The Dark Side of the Sun

Pratchetts version of Dune. A classic style space-opera with all of the problems that implies but shorter and with the usual Pratchett wit. It isn't a comedy though, in fact while its not overly serious you could barely even call it a satire. About as funny as The Fifth Element.
As i said it has all the problems of space-opera, too many characters, too many names, too much technobabble, too many weird concepts etc. but its short so not as annoying. There were still several occasions when i literally have no idea what happened, mostly action sequences.
Also a lot of Discworld terms thrown about so longtime fans might get a kick out of that.

Its good but not great. It does make me wonder though if Pratchett actually liked writing fantasy or show more just stuck with it because it received more approbation? If this had been a success instead of 'Colour of Magic' would he have continued on from here and been known as the worlds funniest sci-fi writer? No doubt in another universe he did ;) . show less

This is one of the earliest of Pratchett's works that I own, and oh, does it show. The cleverness of language, characterisation and world building that came as the stories of the Discworld developed and matured is sadly lacking. It is a very clever story, but in that way that reminds me of first and second year philosophy students -- enough ideas to chew over, but not enough to have worked out how to present them well.

It is also possibly the most explicitly sf of Pratchett's stories that I've read so far. Set in a over the top 'everyone is watching you' far future space-opera dystopia, it had echoes of Harry Harrison's 'Stainless Steel Rat' series without the redeeming features. I was completely unable to invest in the setting, I show more really never warmed to any of the characters (in fact, none of them ever really felt like people, which was a surprise from Pratchett).

And while it was a pleasant read, I couldn't help the twin thoughts: 'other people have done this better', and 'there were better ways to spend that time' show less

I should have taken the hint to stop reading when the name of Dom Sabalos' home planet struck me as irritating. The name "Widdershins" stuck in my subconscious like a piece of popcorn between my teeth. I don't know why it annoyed me, but it did.

Actually, there are a lot of irritating names and places in this book: Widdershins and its inhabitants, the Widdershine; Ig, the swamp ig; Charles Sub-Lunar, noted intellectual; and even Dom Sabalos himself, or at least his first name.

All these continued irritants nagged at me throughout the story, which in itself was only mildly interesting. It concerns probability math and how our protagonist is fated to die the day he takes high office on his planet, but he doesn't die, against all odds. He show more has been singled out for a quest to find the Jokers World, which he searches for while assassins chase him and attempt to kill him.

The plot would probably have been more interesting had it been a Discworld novel. I didn't realise it wasn't part of that series until I read the inside front pages where it listed other books by Pratchett. So if you're a Discworld fan, I'd suggest staying away from this book. It's not nearly as funny as some of the Discworld stuff -- I think a good dose of Lord Vetinari would have improved this book immensely. show less

This really is a terribly good sf novel. It satirises the genre as does the later Colour of Magic with fantasy. Dune most often, though there are loads of references to other books too (and Star Trek I think). He also takes the mick out of exposition. At the end of one passage he says "Thank you for your enquiry"! Cheeky git. Yet by satirising those very tropes he is also employing them and it all works very well. Readers of the Discworld novels will also be interested to see a number of words (Klatch / Hogswatch) that he was later to reuse

The Dark Side of the Sun by Terry Pratchett is the story of a young man named Dom who has been appointed to a powerful position on his planet, but unfortunately there have been multiple attempts on his life. It has been foretold that it is his fate to discover the world of the race of beings that seeded life in the universe and there are those that would prefer that this information not get out. This book follows Dom's adventures as he sets out on his quest to find answers and fulfill his destiny.

I have to say that I honestly didn't enjoy this book very much. It was completely different in style to everything else I've ever read by Terry Pratchett and if it weren't for the use of some terminology that was also used in his Discworld show more series, I wouldn't have even known I was reading one of his books. The humor that I've come to know and love in his writing just wasn't present in this book. There were some things that seemed like they were meant to be funny, but really just weren't. I did try to be open-minded about reading something more serious by Pratchett, but the lack of humor in the book wasn't the only thing wrong with it. I just found the book very hard to follow and I found myself feeling lost and confused at least a third of the time when reading it if not more. I think it would have helped if the author had spent more time explaining the various alien races in more detail as well as the technology used. I also felt the ending to the book was weird and really not that satisfying. It's a shame because the premise of this story was interesting and I did like how ancient alien theory was worked into the story, but it could have been done so much better than it was. At least it was a fairly short read so I didn't waste too much of my time on it. I really wouldn't recommend this book unless you're a hardcore Pratchett fan who absolutely has to read everything he's ever written. show less

This is the first non-Discworld Terry Pratchett novel I've read in a long time, or ever. It's really interesting to see his wit (1) and inventiveness in a different setting. It's a "save the world" type plot, and manages to set up the plot in a believable way.

1 Though I miss the footnotes.

This is clearly early Pratchett: the ideas run rampant, too much is happening, and while mildly humorous, it lacks the wit and wisdom of later works. Yet I found it refreshingly creative and fun. It is really a YA novel - a teenage boy is seeking the secrets of the galaxy while pursued by murderous killer robots. Light and fun.