Hogfather by Terry Pratchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Hogfather
Book Review: Not His Beast but Still Good
Summary: 4 Stars
Terry Pratchett is most likely my favorite author but this was not one of his best efforts. Pratchett is normally extremely funny with off beat humor (imagine Monty Python on crack) and gripping story lines but the Hogfather lacked a certain something. Death was too serious in this book, on par with Reaper Man, only making me laugh in the mall with Nobby. Susan was an interesting character but again not as enjoyable as Commander Vimes or Granny Weatherwax. I think I would have enjoyed another Anhk-Morpork effort or a return of the invincible Rincewind.Book Review: One of his best
Summary: 5 Stars
Not going to give away anything other than this involves Death's granddaughter. Her character seems to grow a bit in this one. Enjoy.Book Review: One of the Weakest Discworld Novels
Summary: 2 Stars
An incoherent mess. When a crazed asassin is hired by the Auditors to bring down the Hogfather, the reduction in overall belief allows new gods to pop into being as quickly as they are thought up: the "oh god" (the god of hangovers), the god of indigestion, a sock-eating fairy, and a miscellany of vicious childhood fears all come to life. Death has to take on the Hogfather's job so that people will keep believing in him. This setup has humor potential -- the pagan roots of Christmas could have made for an interesting subject -- but this book comes off as entirely too dark and mean; it plays at presenting a real philosophy, but this is really just a kind of cover or excuse glued on to a wretched excess of weak storytelling and bad editing. The humor features enemas, urinating pigs, vomiting gods, horrifying gluttony, a deranged crow constantly on the hunt for eyeballs to eat, and is largely just distasteful, a kind of Grand Guignol of snow, holly and mistletoe. Teatime is a vicious sociopath. Susan, Death's granddaughter, plays a major role here, and she's a great character, but not likable enough to make the whole book enjoyable. Worst of all, the Hogfather himself doesn't ever actually make an appearance as himself, but only as a sort of mythological object; we never do find out quite what happened to him and how how the army of mind-controlled children actually brought him down. Instead of this much-needed basic storytelling and characterization we get pliers-wielding tooth fairies and developmentally disabled thieves. The effect is rather like the trick played on the diners at a fine restaurant: instead of the delicacies on the menu, they get boiled shoe leather in mud sauce, but like the average reviewer on Amazon, the diners seem unable to taste the difference. Pratchett does supply his usual quota of great puns, and there are funny moments in this book, but speaking as someone who is more cynical about Christmas than just about anyone I know: Pratchett must truly despise the holiday to give us this steaming pile of... um, holiday cheer.Book Review: One of the best Discworld books
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the Discworld novels (How many are there now? Quite a few, anyway) this is one of the best. Susan Sto Helit and the personified Death are two of Pratchett's best characters, and they're at their best here. I won't get into the plot; suffice to say that there is a plot, and it is a good one. As has been pointed out, the humor is darker in some places than is typical for Terry, but it's still the same comic personality. The end of the book has a thoughtful edge, as Terry's best books tend to at some point, but somehow it doesn't seem incongruous. Highly recommended.Book Review: One of the funniest of Pratchett's Discworld books
Summary: 5 Stars
In The HOGFATHER, Pratchett takes on the commercialization of Christmas, but also remembers it true meaning in this funny and intriguing addition to the DISCWORLD mythos. I've never found the Death themed books to be my favorites, but in this one as Death takes on the role of the Hogfather (Father Christmas) and looks at the events of the holiday with his own, shall we say, novel approach to the nature of giving; I found myself really enjoying the character for the first time. In the earlier books, Death's search for a better understanding of human nature have felt like Pratchett's takes on other stories from books and films, but this one was something very different. Just imagining Death's attempts to portray the spirit of Christmas or Hogswatch, if you prefer, were laugh out loud funny. Add to this Death's granddaughter's Susan's valiant effort(with the hilarious assistance of the God of Hangovers) to set things right against Mr. Tea-Time's(Pronounced teah-time, if you please) machinations to bring about the Death of the Hogfather...well, you can see this one's pretty manic and finds Pratchett in fine form..