SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: November 2021] Soul Music
This book is about Music With Rocks In! (With a timeless CD on the cover). But it’s also about Death having (another) existential crisis.
The book opens with the explanation of why Death had a granddaughter. For reasons all his own, Death rescued a baby girl, Ysabell, and took her home. He allowed her to age for sixteen years and then she stopped aging.
He also hired an apprentice named Mort who best Death (which Death allowed, truth be told) in a fight.
So Mort and Ysabell fell in love and were sent back to the real world where they had a daughter, Susan. Susan technically wasn’t related to Death, but Death was her grandfather so…..
Susan went to boarding school, where she had an uncanny ability to be unseen–even by her teachers. She was also very smart (Neither of these things made her teachers very happy). Susan could also see things that others couldn’t. And she found this upsetting. Like when a rat that seemed to be more skeleton than anything else looked at her and said SQUEAK? As the book opens we learn that her parents have just died in an accident.
The second part of the story–about Music–starts when a boy from LLamedos named Imp y Celyn. I’d always assumed this meant he was Spanish, but I understand with this reading this is actually a Welsh joke). Imp y Celyn translates into “bud of the holly.” Imp was an amazing bard with a gorgeous harp that had been handed down for generations. He decided to go to Ankh-Morpork to seek his fortune.
Meanwhile, back in Death’s Domain, Death is having an existential crisis–both of his children have died, after all. He would very much like to forget. Forget what? Anything.
I REMEMBER EVERYTHING, DOORKNOBS. THE PLAY OF SUNLIGHT ON HAIR. THE SOUND OF LAUGHTER. FOOTSTEPS. EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. AS IF IT HAPPENED ONLY YESTERDAY. AS IF IT HAPPENED ONLY TOMMOROW.
(Death always talks in all caps). So he sets out to forget. First by drinking a lot (it goes right throug him). And then by joining the, um, wotsit? Thingy. The foreign legion.
When Imp arrives in Ankh-Morpork he is instantly told that if he wants to play music he needs to join the Musician’s Guild (which costs more money than he has). In the waiting room for the Guild he meets Lias Bluestone, a troll with drums (rocks, really) and Glod Glodsson, a dwarf with a bronze horn. They agree to join forces to try to make enough money to join the Guild.
While the trio is making plans, Imp’s harp is destroyed and they wind up going to a music shop (was it even there yesterday?) and buy Imp a guitar that seems to sing whenever Imp is even near it. They decide to call themselves The Band with Rocks In and try to find places to play where the Guild won’t notice them.
Back in Death’s Domain, with no Death nearby, Susan (being Death’s closest relative) was called by the Death of Rats to take over. The Death of Rats takes her to meet a raven who can actually talk to her (ravens and wizards share some magical properties). They introduce her to Death’s horse, Binky, but she remembers Binky. And Binky remembers her. She had spent some time with her grandfather when she was little. He tried very hard but he got everything wrong (like the tree swing that went through the trunk of the tree).
Susan is compelled to take over for Death (we know what happened last time he went on holiday), but when she sees Imp, she feels that it’s not fair for a young person who sees to be making people happy with his music to die. The show is in the Mended Drum where axes are thrown without cause or care. One is supposed to hit imp (who is now calling himself Buddy) but somehow he survives–as if his life is powered by music.
The Band With Rocks In, powered by music becomes huge. Even the wizards are into it (one of them starts wearing a leather jacket!). They try to experiment with the music and find that it can be captured by magic, too. This provides some of the best humor, especially since Mustrum Ridcully is so annoyed by them all. There even appears, briefly, a motorcycle.
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler becomes their manager and sends them on a tour. Each event brings in a ton of money, but also a ton of destruction.
Meanwhile, Susan is trying to figure things out but she keeps an eye on Imp/Buddy, even interfering when the Guild’s hitmen track them down.
But the music is taking its toll on Buddy–he is more and more possessed by it and less and less himself. The crowds are getting bigger, the danger is growing and there’s only so much Susan can do.
Pratchett magics up some endings, but they work nicely and it’s all very satisfying.
I’m not sure why I haven’t included the list of all Discworld books in these posts yet, but here’s the list
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. Faust 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
Leave a Reply