The Bookish Owl – Nation by Terry Pratchett

We’re back with a familiar author on this blog, seeing as today’s book is Nation by Terry Pratchett.

I’ll admit that this book wasn’t quite what I expected. I felt like reading something funny, so of course I went with a Pratchett book, but ‘Nation’ starts out with the main character surviving the tsunami that wipes out his entire village and he then has to bury everyone he’s ever known and loved in the sea.

So, yeah… Funny.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great book. It is very deep and enjoyable, and not as dark as the beginning leads you to believe. It was, however, not quite the right book to pick when you needed a laugh. It still has a lot of Pratchett’s usual wit to lighten the dark themes, but it’s still more serious than his other books.

Nation
by Terry Pratchett

Finding himself alone on a desert island when everything and everyone he knows and loved has been washed away in a huge storm, Mau is the last surviving member of his nation. He’s also completely alone – or so he thinks until he finds the ghost girl. She has no toes, wears strange lacy trousers like the grandfather bird and gives him a stick which can make fire.

Daphne, sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy, almost immediately regrets trying to shoot the native boy. Thank goodness the powder was wet and the gun only produced a spark. She’s certain her father, distant cousin of the Royal family, will come and rescue her but it seems, for now, all she has for company is the boy and the foul-mouthed ship’s parrot.

As it happens, they are not alone for long. Other survivors start to arrive to take refuge on the island they all call the Nation and then raiders accompanied by murderous mutineers from the Sweet Judy. Together, Mau and Daphne discover some remarkable things – including how to milk a pig and why spitting in beer is a good thing – and start to forge a new Nation.