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Fantasy. Fiction. HTML: The denizens of Ankh-Morpork fancy they've seen just about everything. But then comes the Ankh-Morpork Times, struggling scribe William de Worde's upper-crust, newsletter turned Discworld's first paper of record. An ethical joulnalist, de Worde has a proclivity for investigating stories -- a nasty habit that soon creates powerful enemies eager to stop his presses. And what better way than to start the Inquirer, a titillating (well, what else would it be?) tabloid that conveniently interchanges what's real for what sells. But de Worde's got an inside line on the hot story concerning Ankh-Morpork's leading patrician Lord Vetinari. The facts say Vetinari is guilty. But as William de Worde learns, facts don't always tell the whole story. There's that pesky little thing called the truth ....… (more)
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William de Worde becomes the editor of Ankh-Morpok's first newspaper, despite everybody being traditionally against movable type, the Patrician feels it may be time to let the dwarves experiment a
The contrast between William's Times and Dribbler's Inquirer, quickly highlights everything that is wrong with the media in the world today. This is the central premise of the book obviously, but it leaves room for some fascinating byplay around it. In usual contrived Pratchett fashion some of the puns are somewhat extended, Harry King and muckrakers being one of them.
Downsides - Mr Pin and Mr Tulip are just odd, and take up proportionately too much of the plot. Other than the direct media play, there isn't much commentry on other issues, though we do get to see plenty of the twisted AM view of how life works, and where to take advantage.
If there's one take home message from reading this it is think about what "they" say.
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 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...
This story is confined to Ankh-Morpork, and
Still, some interesting observations about journalism.
What I didn't find quite as spot-on was some of the twists and turns of the novel. For one thing, the identity of who is behind the elaborate conspiracy is so easily deduced that it ruins some of the driving force of the last half of the novel. Of course, the problem is that the readers know the identity (or can deduce it easily if you're paying attention), while the characters don't because they don't have as much information as we do. It's a case of the reader being a bit too omniscient for his or her own good and ruining the final revelation a bit.
Another issue is the speed at which things occur. William DeWorde goes from hand-carving a monthly newsletter for five at-home benefactors to running a newspaper complete with moveable type press within a week. Pratchett works too hard to pile on absurdity after absurdity as the newspaper takes off in ways that William can't expect and doesn't prepare for. Pratchett works too hard to make a few funny observances by compresing the timeline and making the story feel a bit rushed at points.
Which a lot of this can be forgiven with Pratchett being his typical self and finding unique ways to put words together to be both thought-provoking and funny. Once again, Pratchett has this way of finding just the exact right turn of phrase and combination of words to make what he's doing appear completely effortless. But if you step back and look at it, you realize exactly what he's doing and how he's doing it. And that alone makes "The Truth" worth appreciating.
Read more of my review at
William de Worde, scion of one of Ankh-Morpork’s oldest families, is a scribe making his way in life by writing a newsletter for foreign consumption between regular scribe duties. Then suddenly William’s life gets changed forever when he runs into dwarves looking to make gold out of lead, well in fairness he actually gets run over by a moveable type printing press. Within a day, William finds himself running a newspaper and while still figuring out how it all happened, Lord Vetinari appears to have committed serious crimes that could result in a change of city leadership. But as the staff of the Ankh-Morpork Times looks into the political controversy, they find themselves being looked over by the Watch, two new criminals in town, and a sinister cabal (is there any other kind).
Unlike Moving Pictures, the previous “Industrial” story, The Truth doesn’t need the crutch of clichés to bring a laugh while also having a fantastic plot and numerous new characters that keep the book a great read. While focusing on new characters, several members of the City Watch come into the plot and interact with the main character but don’t take the focus on the primary protagonists and the major antagonists. Also Pratchett fills this book with a nice little mystery and the always entertaining Gaspode and his band of human beggars.
For the second straight book, Pratchett invests in plot that he builds jokes around and not the other way around. As a result, The Truth is a wonderful read for both longtime fans and first time readers.
It's fun to watch characters from earlier books come in for smaller or larger roles; for example we get a picture of Commander Vimes as he's seen from the other side of the law. The role of Gaspode the Wonder Dog doesn't seem quite to work, but it's a minor matter. Terrific as always.
William de Worde sends out a monthly newsletter to foreign royalty, but when a group of dwarfs brings a printing press to Ankh-Morpork,
Obviously, The Truth deals with the idea of truth and the value placed on it. Sometimes it seems that nobody cares about the truth, because a lie is more convenient or maybe just more interesting. But isn’t it important that the truth is out there?
“Someone has to care about the… the big truth.”
William is the son of Lord de Worde but has fallen out with his father and now lives on his own, making money off his words. However, William’s background still has a huge effect on his character. He can try to change himself, but he can’t completely erase his background. This works to make William both a flawed but interesting protagonist.
I also love the supporting cast. The Truth features both Vimes and Vetinari, who are both wonderful. Then there’s a couple new characters introduced who are employees of the Times – Sacharissa and Otto. I particularly love Otto, a vampire photographer who crumbles into dust whenever he uses the flash.
“We’ve always been privileged, you see. Privilege just means ‘private law.’ That’s exactly what it means. He just doesn’t believe the ordinary laws apply to him. He really believes they can’t touch him, and that if they do he can just shout until they go away.”
The group of “concerned citizens” out to remove Vetinari are doing so largely out of a sense that the city is no longer “our sort of people” and a desire to get back to the “good old days.” Another large part of The Truth is dealing with this sort of prejudice.
“William wondered why he always disliked people who said “no offense meant.” Maybe it was because they found it easier to say “no offense meant” than actually to refrain from giving offense.”
From a plot wise perspective, it’s easy to figure out who’s behind the attempt to remove Vetinari. The fun comes in seeing how the staff of the Times reacts to the challenges thrown there way.
The Truth is a delightful entry into the Discworld series, if not one of my favorite. I would recommend it to anyone looking to try the series, particularly if you have more than a passing interest in journalism.
Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
On the lighter side, as they say in the paper, we have amusingly shaped vegetables, a vampire who's taken the pledge and Gaspode the talking dog.
I'm not entirely sure what to think about this book. The whole thing is very Pratchett, with plenty of sections that left me literally laughing out loud (sometimes to the concern of those around me). On the other hand, there were parts that I didn't feel really worked, such as Mr. Tulip's manner of cursing ("Too ---ing right"). I'd say that, on the whole, the book's satirical bent tended to interfere with the storytelling. It was good in pieces, but not necessarily in large chunks. Still, it's quite funny. Go ahead and give it a read.
The Truth like the other two books I've
The main focus of the story though, is on a local wordsmith, William de Worde who is Ankh-Moorpork's local bard turned newspaper reporter. He and some industrious Dwarves and an overly enthusiastic vampire photographer have found a way of turning lead into gold: the hard way. They have invented the printing press and they are going head-to-head with Commander Vimes to get to the truth behind the Patrician's alleged crime.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the newspaper and the trouble they had gaining legitimacy. I found the mystery part of the book took too long to get off the ground compared to the fast-pacing of Men at Arms.
I have a slight bias for Discworld books taking place in Ankh-Morpork, so I knew I'd enjoy this book before I had started
And while this is evolving by the day, there is a plot to unseat the patrician, and replace him with a stooge. As is usual, this fails, but does so in a convelouted way that keeps the watch and the press guessing until the very end.
The usual cast of characters pretty much just have bit roles in this installment, but that's ok. Seeing them pop up is like saying hi to old friends. And as usual, Pratchett does a great job fleshing out the new characters in a fun and colorful way.
Is this a groundbreaking Discworld novel? Well, no. But it is everything you'd want. Those who pick this volume up will enjoy a visit to the familiar, absurd and wacky... which is just as it should be.