I came across a blog post on Pratchett’s books which says, much more eloquently, how I feel about his works. Here’s where you can find the full post.
‘Pratchett’s use of dwarfs, trolls, vampires and numerous other species as denizens of the Discworld epitomizes this. They started off as standard fantasy archetypes, reflecting the earlier Discworld novels’ genesis as a parody of fantasy cliché, but as the series progressed, they are developed into people, so that readers forget they have rocky hides for skin or fangs’
I love the way Pratchett uses the fantasy world to make us look at ourselves. Fantasy is the perfect medium for this. I did my Masters on Discrimination and Persecution in Fantasy Books. When you take a reader into an invented world and give them a character to identify with, they feel what the character feels (if you’ve engaged the reader).
So, I raise a glass of cyber champers to Terry. By the way that is an excellent cover.
