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Carefully reallocating the Time of Discworld to where it is most needed, Monk of History Lu Tze and his apprentice begin a literal race against time when the world's first truly accurate clock threatens to stop Time forever.Tags
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Jeremy Clockson is so keen about being accurate that he drives his fellow clock makers around the bend. One day, a woman comes to him with a challenge: to create the most accurate time piece ever conceived, what people call a "glass clock." As you can imagine, this draws the ire of The Monks of History, last seen in Small Gods. Toss in Lu Tze and Lobsang, martial arts flicks, rock bands and how teaching should be done according to Susan Sto-Helit running afoul of her school's principal, Madam Frout, and we're off. One small problem, as soon as the clock starts ticking, time officially stops for the Discworld and so too does life as the Disc understands it, which is just fine for the auditors. That is until one auditor finds out just how show more wrong they were to deny all the things the Disc offers. show less
Reread 2025: This was a highly enjoyable and deeply philosophical read. I love Susan and this felt almost like her story over Deaths. It has also given me thoughts about the nature of time and reality. Review from 2018 below.
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EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS, STAYS HAPPENED.
"What kind of philosophy is that?"
THE ONLY ONE THAT WORKS.
Thief of Time is the fifth and final book in the Death sub-series and the 26th Discworld book in published order. I think I have found my favorite Death book though it really features Susan more than Death himself. This is also a hard plot to summarize. I'll do my best.
The world is scheduled to end next Wednesday. Humanity is messy and the Auditors of Reality hate messy. It's time to tidy things up again. show more To do this they've hired Jeremy Clockson to build the world's first truly accurate clock. Once it starts it will stop time, making life more predictable and the paperwork much easier. Death gets a sense their plot and, while he cannot interfere directly, he volunteers his granddaughter Susan to look into the issue. Meanwhile, something is up with the Mandala of the Monks of History. It's showing ripples in reality and the Procrastinators are starting to spin hot on their spindles. The monks send out Sweeper Lu-Tze and his apprentice to save time... if there's any time left.
I am truly impressed at how complicated this story was and how well it's pulled off. Part philosophical tract, part kung-fu epic, part apocalyptic crisis, a very subtle love story and a heavy dose of chocolate all wrapped in Pratchett's trademark style. There's even a supporting Igor! The storytelling is excellent. The three main story threads blend nicely into the greater narrative, something that wasn't always as successful in earlier books. It's a more serious entry, which may not be to the taste of those who prefer the sillier side of Discworld. show less
--------------
EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS, STAYS HAPPENED.
"What kind of philosophy is that?"
THE ONLY ONE THAT WORKS.
Thief of Time is the fifth and final book in the Death sub-series and the 26th Discworld book in published order. I think I have found my favorite Death book though it really features Susan more than Death himself. This is also a hard plot to summarize. I'll do my best.
The world is scheduled to end next Wednesday. Humanity is messy and the Auditors of Reality hate messy. It's time to tidy things up again. show more To do this they've hired Jeremy Clockson to build the world's first truly accurate clock. Once it starts it will stop time, making life more predictable and the paperwork much easier. Death gets a sense their plot and, while he cannot interfere directly, he volunteers his granddaughter Susan to look into the issue. Meanwhile, something is up with the Mandala of the Monks of History. It's showing ripples in reality and the Procrastinators are starting to spin hot on their spindles. The monks send out Sweeper Lu-Tze and his apprentice to save time... if there's any time left.
I am truly impressed at how complicated this story was and how well it's pulled off. Part philosophical tract, part kung-fu epic, part apocalyptic crisis, a very subtle love story and a heavy dose of chocolate all wrapped in Pratchett's trademark style. There's even a supporting Igor! The storytelling is excellent. The three main story threads blend nicely into the greater narrative, something that wasn't always as successful in earlier books. It's a more serious entry, which may not be to the taste of those who prefer the sillier side of Discworld. show less
The first leg of my Discworld re-read concludes with the final book in the Death subseries, Thief of Time. (Although, to be honest, as with the previous volumes, I kind of wish it had featured more of Death himself. He really is my favorite character in the entire series. Not that his granddaughter Susan, who gets more attention here, isn't also terrific, because she is.)
This one didn't give me the feeling of sheer, crazy delight that Hogfather and Soul Music did (although it does have some pretty great jokes), but it feels like a slightly more substantial story than those, and it does a lot of fun and interesting things with the concept of time. There are also some really great examples of something that Pratchett does very well: show more infusing his comic fantasy with some genuinely thoughtful, philosophical, and scientifically literate ideas. In addition to playing around with time, he also touches on chaos theory, and explores at some length the question of what it means to be human, specifically what it means to be both a consciousnesses and a body.
Rating: 4.5/5. Although, admittedly, I sometimes feel like I'm over-rating these books slightly, just because of my love of the series as a whole. Not enough to make me change that number, though! show less
This one didn't give me the feeling of sheer, crazy delight that Hogfather and Soul Music did (although it does have some pretty great jokes), but it feels like a slightly more substantial story than those, and it does a lot of fun and interesting things with the concept of time. There are also some really great examples of something that Pratchett does very well: show more infusing his comic fantasy with some genuinely thoughtful, philosophical, and scientifically literate ideas. In addition to playing around with time, he also touches on chaos theory, and explores at some length the question of what it means to be human, specifically what it means to be both a consciousnesses and a body.
Rating: 4.5/5. Although, admittedly, I sometimes feel like I'm over-rating these books slightly, just because of my love of the series as a whole. Not enough to make me change that number, though! show less
This is the first Discworld book I've read since Sir Terry's death. Like the best of his novels, it's a chewy center of humanistic philosophy surrounded by a chocolaty shell of fantasy adventure. The Monks of History have the power to shift time, moving it around to preserve the existence of some kind of timeline. It's vital work, since a mad scientist with a glass clock shattered history once before, and the Auditors, anti-life demons that record all of space and time, are trying to rebuild it and bring about a permanent End of Time. And only Lu-Tze, his apprentice Lobsang Ludd, and Susan granddaughter of DEATH, stand in the way of the apocalypse.
Come for the gentle jokes about kung-fu movies, mountaintop enlightenment, and the Five show more Horsemen of the apocalyse, stay for the troubles of living in a body, and the basic divide of the dark behind the eyes that is 'Me' and light of the universe in front of it. show less
Come for the gentle jokes about kung-fu movies, mountaintop enlightenment, and the Five show more Horsemen of the apocalyse, stay for the troubles of living in a body, and the basic divide of the dark behind the eyes that is 'Me' and light of the universe in front of it. show less
What to say, except that Mr. Pratchett took on an original subject for a story: time and building the ultimate clock, one that couldn't be more precise. But the downside is that once it's activated, it stops time. This has to be avoided at all costs, even if it means playing with different times / events / eras / ...
As is custom, there must also be humour, although on a whole I found a little less dominant compared to previous Discworld novels I've read, not in the least [b:Reaper Man|833424|Reaper Man (Discworld, #11)|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323724828s/833424.jpg|1796454], for example, or [b:Hogfather|797189|Hogfather (Discworld, #20)|Terry show more Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1306814220s/797189.jpg|583655].
The cast is quite varied, with the four, eh, five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Auditors who learn to become human and what it takes to be "human", Nanny Ogg (one of the witches in the series), some Chinese philosopher (well, he's formally a sweeper, which is an undercover activity), a yeti, Death, Death's granddaughter Susan, and several more. This also makes the focus shift from one or more character(s) to the next one(s), each getting a few pages, after which several characters end up together in the same time-frame.
There's a lot of philosophical and some psychological influence throughout the story, I'd say several pinches more than the ones I've read so far. Add a common time-related expression now and then, and the picture's complete. This then also made me think of Terry Pratchett not as a storyteller, but a philosopher who uses stories (and humour) to convey his thoughts on man, the world, life, and so on. It's a two-ways kind of approach, the Discworld novels.
Did I mention the ending? Totally unexpected, but come to think of it, quite a nice twist. :-)
'Thief of Time' requires a bit more thinking, although you can read for entertainment purposes, too. Regardless of this, it's another recommended read when you want to spend some time ( ;-) ) on Discworld. show less
As is custom, there must also be humour, although on a whole I found a little less dominant compared to previous Discworld novels I've read, not in the least [b:Reaper Man|833424|Reaper Man (Discworld, #11)|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323724828s/833424.jpg|1796454], for example, or [b:Hogfather|797189|Hogfather (Discworld, #20)|Terry show more Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1306814220s/797189.jpg|583655].
The cast is quite varied, with the four, eh, five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Auditors who learn to become human and what it takes to be "human", Nanny Ogg (one of the witches in the series), some Chinese philosopher (well, he's formally a sweeper, which is an undercover activity), a yeti, Death, Death's granddaughter Susan, and several more. This also makes the focus shift from one or more character(s) to the next one(s), each getting a few pages, after which several characters end up together in the same time-frame.
There's a lot of philosophical and some psychological influence throughout the story, I'd say several pinches more than the ones I've read so far. Add a common time-related expression now and then, and the picture's complete. This then also made me think of Terry Pratchett not as a storyteller, but a philosopher who uses stories (and humour) to convey his thoughts on man, the world, life, and so on. It's a two-ways kind of approach, the Discworld novels.
Did I mention the ending? Totally unexpected, but come to think of it, quite a nice twist. :-)
'Thief of Time' requires a bit more thinking, although you can read for entertainment purposes, too. Regardless of this, it's another recommended read when you want to spend some time ( ;-) ) on Discworld. show less
Terry Pratchett does time. What would happen if the Auditors decided to tidy things up by stopping time? It would be the end of the world as we know it and therefore Death talks to Susan Sto-Helit about doing something about it, while the auditors recruit a brilliant but disturbed clockmaker and simultaneously a young monk, Lobsang Ludd, finds that the only one willing to train him is the eccentric Lu Tze, who are Monks of History who can use time, but when time is running out they need to rescue the world.
I loved it, talks a lot about embracing what time you have and using it in a light-hearted way and made me think a lot outside of the story and I have a weakness for any story that features Susan.
I loved it, talks a lot about embracing what time you have and using it in a light-hearted way and made me think a lot outside of the story and I have a weakness for any story that features Susan.
Back in the day when I thought Pratchett was mine, I used to buy each book in hardback. It was a luxury I accorded him that no other author got. Thief of Time was the first of his novels since Men At Arms that I didn't get on release. I was poor, and the premise didn't grab me. It was years before I read this one, and was disappointed to find that this wasn't a very good book. Rereading it again for the first time in nearly 20 years, I am again disappointed to find that it isnt very good. By which I mean, its not bad. like theres nothing wrong with it. Its just that it lacks almost everything I like about Discworld and leaves us with a load of ok jokes and a few recognisable characters. The big problem here is that there is nothing to show more learn. Almost every Discworld book so far has had a philosophical or ideological point, and the jokes and cool / weird / interesting characters and plot are a framework around which Pratchett makes commentary on that point. The famous footnotes are often where it happens. But this is just a story, featuring fantasy characters, and sometimes jokes are made. But the story is a big shrug really. Susan is hardly at her acid best, Death moves the plot along whenever Susan finds things hard going, and whilst War, Famine, and Pestilence get some of the best lines, 5th horseman Kaos is another deus ex machina type. This is more Tom Holt than Pratchett, you know. Fortunately there isn't another stinker for a while. We're all allowed our off days! show less
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Author Information
425+ Works 578,962 Members
Terry Pratchett was on born April 28, 1948 in Beaconsfield, United Kingdom. He left school at the age of 17 to work on his local paper, the Bucks Free Press. While with the Press, he took the National Council for the Training of Journalists proficiency class. He also worked for the Western Daily Press and the Bath Chronicle. He produced a series show more of cartoons for the monthly journal, Psychic Researcher, describing the goings-on at the government's fictional paranormal research establishment, Warlock Hall. In 1980, he was appointed publicity officer for the Central Electricity Generating Board with responsibility for three nuclear power stations. His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971. His first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. He became a full-time author in 1987. He wrote more than 70 books during his lifetime including The Dark Side of the Sun, Strata, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Truckers, Diggers, Wings, Dodger, Raising Steam, Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales, and The Shephard's Crown. He was diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer's disease in 2007. He was knighted for services to literature in 2009 and received the World Fantasy award for life achievement in 2010. He died on March 12, 2015 at the age of 66. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Thief of Time
- Original title
- Thief of Time
- Alternate titles
- Ladrón del tiempo (España) (España)
- Original publication date
- 2001-01-20
- People/Characters
- The Auditors of Reality; Jeremy Clockson; Death [Discworld]; Death of Rats (the Grim Squeaker); Famine; Madam Frout (show all 18); Igor [Discworld]; Myria LeJean (Unity); Lobsang Ludd; Lu-Tze; Nanny Ogg; Pestilence; Quoth the Raven; Ronnie Soak; Susan Sto-Helit; Time; War; Wen the Eternally Surprised
- Important places
- Ankh-Morpork, Discworld; The Ramtops, Discworld; Discworld
- Epigraph*
- [Dim]
- Dedication*
- [Dim]
- First words
- According to the First Scroll of Wen the Eternally Surprised, Wen stepped out of the cave where he had received enlightenment and into the dawning light of the first day of the rest of his life.
- Quotations
- Sometimes thinking is like talking to another person, but that person is also you.
Nine-tenths of the universe, in fact, is the paperwork. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Even with nougat, you can have a perfect moment.
- Blurbers
- Mertz, Barbara; Byatt, A. S.
- Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- This is the main work for Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. It is not the same work as Tony Hillerman's book of the same name.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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