not quite interested enough to stop me browsing my bookshelves for something else to read alongside it, though. It's set in an alternate universe to this one and there's a lot of world-building and discussion of belief and people's reasons for it, and making a community. And there's a real grief in it, too, and people trying to deal with the grief. The little community, trying to figure out a life from what's left behind after a tidal wave, is interesting. But it never really sparked with me, somehow.

There are definitely some awesome quotes in it, though. I especially liked the one about being in a Jane Austen novel, except with less clothes. And the King being thoroughly 'daughtered'. I recognise this as a truth: it happens even with me and my dad. ( )

It was interesting. A bit predictable and not terribly gripping, but certainly interesting. Pratchett intentionally left some open-ended questions for the reader to ponder about the role of religion in our society, as well as certain "what if's" concerning our history. While reading, my main question was the setting -- I couldn't figure out if it was some thriving culture in the far future, after an apocalypse of some sort had scoured our world and forced us to start anew, or if it was a parallel universe. Pratchett clears up this question in the afterword, or "author's note," but it's never made quite clear (although hinted at) in the actual story. This isn't a major detraction, but it did annoy me a little. ( )