Times up for death. He’s been handed his notice and he now has a little hourglass counting down the days till he will go. So he does what anyone might do, he quits his job and decides to go traveling. He travels exactly to where miss Flitworth needs a farmhand on her lonely farm. So he becomes a harvester. Meanwhile all the life that was supposed to run out, lingers on in the world causing all sorts of problems; especially for one Windle Poons who just wanted to not just die, but certainly also rest in peace.
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”
As always with Pratchett a lot of things are going on, both theme-wise and actionwise. Things are fought off, development is happening, fires and destruction. But not death, no death in this one as death has been retired and he’s not there when the mysterious eggs start appearing in Ankh-Morpok.
“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away…”
It seems that there should be more to say, but, as always, Pratchett handles death, fear, friendships and life in what seems like one simple swoop. There is heart and love in these characters and a deep understanding of life that makes you cry on trains, close the book and just look out the window for a while, knowing that you’re going to die, but not minding terribly, because the view is oh so lovely from where we are.
“What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?”
