Low Fantasy

Review: Interesting Times

Jay
Cover of the book, featuring a purpleish-blue wizard hat with "WIZZARD" written on it and a yellow butterfly with black spots on a purple background.

Title: Interesting Times

Series: Discowrld #17 (Rincewind #5)

Author: Sir Terry Pratchett

Genre: Low Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Death, blood, war, racism, xenophobia, excrement, rape (mentions), sexism, classism

Spoiler Warning: This is the 17th Discworld book and the 5th Discworld book following Rincewind, but the only spoilers here are minor spoilers for the end of the previous Rincewind book, Eric.

Back Cover:

The oldest and most inscrutable empire on the Discworld is in turmoil, brought about by the revolutionary treatise ‘What I Did on My Holidays’. Workers are uniting, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes. Warlords are struggling for power. War (and his daughter Clancy) are spreading through the ancient cities. And all that stands in the way of terrible doom for everyone is: Rincewind the Wizard, who can’t even spell the word “wizard”; Cohen the barbarian hero, five foot tall in his surgical sandals; and a very special butterfly.

Review:

Apparently the transition of the Discworld series from “silly, sometimes ridiculous romps around a fun setting” to “humorous adventures that are both ridiculous romps and full of profound themes” starts somewhere between book nine and book seventeen. Interesting Times has much more of that combination of laugh-out-loud wittiness and resonant themes that I love from the later books.

We do have to talk about the Agatean Empire, though. It’s obviously supposed to be the Discworld’s version of China – it’s in no way subtle, from the giant wall around the empire to the emperor living in the Forbidden City to the character names. But it’s taken to such an extreme that it becomes a caricature. From the three-hour ceremony required for a cup of tea to the rebels’ slogans being things like “Mild inconvenience to the oppressors with all due respect!” it crosses the line from funny to racist in many places. I don’t think it was intentional, but it is there.

Besides that unfortunate aspect, Interesting Times is a lot of fun. There were several points where attempts to not laugh out loud at work resulted in strangled choking noises that got me funny looks from coworkers. This is the funniest Discworld book that I’ve read so far. The puns, jokes, and quips are so close together that you barely have time to appreciate just how funny they are, and if one doesn’t land it doesn’t matter because there’s another one right behind it. For as many people that die gruesomely in this book, it has no right to be as funny as it is, but it’s hilarious.

It also presents several profound themes for your consideration: The distress of considering your options (or refusing to consider doing anything different) when you’re too old to do the things you did your whole life; if it’s more important for a revolution to fight for what the people want right now or to free them from the oppressive rule first and consider what they want once they have more options; how the power of belief can be exploited by rumors and lies by both sides of a conflict. It explores these ideas, but doesn’t actually give you any answers, leaving philosophical puzzles for you to mull over on your own.

And then there’s Rincewind himself, who is still a complete and utter coward, but an entertaining and likeable coward. He just wants to live a completely boring life, and no matter how hard he avoids trying to do heroic stuff, it happens anyway. I’m just waiting for the reveal that his ability to stay alive and accidentally save the world to be revealed as some sort of magic power. He is well aware of his cowardice and much cleverer than even he gives himself credit for. The more I read about him, the more I like him.

I have thoroughly enjoyed a lot of the Discworld books, but so far Interesting Times has been the best combination of relentlessly funny and thematically deep. I already had the goal of finishing the Discworld series, but knowing that future books are going to be that mix of hilarious and profound makes me even more enthusiastic to keep going.

The Discworld series:

  1. The Colour of Magic
  2. The Light Fantastic
  3. Equal Rites
  4. Mort
  5. Sourcery
  6. Wyrd Sisters
  7. Pyramids
  8. Guards! Guards!
  9. Eric
  10. Moving Pictures
  11. Reaper Man
  12. Witches Abroad
  13. Small Gods
  14. Lords and Ladies
  15. Men at Arms
  16. Soul Music
  17. Interesting Times
  18. Maskerade
  19. Feet of Clay
  20. Hogfather
  21. Jingo
  22. The Last Continent
  23. Carpe Jugulum
  24. The Fifth Elephant
  25. The Truth
  26. Thief of Time
  27. The Last Hero
  28. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
  29. Night Watch
  30. The Wee Free Men
  31. Monstrous Regiment
  32. A Hat Full of Sky
  33. Going Postal
  34. Thud!
  35. Wintersmith
  36. Making Money
  37. Unseen Academicals
  38. I Shall Wear Midnight
  39. Snuff
  40. Raising Steam
  41. The Shepherd’s Crown