One of the main “storytellers” of our time Terry Pratchett has been dead for several years, but his books continue to rank high in all sorts of ratings and win the hearts of new readers. Pratchett’s Flat World rightly occupies roughly the same place on the Olympus of science fiction along with Tolkien’s Middle-earth or Joan Rowling’s Wizarding World. But unlike the latter two writers, Pratchett was not so linear in his work; the universe he created is indeed different from anything fantasy fans have ever encountered in their lives.
Frankly, the chronology of the Flat World novels is very confusing, and you certainly shouldn’t assume that the first book written will be the perfect starting point. The fact is that Pratchett wrote his first Flat World novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983. But then he had no idea how massive his work would turn out to be at the end of the next 30 years. It was a strange, magical, flat world inhabited by wizards, dwarves, trolls, dragons and warlike heroes. Like the ancient peoples’ conceptions of the world around them, Flat World rested snugly on the backs of four elephants, which, in turn, fit on the shell of a giant tortoise.
If you think that picking up the first Flat World novel in the chronology of writing will take you on a long journey of 41 books, you are deeply mistaken. The fact is that these books are not essentially a series (a cycle or saga, as it is fashionable to say nowadays), that is, the plot of the books is not linear.
The Wizard of Rinswind and the Birth of the World
Despite the fact that the first book, The Color of Magic, and the Mad Star that follows it, open the reader to the Flat World, these works serve primarily as only a prologue to more than a dozen other novels.
In his first works Terry Pratchett talks about the social and geographical features of the World, introduces the reader to the first active characters. He does all this in his exceptional and amazing style: without the division into chapters, with many unique expressions and sparkling humor. You can find references to ancient mythology as well as classical works in his books, so his work is more than just fiction. Perhaps the word “family” more aptly describes all of his work!
The first two books were written in the style of a comic parody of Tolkien’s popular trilogy and readers’ fascination with stories of wizards, dragons, and sword battles. Fans of the genre will surely see in the character of the wizard Rinswind an “antiprototype” of Gandalf: Rinswind is a terribly inept wizard and a real magnet for all kinds of mishaps. He moves steadily on his way through difficulties and other obstacles, which, for the most part, he creates for himself.
It is worth noting that these two books are the only ones that require a linear reading. Other novels introduce new characters, and each work is quite self-contained. Thus, one can choose absolutely any book and read it separately from all the others.
By structure, the Flat World novels can be grouped into separate sub-cycles: for example, sub-cycles of individual characters (Rinswind, Death, Witches, and so on). A chronological reading sequence is also acceptable, but you won’t notice any plot linearity.
Magic and Sorcery.
The Invisible University (an institution in Flatland that teaches the basics of magic and sorcery) plays a central role in almost half the books. Chaotic in structure, the university is populated by wizards of various stripes, and in order to move up the hierarchy you must kill a fellow wizard. All this was before wizards came to the idea that the whole point and wisdom of magic is to know when not to use it. Nevertheless, you need to convince everyone around you that you have magic and can use it whenever necessary. Interestingly, Terry Pratchett himself never attended a university, though, apparently he had his own idea of how things inside live and work.
But magic in Flatland is not limited to the walls of the Invisible University! No less prominent character after Rinswind in the Pratchett book series is Esmeralda Vetrovosk, the witch. Mother Vetrovosk, as she is often called, embodies in her image the exact opposite of what Rinswind is: she is strong, fearless, stubborn, proud and extremely skilled in magical matters! Together with a third significant character, Magrat Chesnogk, they do what real witches do best: interfere in everything around them.
The image of witches is found in Pratchett’s many works, including Masquerade (1995) and Witches Abroad (1991).
Death in the Flat World
Interestingly, at the time I Wear Midnight (2010) was written, Terry Pratchett was far more seriously ill than all that was on public display. Fortunately, it turned out not to be his last book! The writer probably had a special relationship to death, in fact, this character looks special in Flatland.
It is noteworthy that a strange skeleton-like creature, wrapped in a hood on a white horse, has acquired almost the most human-like face. The works about Death are mostly about him (yes, yes, that’s him; Death is a male being in Pratchett’s novels) trying to make sense of himself, his experiences and his personification of himself as a living being, which, often, leads to disastrous consequences.
“Pestilence, Disciple of Death” (1987) tells the story of the mistake Death makes when he decides to take on an apprentice. This is another example of a book in the series where reading about the Flat World can begin with a randomly chosen work.
Fighting for Justice.
Samuel Wymes is another character in this book series, which focuses on the city guard of Ankh-Morpork, the largest population center in Flat World. Samuel is a drunken sentinel who appears in the book Sentinel! Guards” (1989). I don’t think it’s hard to guess that this character appears in various works and is quite prominent throughout the entire series of books.
Pratchett devoted a total of 10 books to the theme of the urban guards, addressing such issues as Nazism, racism, bigotry and genocide. As is often the case with Terry Pratchett, he hides such serious topics under layers of irony and humor. However, the hidden meaning or subtext, if you will, is exactly what he is read for around the world.
The development of technology
Many of Pratchett’s works are devoted to issues of gods and religion, social and national issues, but at the same time we should not forget that many books separately and as part of whole cycles tell about the process of industrialization of the Flat World. Some books can be considered stand-alone editions, in some of them there are familiar characters. Pratchett as a man took place at a time of particular influence of technology on society, and therefore he paid great attention to how technology came to the Flat World.
“Moving Pictures” is a 1990 book that brings readers back to the walls of the Invisible University. But this time the story focuses entirely on the invention of motion pictures. Of course, the creation of cinematography in a magical world unequivocally alludes to the period of early Hollywood.
Much later, in 2000, a book called The Truth is published, in which the first newspapers in Flatland and, subsequently, freedom of speech, “controlled” by the first dictator, are situated. In this work, Pratchett draws on his own experience as a journalist and also mentions some of the precepts of the true journalist.
The series of books devoted to the character of Moist von Lipwig revolves around the postal theme. This character was literally rescued from the hands of death thanks to Patricius, and then elevated to a postal position-just as the modern telecommunications network was beginning to develop in Flatland. This, in particular, is the subject of the book “Hold the Stamp!” 2004 by the publisher.
Moist appears a second time in Make Money (2007), where he was tasked with rebuilding the banking system. His service in the work oddly coincides with the global crisis, but his adventures do not end there. In 2013, another book came out, “Putting on Steam!” – a period of railroad development in Flatland World.
Flatland has long been more than a made-up location for a series of sci-fi books. There are entire maps and guides to this world, in addition, even small films about this magical land have been made. The most remarkable thing in all these stories is that you can get acquainted with them literally from the first book you come across. If you like the humor, the irony, sometimes turning into satire, and the original plot, you will surely become a big fan of Flatland and Terry Pratchett in general.