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A review by colossal
Soul Music by Terry Pratchett
4.0
Part of the Pratchett reread with the SpecFic Buddy Reads group in 2018.
Death takes a break at about the same time as the Discworld latches on to yet another passing concept from elsewhere in the multiverse: Music with Rocks In. Ankh-Morpork gets hit hard by the arrival of some new musicians and soon the whole city can't get enough of the new music, particularly including some of the Unseen University faculty. Meanwhile, with Death missing, the role is picked up by his young granddaughter, Susan Sto-Helit.
In structure this book is very similar to [b:Reaper Man|34517|Reaper Man (Discworld, #11; Death, #2)|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389211958s/34517.jpg|1796454], with two main plots that barely intersect. There's the Wizards dealing with the new music (including the first glimpse of what will later be called Hex) and the band that is playing it, and a parallel plot dealing with Susan and Death and their grief over Susan's parents deaths.
Like Reaper Man, the Death plot is the star, and while it has moments of humor the way that grief is affecting both of these characters is quite profound as is the relationship that they develop because of it.
I do think that this is a slightly lesser work in the series, if only because the A-plot is a bit pointless, and the B-plot has the heavy lifting of introducing Susan. I think the processing of grief that both Death and Susan are doing throughout is very subtle and extremely well-handled.
Death takes a break at about the same time as the Discworld latches on to yet another passing concept from elsewhere in the multiverse: Music with Rocks In. Ankh-Morpork gets hit hard by the arrival of some new musicians and soon the whole city can't get enough of the new music, particularly including some of the Unseen University faculty. Meanwhile, with Death missing, the role is picked up by his young granddaughter, Susan Sto-Helit.
In structure this book is very similar to [b:Reaper Man|34517|Reaper Man (Discworld, #11; Death, #2)|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389211958s/34517.jpg|1796454], with two main plots that barely intersect. There's the Wizards dealing with the new music (including the first glimpse of what will later be called Hex) and the band that is playing it, and a parallel plot dealing with Susan and Death and their grief over Susan's parents deaths.
Like Reaper Man, the Death plot is the star, and while it has moments of humor the way that grief is affecting both of these characters is quite profound as is the relationship that they develop because of it.
I do think that this is a slightly lesser work in the series, if only because the A-plot is a bit pointless, and the B-plot has the heavy lifting of introducing Susan. I think the processing of grief that both Death and Susan are doing throughout is very subtle and extremely well-handled.