Soul Music

Sixteen books in, and I may have just found my favourite Discworld novel. I absolutely loved everything about this, especially how Pratchett was pretty much able to distill the first couple of decades of rock music (or, music with rocks in), into this slim novel.

Seriously, Pratchett is an absolute master and, with Discworld as his canvas, he can essentially turn his attention to anything and skewer it with precision and a lot of sardonic eye-winking.

A re-read, but still as good as ever. Death takes a holiday and his granddaughter is dragooned into service, but she's having trouble accepting that the schedule isn't always fair. Meantime, a wandering young harp player loses his prized instrument and replaces it with a very odd guitar which seems to have its own idea of what music is. Pratchett's take on rock music (i.e. Music With Rocks In) opens the door to what is quite probably the finest collection of puns in the English language.

My partial re-read of the Discworld series continues with Soul Music, in which Death suffers another existential crisis and disappears again, his granddaughter Susan is tapped to fill in for him (which comes as quite a shock to her, since she was raised to believe beings like him were mythical), and the Disc discovers the dangerous power of Music With Rocks In.

And a terrific installment of the series it is. I really like the rock music plot; it's definitely more engaging than the wizards-and-shopping-carts parts of Reaper Man (much as I adored everything else about that one). The story is sufficiently substantial and satisfying, while also having some laugh-out-loud funny moments. And Pratchett is clearly having loads of fun with all show more the musical jokes. Whoever said that puns are the lowest form of wit clearly never read Pratchett. The man pretty much elevated them to an art form.

Susan, who makes her first appearance here, is a great, too. She may not be quite as awesome as I remember her being later in Hogfather, and she's still a teenager with a teen's limited experience of the world, but she's a wonderfully vivid character, and already formidably strong-minded. I might have appreciated seeing a little more of Death himself than we got, but that's just because I'd happily read an entire novel full of nothing but Death petting his cats and doing his paperwork, not because there was less of him than there needed to be. Pratchett certainly does capture all the interesting things about him here, sometimes in fairly subtle ways: his utterly endearing well-meaning cluelessness, his humor, the profound nature of what he is, and the inescapable sadness of his duty and his existence. (Yeah, there are reasons why Death is kind of my favorite.) show less

It's funny: I find Pratchett's Death novels genuinely comforting, as a person who's pretty freaked out about mortality and death. In this one, Death, Albert, and Death's horse Binky are their charming selves, the Death of Rats (SQUEAK!) gets to be a real character, and we meet Death's granddaughter Susan (amusingly referred to by one bystander as Susan Death). I am really very fond of these people, or--um--anthropomorphic personifications--or whatever.

Meanwhile, we also get to spend some time with the strangely-lovable Archchancellor Ridcully of Unseen University, the Dean and Bursar and Recent Runes (I love how they're known solely by their job titles, even to each other), and some of the good folks in the High Energy Magic building. show more Ridcully's conviction that great big things with too many arms and legs are likely to pop out whenever anything odd's happening is pretty awesome.

This is probably the most referential Discworld novel I've read so far, and that's saying a lot, given how deeply (and shallowly! in any event, insistently) referential many of these books are. It includes more reference to other Discworld novels than I'm used to, and its echoing of band names, song titles, lyrics, and other rock and roll goings-on is downright relentless. That part neither bothers me nor does much for me. The descriptions of the Dean's hair and various other hair styles please me, though. show less

Sex, drugs and Music With Rocks In. Well...one out of three ain't bad. Actually, it's only thirty-three percent, but it could be worse.

Imp the Bard comes to Ankh-Morpork to find his fortune. After forming a band and buying a mysterious guitar from an unusual music shop, the group is discovered by a new type of music: Music With Rocks In. Elsewhere on the Disc Death is feeling down about his job and leaves to find forgetfulness. It is up to Susan, Death's granddaughter, to take over the family business. Just as she's starting to get the hang of things something in her soul goes "twang."

Soul Music is the Discworld take on rock & roll and the third book in the Death series. Many of the gags were spot on and Imp's story is great satire of show more the music industry. The two threads start out quite separate and come together well for the ending. I loved the transformation of the elderly magicians of Unseen University turning into rebellious teenagers after listening to the music. While not my favorite Discworld novel, it was an entertaining read. show less

This starts with a death, and concerns Death. Death's grandaughter, Susan, learns that her parents have died and that she's sort of inherited the family business at the same time. Susan is of a logical turn of mind, so doesn't believe that this is how hereditry works, despite appearances to the contrary.

Imp leaves his home in a fit of teenage angst, swearing to be the most famous musican in the world - and that sort of swear has a power all its own. He is due to die in a bar fight, but Susan doesn't think that's logical. Instead, the music enters his soul and takes control. And from then on Imp's life is changed, along with the whole world.

A play on the whole of rock and roll - spotting the different references is a fun all it's own show more (the Felonious Monk referral is a true work af art!)"

Re-read.
This has some fabulous set pieces, and some great humorous passages where you're playing "spot the reference". But I'm not sure that, as a whole, it works as well as some other entries in the series. That's not to say it is bad - far from it, but it's not a gem, it feels maybe it's just a fraction off the beat. show less

19 Feb 2008
20 Jun 2014
25 Aug 2016

Death takes a sort of holiday, so the Death of Rats goes looking for Death's granddaughter to fill the gap. Susan is off in boarding school, being an unusually practical teenager with no memory of her grandfather, when she gets the message. Meanwhile a bard, a troll, and a dwarf meet up and form a band and a magical guitar introduces the idea of Music with Rocks in to the Discworld.

The magic that is unleashed has more to do with lampooning record company contracts than the typical fantasy, with room for plenty of puns, an hilarious tour, and some profound thoughts on what music means to people (interpreted broadly). And also, lots of silly business with the Death of Rats and Quoth, a raven. Funny as show more anything, and never mean-spirited.

These books get even better with age, both mine and theirs.

personal copy show less