Soul Music by Terry Pratchett

Soul Music by Terry Pratchett is the 16th Discworld novel and the 3rd Death book. Soul Music is a parody of the music industry, specifically rock and roll. The novel starts with Ysabell and Mort dying after their carriage fell and plunged into a ravine—their deaths cause Death to leave his job and have a midlife crisis. However, with Death gone and people still dying this time, Susan (Death’s granddaughter) has to take up Death’s mantle with the help of the Death of Rats and his raven. While this is going on, Imp y Celyn (later goes by Buddy) goes to Ankh-Morpork in hopes of becoming a musician. While there, he meets a dwarf named Glod Glodsson and a troll named Lias Bluestone (he goes by Cliff). The three of them cannot afford the Musicians Guild fees, so they decide to form an illegal band called “The Band With Rocks In.” Buddy plays the electric guitar and is the main vocalist in the band; Glod plays horn, and Cliff does percussion. The novel follows the band’s short-lived but glorious time as musicians, their effect on music, and the music’s effect on them and everyone around them.

Now, onto things I liked or felt were positives. It’s Terry Pratchett, so humor, characters, world-building, and writing are all great. I’m not super familiar with the music industry and scene from 1980 and back; however, with my knowledge of it, this is a good parody. The band gets the most focus, so a lot of time and detail was put into the music and its effects on everything. Which added to the world-building and helped explore the world more. I also enjoyed the different aspects of Death and the grief that comes with it being explored more. The time spent with Susan really helps to dive deeper into the abilities and jobs of Death that weren’t as much talked about and explained. Susan also had a huge role in exploring Death as a character and how Death connects to people. Comparing the differences in how Mort and Susan viewed and approached taking on Death’s mantle was interesting. The wizard’s plotline was fun and funny. I always enjoy Cut-Me-Own-Throat-Dibbler’s business shenanigans and the chaos it brings. I won’t spoil anything, but it’s my favorite ending in the Dearth series. This is also my favorite book cover of the Josh Kirby covers.

Next are things I didn’t like and felt were negatives and people might not like. I wish there were a bit more Death in this book, and it feels like he was in this less than in the first two books. I was more okay with the few Death appearances in this than with the first two books. A lot is going on with way more characters and plotlines, so I can see why Death took more of a back seat with this. There might be too many characters with viewpoints and character viewpoint switches. The character viewpoints can sometimes come too quick, short, and overwhelming. I was fine with this as it’s rare, and everything is pretty cohesive, but there are a couple of times where I wished one character’s viewpoint was taken out so other characters could get more focus. Slow start and pacing could be better. Be aware that there are lots of references to the music scene.

I give this four stars: fun, creative, and dark. It’s definitely not my favorite Discworld book, but it’s worth the read. The Death series has four other books: Mort, Reaper Man, Hogfather, and Thief of Time. There was an animated TV series and several musical adaptations for Soul Music.