Hogfather (Discworld)

Fans will welcome back Susan, Death of Rats (the Grim Squeaker), Albert and the wizardly faculty of Unseen University and revel in new personalities like Bilious, the "oh god of Hangovers." But you needn't have read Pratchett before to laugh uproariously and think seriously about the meanings of Christmas. --Nona Vero, Amazon.com

Reader Reviews:

What kinds of strange and curious creatures do you think exist ? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Thanks to this book I am now acquainted with all kinds of possible and impossible beings. I have read all the Discworld novels and I can say, that this one is one of the best. I especially liked the idea of tod taking over the job of the missing Hogfather - with Nobby sitting on his bony knees waiting for a present. Hard to put down!! Let me also recommend reading Tino Georgiou's bestseller--The Fates--if you missed it!

A pure delight and a histerically funny tale about a different Christmas... and "haute cuisine" (0/0 people found this helpful)

I confess immediately that I am addicted to Pratchett and greatly enjoyed almost all of the Discworld novels - and here is what I consider his second best (number 1 in my book being "Small gods"). And Pratchett's second best is still a great masterpiece. The story is quite simple - on the Discworld there is no Christmas, but instead there is the (almost identical) Hogwatch Night. So the local Santa Claus is of course called the Hogfather. And this year there is a major problem - the Hogfather is missing and there is an urgent need for a remplacement, a back up, an interim, whatever, but the Hogwatch Night must go on! Children are waiting for their toys and a merry "ho, ho, ho".
Now, in order to replace the Hogfather, the candidate must have some important qualities: he must be a supernatural being. He must have the ability to be in many places in the same time. He must be able to travel instantly from one point to another. He must have a long experience in supernatural work necessary to keep the world in order. And the most important - he must have a 100% success in his previous line od duty. So, what do you think, who will get the job? Well, I am certain you have already guessed....
The very idea of replacing the Hogfather (Santa Claus) by... well, the guy who replaces him, was already a great idea. But it gets better. The author actually managed to keep this idea under good control, avoiding all the traps and producing an incredible amount of smart gags, funny jokes and delicious one liners, when in the same time always keeping the good taste and never allowing himself even one vulgarity. Great achievement!
But after all, most of Pratchett books are like that. So, what makes this one a masterpiece? It is the "haute cuisine" moment. Now, Pratchett always claimed that "cuisine" and food are two different things - and in this book he proves his point, describing the best and the most expensive restaurant in Ankh Morpork struggling to serve dinner to customers without any real food! Some knowledge of French will be required to appreciate this fragment of the book (or at least a French English dictionary) but otherwise this is probably the most intelligent and funniest (the most tasty) gag in all Pratchett's works until now.
To conclude, this work is a treasure - go get it! There is no excuse - you have to read it!

One of the best books I've read. (0/2 people found this helpful)

I read this book about 3 years ago but I still reckon it's one of the best Pratchett books I've read so far. I think it's just written very well as well as being very interesting. It seemed to draw me into it's pages more-so than any other Pratchett book.

Festive, funny & thought provoking (1/2 people found this helpful)

I began reading this on the ferry from the Isle of Man to Heysham to visit my family for christmas. Needless to say the 3 1/2 hour journey flashed by.

Terry Pratchett is a fantastic autor with an imagination like no other. His Discworld series focuses on many charaters in turn, but this particular novel has Death and his granddaughter Susan as the main characters. Death has to be the all time greatest discworld character and with his unique sence of humour and litleralness he will have you loving him in no time.

I found the concepts brought up in the book interesting and although fictional very thought provoking. My only gripe is, as will all Pratchett's books, is there are no chapters. It is all one long read which makes it very difficult to find a place where you can put to down to get on with other things. Then again this also gives you a very good excuse NOT to put it down.

'Hi! I'm the inner baby sitter!' (2/2 people found this helpful)

This was definitely one of my favourite Discworld books. I first started to read it at someone else's house - then I was heartbroken when I had to go and hadn't quite finished it.
Why? Firstly because I love any Discworld volume in which Death features as a central character, but also because it features my favourite character, his granddaughter Susan Sto-Helit.
So what happens in it? Well someone, or something, wants to kill the Hogfather (fat bearded man, wears red, says ho ho ho a lot, etc.) For this purpose, the assassin Teatime is employed.
Teatime is a character who appears quite amicable at first - right up until the point where he pulls out a knife and kills you stone dead. And he's also a mastermind - so his plan involves taking control over children to stop them believing in the Hogfather, accompanied by his gang of thugs.
With this plan underway, who is going to stand in for the Hogfather?
Guess.
HO. HO. HO.
Susan is currently working as a governess, a job which largely involves beating up the under-bed monsters with her trusty poker. Apart from these minor irregularities, she is leading a relatively 'normal' life, until suddenly, to put it in her words, 'the old circus comes to town', and now Susan's got to don a black robe, leave her job and go out to determine exactly what is going on . . .
One of my favourite parts of this book was possibly the idea of personified forces coming into existence as creatures, such as the Hair Loss Fairy, the Eater Of Socks and, of course, the Oh God Of Hangovers ('Well, if there's a god of wine . . .')who accompanies Susan on her quest. I like the Unseen university scenes - which are usually responsible for providing the comedy. I also liked the demonstration of Susan's fearlessness when pitted against a being that can personify itself as your worst nightmare - 'Good grief, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel, aren't you?' and the subtle appropriateness of the villain who's 'in touch with his inner child' confronted by a governess, and the irony of who becomes the Tooth Fairy's replacement. I particularly liked the end (but I don't mean to give the wrong idea, I mean that I liked the whole book but particularly liked the end). And, as usual, the plot gives the implication that Death is Not So Bad After All, and would rather prefer being the Hogfather (with his manservant Albert by way of being the Hogfather's Little Helper, naturally).
Oh yes, and there's a film adaption, which I watched when it was first on. Good, I liked it, all things taken into consideration.

Terry Pratchett

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