Maskerade FROM OUR EDITORS
I often wonder what Terry Pratchett's version of a bad book is; it's one of those pleasant, futile imaginative exercises as I don't actually think he can write one. In Maskerade, he's in fine form as Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax attempt to add a third witch to their coven. Well, actually, they do a lot more than that, being witches, and they do it in inimitable style (which is probably a good thing). Unfortunately, they're not quite in their element; they're at the Opera House. The haunted Opera House. Anyone who's familiar with The Phantom of the Opera and who retains a sense of humour about it will get a certain added amusement out of the bit players: a vapid young blond named Christine who faints at convenient times, a put-upon theatre owner who isn't informed of the history of the building itself, and, well, a Ghost. Murder, mayhem, and more improbable plot twists than any rational person could possible believe: Grand Opera.
—Michelle West
FROM THE PUBLISHER
It's true, there's a ghost in the Opera House of Ankh Morpork. Sardonic, flamboyant and, well, ghostly, it wears a bone-white Mask and terrorizes the entire company, including the immortal Enrico Basilica, who eats continuously even when he's singing. Mostly spaghetti with tomato sauce. What better way to flush out a ghost than with a witch? Or even two! And Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg happen to be in Discworld's capital city trying to recruit a third (since three witches make a coven, and two make only an argument). Enter the Opera's newest diva, the alarmingly fetching Perdita X. Nitt, who has such an astonishing range that she can sing harmony with herself, and is so agreeably large that she hangs out with the elephants in the cellar. They say that inside every fat woman there's a thin woman struggling to get out (or at least dying for chocolate). In Perdita's case, the thin woman is more ambitious, since she would also dearly love to be a witch. Beginning to get the picture? One would hope so. For this isn't cheese, it's opera, which runs on a Catastrophe Curve. And to further complicate matters, there is a backstage cat named Greebo who occasionally becomes a person just because it's so easy. Not to mention Granny Weatherwax's old friend, Death, whose scythe arm is sore from so much use. And who has been known to don a Mask ...
SYNOPSIS
Terry Pratchett does it again with Maskerade, another truly out-of-this-world blend of humor and fantasy in his always enchanting Discworld series. Maskerade, which on more than one occasion is laugh-out-loud funny, is the tantalizing story of an opera house in Discworld's capital city. This is no ordinary opera house, however; this one's haunted, and not by one of those passive hang-out-and-observe types of ghosts, either. No, this ghost is devious and dreadful and terrorizes the entire company with his pranks. Can the witch Perdita X. Nitt help save the day, and get the role she's always dreamed of landing in the process? Terry Pratchett is one of the best-selling authors in the United Kingdom; after reading Maskerade, one can surely understand why.
FROM THE CRITICS
Piers Anthony
Pratchett is fast, funny, and going places. Try him!
Oxford Times
Simply the best humorous writer of the twentieth century.
New York Review of Science Fiction
The funniest parodist working in the field today, period.
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
Consistently, inventively mad . . . wild and wonderful!
White Dwarf
The hottest writer in fantasy today.
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