Reviews tagging 'Death'

Mummenschanz by Terry Pratchett

7 reviews

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Terry Pratchett has a stab at satirising opera in his own version of the story of the Phantom.
I do find it funny that he has a Frank Spence like character (given that he is played by Michael Crawford who has also sung the part of the Phantom of the Opera).

This is technically a Witches story though there is some crossover with the Watch, and a cameo from the Librarian.

All the characters behave as they ought.
I think it's a bit naff that we lean so hard into the fatphobia in this offering, but the plot is a solid whodunnit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fatphobia, Blood, Violence, and Death

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

The Witches are my favourite Discworld series but I thought this was the weakest one so far. However I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Indira Varma with Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz and I definitely enjoyed the story more because of that. The plot was pretty entertaining but I missed some references because I'm not really familiar with the story of The Phantom Of The Opera. Also I didn't feel like Agnes was dealt with particularly sympathetically as a fat character which did affect my enjoyment a bit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death and Ableism

woweewhoa's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Ableism

Moderate: Death and Murder

bookgraham's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Eating disorder and Classism

bluejayreads's review against another edition

3.75

Granny Weatherwax is a pretty neat character idea, but she’s also my biggest frustration with the Witches subseries. She’s mean, passive-aggressive, won’t admit she’s wrong, and determined to make people do what she thinks is best for them regardless of their opinions on the matter. Luckily for my enjoyment of this book, Granny is slowly starting to get a little bit better, and Agnes, the third protagonist along with Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, is even more fed up with Granny than I am. 

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have decided that Agnes should become their third witch now that Magret has escaped from under Granny’s thumb. Agnes, though, hates the very idea, and instead takes her spectacular vocal talent to Ankh-Morpork to become an opera singer. Granny and Nanny come up with an excuse to follow her there and interfere. Also the plot of Phantom of the Opera is going on, complete witha mysterious black-suited mask-wearing opera house “ghost,” murders, and a gorgeous lead singer named Christine (although this Christine can’t actually sing). 

Agnes is prodigiously fat, and though this doesn’t bother her in the slightest, there is a lot of fatphobia from others and some of the humor is based around fatphobic jokes. Although there is quite a bit of actual humor, as well. It’s definitely not as funny as some of the other Discworld books, but I think it’s the funniest of the Witches books so far. 

There’s not really anything here that I would call a main plot. There’s the whole Phantom of the Opera thing, which mainly becomes a whodunit mystery trying to figure out who is the opera house ghost so they can stop him from murdering people, Agnes trying to find where she fits into the world of opera, Granny doing her best to meddle in everything (with Nanny cheerfully along for the ride), and a very bizarre subplot about an Ankh-Morpork-born opera singer pretending to be a foreigner and really hating how everyone goes out of their way to feed him foreign food that he doesn’t like but requesting the Ankh-Morpork food he does like would blow his cover. No, I’m not sure what the point is supposed to be either. 

Though I can’t say I’m a particular fan of how things worked out for Agnes in the end, overall this was a solid book. It kept me interesting, it made me laugh, I liked Agnes a lot, and Granny Weatherwax’s more enraging aspects were toned down. It’s not my favorite Discworld book, but it’s definitely not my least favorite, and it may be my favorite of the Witches books so far. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming and Ableism

Minor: Blood

chemicalcain's review against another edition

2.0

Lots of ableism and fatphobia in this one. By that I mean fatness is one of the primary jokes. One of my least favorite Pratchett books so far.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Death, and Violence

vanadiumbean's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I love Discworld and I love the Witches series. This has the humor vital to any Discworld book, and Nanny and Granny are up to their usual hijinks. The mystery is also compelling; I was trying my best to work it out right up to when things got revealed. I also really enjoyed the character of Agnes, as best I could around some of the kind of nasty fatphobia surrounding her in this book. That, in addition to the ableism around another character and the use of the g slur made it hard for me to enjoy this book to its fullest potential. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Fatphobia

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Murder, Fatphobia, and Death

Minor: Classism, Blood, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Body shaming

The racial slur is specifically the G slur against Romani people. It is not used against individuals, instead in one of the operas they put on multiple characters are dressed up and playing characters that are meant to be "g*****". The ableism is regarding a character named Walter who is described as slow/confused and his movement and speech are described in detail as being strange and it's kind of dehumanizing. In addition to THAT (major spoiler for the climax of the book/the mystery)

Walter's unnamed disability is essentially healed/removed with magic

In comparison to that, the fatphobia is a bit less dramatic. It's weird because, for example, Nanny Ogg is also a fat character, but she doesn't get treated by other characters quite like Agnes, Agnes being fat and undesirable because of it is a plot point. In addition Ogg is allowed to express sexuality and the joke, at least to me, feels more like it's funny because she's so frank about it and not that it's funny because she's fat or old. Meanwhile Agnes is stated to be undesirable Because she's fat and the ongoing joke of people stating positive things about her in the wake of her being fat (the "nice hair and good personality" joke) is honeslty kinda mean.