The Truth: A Novel of Discworld

"Pratchett's The Truth will set you free—and laughing. . . . If 'Dr. Who' had been conceived, written and performed by Monty Python's Flying Circus, the result might be something like Discworld . . . . [The Truth] sets its sights on an enduring institution, the news media, and skewers it." — CNNAnkh-Morpork gets its first newspaper, unleashing a war of words and a battle for the truth in this in this funny, wise, and prescient novel in Sir Terry Pratchett’s internationally bestselling Discworld series.The Discworld has seen just about everything. Then comes the Ankh-Morpork Times, its first paper of record, edited by struggling scribe William de Worde, and staffed by a band of axe-wielding dwarfs and a recovering vampire with a life-threatening passion for flash photography.Reporting the news is a risky business. An ethical journalist, de Worde has a nasty habit of investigating stories that quickly create powerful enemies eager to stop his presses. And what better way than to start the Inquirer, a titillating tabloid that conveniently interchanges what’s real for what sells.When de Worde gets a tip on a hot story concerning Ankh-Morpork’s leading patrician, Lord Vetinari, all hell breaks loose, leaving the city without a leader. The facts say Lord Vetinari is guilty. But as William de Worde learns, facts don’t always tell the whole story. There’s that pesky little thing called . . . the truth.The Discworld novels can be read in any order but The Truth is a standalone.

Amazon.com Review

The Truth, Pratchett's 25th Discworld novel, skewers the newspaper business. When printing comes to Ankh-Morpork, it "drag(s) the city kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat." Well, actually, out of the Century of the Fruitbat. As the Bursar remarks, if the era's almost over, it's high time they embraced its challenges. William de Worde, well-meaning younger son of reactionary nobility, has been providing a monthly newsletter to the elite using engraving. Then he is struck (and seriously bruised) by the power of the press. The dwarves responsible convince William to expand his letter and the Ankh-Morpork Times is born. Soon William has a staff, including Sacharissa Cripslock, a genteel young lady with a knack for headline writing, and photographer Otto Chriek. Otto's vampirism causes difficulties: flash pictures cause him to crumble to dust and need reconstitution, and he must battle his desire for blood, particularly Sacharissa's. When Lord Vetinari is accused of attempted murder, the City Watch investigates the peculiar circumstances, but William wants to know what really happened. The odds for his survival drop as his questions multiply.The Truth is satirical, British, and full of sly jokes. Although this cake doesn't rise quite as high as it did in previous volumes, even ordinary Pratchett is pretty darn good, and those who haven't read a Discworld novel before can start here and go on to that incredible backlist. --Nona Vero

From Publishers Weekly

The 25th book (after The Fifth Elephant) in the Discworld series returns to the thriving city of Ankh-Morpork, where humans, dwarfs and trolls share the streets with zombies, vampires, werewolves and the occasional talking dog. Young William de Worde makes a modest living running a scribing business, including a newsletter of current events for a select subscription list. Then he meets dwarf wordsmith Gunilla Goodmountain, inventor of the printing press, who helps transform de Worde's newsletter into a daily called The Ankh-Morpork Times (subhead: The Truth Shall Make Ye Free). While the city's civil, religious and business leaders are up in arms over The Times, Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, encourages the advance--as long as it remains a "simple entertainment that is not going to end up causing tentacled monsters and dread apparitions to talk the streets eating people." In the meantime, as de Worde's staff grows and a type turns the subhead to "The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret", two shadowy characters are hired to remove the Patrician--permanently. Pratchett's witty reach is even longer than usual here, from Pulp Fiction to His Girl Friday. Readers who've never visited Discworld before may find themselves laughing out loud, even as they cheer on the good guys, while longtime fans are sure to call this Pratchett's best one yet. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

"The dwarfs can turn lead into gold." So says the rumor in the medieval-cum-Victorian city of Ankh-Morpork, and like many other improbable things in Pratchett's twenty-fifth Discworld yarn, it turns out to be true. For a crew of dwarf printers has smuggled a press into the city, in defiance of city ruler Lord Vetinari's edict against such machines, and found a canny newsman-editor in young William de Worde, rebellious second son of a rich, powerful, scheming nobleman. William and the dwarfs' subsequent success is helped immeasurably by the arrival, simultaneously with that of the press, of Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, professional thugs, to aid a secretive cabal plotting to replace Vetinari with a more pliant, corruptible successor. In the end, Pin, Tulip, and cabal are foiled, thanks to crusading journalism. Pratchett keeps the thin-gruel plot palatable with his usual array of seasonings--cartoonish characters, screwball dialogue, slapstick action, silly names (some of the dwarf printers' monickers are variants of type-style names), and pop-cultural allusions (horror-movie mavens who look sharp will have a field day). Two of the most amusing Discworldians this time are the chemical-ingesting (anything to get a rush), art-savvy hitman Tulip, and the iconographer (i.e., photographer) Otto Chriek, a vampire who has taken the pledge (no more, uh, you know--the b-word), and whose flash technique occasionally reduces him to ashes. Light-hearted, Monty Pythonish stuff that fans of, say, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, shouldn't miss. Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

London Times"Pratchett's The Truth will set you free

“With his humor and endless invention, Terry Pratchett has rightly dominated the fantasy genre. The Truth shows that he is still the master. . . . Pratchett’s imagination shows no signs of flagging. On the contrary, The Truth is an unmitigated delight and very, very funny.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Pratchett’s witty reach is even longer than usual here, from Pulp Fiction to His Girl Friday. Readers who’ve never visited Discworld before may find themselves laughing out loud, even as they cheer on the good guys, while longtime fans are sure to call this Pratchett’s best one yet.”

From the Back Cover

Terry Pratchett's acclaimed Discworld novels have been number one bestsellers in England for more than a decade. In fact, this prolific author sold more hardcover books in the United Kingdom during the 1900's than any other living novelist. Critically recognized as one of the most celebrated practitioners of satire and parody -- in the company of Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen -- Pratchett, with his unique brand of irreverent humor, is at last being embraced across America.In this, his twenty-fifth Discworld novel, Pratchett turns his pen on, well, the pen. Or, rather, the press, and its power to disseminate and create the truth. The lesser son of one of Ankh most privileged families, William de Worde a struggling scribe, hits on the brilliant idea of producing his upper-crust newsletter with a newfangled printing press.Truer to the family motto, Le Mot juste, than his disapproving father can ever realize, de Worde soon finds that his Ankh-Morpork Times is a success. So big, in fact, that certain nefarious factions would like nothing better than to put him out of business. They begin their own rival Ankh-Morpork Inquirer--full of salacious bits -- to do just that. Soon, though, de Worde has more than just the competition to fret over. Lord Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, is accused of a serious crime in a seemingly airtight case. But William de Worde knows that facts aren't always the truth. Along with a much too prim and proper assistant, a roving photographer vampire with a nasty reaction to his flashgun, and a talking dog who holds the key to the mystery, William de Worde will stop at nothing to get the truth.And that's the truth.A dead-on look at the revered fifth estate, the nature of news, and bareknuckled political intrigue, The Truth shall make you free. From everything else you'd be doing instead of enjoying it, that is.

From The Washington Post

"Just consider yourself grabbed by the collar with me shouting 'you've got to read this book!"

About the Author

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) is the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

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