Hogfather

A special kind of touch is needed for a story about supernatural assassins out to kill a jolly character in a red suit who brings presents once a year. That's especially true if the target is not Santa, but an alternate-universe character called the Hogfather. Both author Terry Pratchett and reader Tony Robinson (the sidekick on TV's "Blackadder") have that touch. Robinson effectively delivers Pratchett's offbeat, humorous prose and creates convincing voices for a cast that includes Death, his daughter, the Ogod of Hangovers, and the assassin Mr. Teatime. The twists and turns of the plot move a bit too fast in this abridged reading, making one wish this had been a six-hour production, but this is still an enjoyable listen. J.S. (c) AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 2, 1998
The master of humorous fantasy delivers one of his strongest, most conventional books yet. Discworld's equivalent of Santa Claus, the Hogfather (who flies in a sleigh drawn by four gigantic pigs), has been spirited away by a repulsive assassin, Mr. Teatime, acting on behalf of the Auditors who rule the universe and who would prefer that it exhibited no life. Since faith is essential to life, destroying belief in the Hogfather would be a major blow to humanity. It falls to a marvelously depicted Death and his granddaughter Susan to solve the mystery of the disappeared Hogfather, and meanwhile to fill in for him. On the way to the pair's victory, readers encounter children both naughty and nice; gourmet banquets made of old boots and mud; lesser and greater criminals; an overworked and undertrained tooth fairy named Violet; and Bilious, the god of hangovers, among other imaginative concepts. The tone of much of the book is darker than usual for Pratchett--for whom "humorous" has never been synonymous with "silly"--and his satire, too, is more edged than usual. (One scene deftly skewers the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas.") Pratchett has now moved beyond the limits of humorous fantasy, and should be recognized as one of the more significant contemporary English-language satirists. U.K. rights: Victor Gollanz, The Cassell Group; trans., first serial, dramatic, audio rights: Ralph Vicinanza.