Review: Hogfather

Title: Hogfather
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 978- 0-06-105905-6

Yet again we venture into the Diskworld. In the dead of winter a nefarious plot is hatched to do away with a figure of some prominence.  Meanwhile, Susan - Death's granddaughter - is busily protecting her wards from boogiemen, when a sense of remembering the future hits her. Soon a struggling Tooth Fairy is kidnapped, imps and impossible anthropomorphic personifications are popping into existence, and Death himself is posing as the Hogfather (a version of Santa Claus). Susan must find out why? Where is the Hogfather? And who is behind his disappearance? Humor abounds in this tale. In the end, Susan learns the necessity of the magic and little lies of childhood and the Hogfather.

Terry Pratchett's Death is by and far my favorite character in his books and by association Susan is no slouch either. The story is well told with excellent "flawed" mirroring of our world - ie: the Hogfather in place of Santa Claus - adding a great element of humor. Terry uses sound theories and explanations - well as much as possible in a story including magic and fantasy elements - to prop up and give depth to the story.  By and far, the reading of a few pages quickly shows how this particular story gained in popularity to the point it was made into a movie by BBC. One which I take pleasure in watching every Christmas Season and have managed to use to gain converts to the works of Terry Prachett.

Additionally, Prachett uses footnotes to add humorous asides to the main story. They aren't necessary to the story, but reading them adds an extra depth that would be sorely lacking should he desist in the practice. I highly recommend reading this story, or at least slacking of for an evening of watching the BBC movie.