The Truth

Once again, I am in awe of Pratchett's ability to take seemingly disparate plotlines and weave them into something that's not only fun and entertaining, but also has something to say about the world around us.

I honestly have only a single complaint about this installment in the Discworld series, and that's Tulip's manner of speaking. The "ings" just got to be too much. However, it's a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, and honestly, how often are you gonna get a book where an on-the-wagon vampire creates "prints of darkness"?

Another winner in a wonderful series.

Pratchett has a way of writing about occupations that makes me actually think certain jobs might actually be more fun than I would otherwise think. While I'm not as eager to go out and be a journalist after this book (like I was seriously considering being a mailman after reading Going Postal), this has more to do with the crap of mainstream news that this book actually kinda sorta rails against.

This was written in November of 2000 - before 9/11 and well before Occupy Wall Street. Nevertheless, one of the themes of this book - about the uber-rich having all the power and thinking they're above the law - couldn't escape my notice. As is usually the case with Pratchett, I am forced to think while laughing out loud.

I'd have to say that show more Otto was my favorite character in this story. The first three times of the iconographer's (photographer) problem when taking a picture... I thought the joke would get old fast. Yet, every time poor Otto says, "Vun, two, thr- arrgharrgharrgh!" I ended up giggling louder and louder.

Oh, and the idea of Otto not being defined by his nature, and William choosing a new path and other values for himself than what he was raised with was just more of Pratchett's awesomeness in making me think and making the story personal.

Just my $0.02... show less

My first Discworld read - the range of characters and short chapters felt a bit disorienting at first when listening as an audiobook while multitasking, but the performances, particularly Otto, were wonderful.

The book is very funny, weaving together the story of William setting up his newspaper with a plot to overthrow Vetinari. It has a flippant tone, yet showcases characters pulling together and growing over the course of the story. Alongside the humour, it touches on thought-provoking themes such as free speech and discrimination, leaving you both smiling and reflecting long after finishing.

The printing press has come to Ankh Morpork and it is changing everything. William de Worde finds himself feeding the hungry press daily despite the Guild of Engravers, a competing press, and out and out thugs out to get him. His investigation into Lord Vetinari's suspicious arrest leads deep into the Ankh Morpork underground and uncovers startling influences at work in the city.
This onset of the industrial revolution on Discworld seems inevitable but so very different from the Discworld I'm used to. I like the characters, the storyline, even the new technology, and yet, I hate it.

Pratchett, Terry. Truth. Discworld No. 25. Doubleday, 2000.
The Truth is one of Terry Pratchett’s very best novels. It is, if anything, more relevant in the post-Trump era than it was when it was written. News, we are told, is hard to define but a reporter knows it when he or she sees it. The public is less discerning and are easily drawn in by what we would now call fake news. Like the Moist von Lipwig stories from Going Postal to Raising Steam, The Truth is an industrial fantasy. Institutions like the Post Office and the railroad have a seductive power in Discworld. The Press wants to be fed, and it demands obsessive attention from its servants. A handwritten newsletter becomes a mass-market newspaper with a dwarf-produced printing show more press with moveable type and a light-sensitive vampire photographer who has trouble with a flash that regularly turns him into a pile of dust. Pratchett constructs an unusually complex mystery plot that conjures Watergate, even as its editor, William de Worde, conjures William Randolph Hearst. The villains, Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, are terrifyingly over the top, but we are reminded that they are in the service of shadowy Lords and lawyers who may be worse. Somehow, it all works out, and the press does reveal the truth and establish an uneasy détente with the forces of law and order represented by Vetinari and Vimes. 5 stars. show less

The joy of reading a Discworld book is how Terry Pratchett can take something you take for granted and let you see it anew, in this case, the London Press comes to Ankh-Morpork. It is a story told with much humour, wordplay and genuine warmth (I was going to say humanism, but that’s not really appropriate when there are dwarves, trolls, vampires and dogs).
The joy of rereading a Discworld book is that, in the later books, you still marvel at the fecundity of ideas thrown out in passing and how the recurring characters (the Watch, Vetinari and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler in this book) successfully interact in the new story so that their involvement builds satisfyingly into the larger history of the Discworld.
I read this about twenty years show more ago and it remains a wonderfully enjoyable rereading experience. show less

Reread 2025: Because nothing has to be true forever. Just for long enough, to tell you the truth.

This was brilliant. William de Word has accidentally invented newspapers and journalism in his pursuit of movable type to make his letter writing easier. Pratchett makes some interesting points about what is the truth and how journalism/publication changes public perception of it. It is just as relevant today as when it was published, maybe even more so. Plus with a great mystery to solve and some hilarious character interactions. This entry is the Discworld at its finest. Review from 2015 below.

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Dwarfs can turn lead into gold. That's not just rumor, it's news! Ethical journalist William de Worde likes to investigate stories. show more And what better way to get the word out than to create the Ankh-Morpork Times, Discworld's first paper of record. When de Worde gets an inside scoop on a hot story concerning the city's favorite patrician, Lord Ventinari, the facts say he's guilty. Yet facts don't always tell the whole story. There's always the truth... and it's not like there's a law against writing words down.

The Truth is the 25th Discworld novel and the second in the Industrial Revolution theme. Movable type has come to Anhk-Morpork and with it investigative journalism and the invention of the Disc's first newspaper. Along the way the staff at the paper end up "helping" the Watch solve a mystery.

We are introduced to some fun new characters. William de Worde is the ethical journalist who insists that what's printed in the paper must be true. Sacharissa Cripslock is his main reporter who has a knack for thinking in headlines. Otto, a reformed vampire, is the paper's photographer. Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip are The New Firm, a non-standard criminal group newly arrived in Ank-Morpork. Gunilla Goodmountain, the inventor and main operator of the printing press, can set type at the speed of dictation. Many of the regular Ankh-Morpork characters also make appearances as supporting cast or cameos, including most of the Watch, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, the Bursar of UU and Gaspode.

The Truth does not have as many jokes and puns as other Discworld novels. Instead it presents the reader with humorous situations and focuses on the characters who don't realize just how strange their view of the world really is. And there are funny shaped vegetables. It is just brilliant. show less