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Hogfather: A Novel of Discworld | 
 enlarge | Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Eos
Category: Book
List Price: $24.00
Buy Used: $1.04
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Rating:  105 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0061050466
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780061050466
Publication Date: November 1, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: ACCEPTABLE with noted wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders are generally shipped no later than next business day. We offer a no hassle guarantee on all our items.
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Amazon.com Review
What could more genuinely embody the spirit of Christmas (or Hogswatch, on the Discworld) than a Terry Pratchett book about the holiday season? Every secular Christmas tradition is included. But as this is the 21st Discworld novel, there are some unusual twists. This year the Auditors, who want people to stop believing in things that aren't real, have hired an assassin to eliminate the Hogfather. (You know him: red robe, white beard, says, "Ho, ho, ho!") Their evil plot will destroy the Discworld unless someone covers for him. So someone does. Well, at least Death tries. He wears the costume and rides the sleigh drawn by four jolly pigs: Gouger, Tusker, Rooter, and Snouter. He even comes down chimneys. But as fans of other Pratchett stories about Death (Mort, Reaper Man, and Soul Music) know, he takes things literally. He gives children whatever they wish for and appears in person at Crumley's in The Maul. 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
Product Description
Better watch out ...It's that time of year again. Hogswatchnight. Tis the season to be jolly, to hang mistletoe and holly, and other stuff ending in olly. Tis the season when the Hogfather himself dons his red suit and climbs in his sleigh pulled by--of course!--eight hogs and brings gifts to all the boys and girls of Discworld. But this year, there's a problem. A stranger has taken the place of the Hogfather. Well, not exactly a stranger. He's actually pretty well known. He carries a scythe along with his bag of toys, and he's going to SLEIGH everyone he sees tonight. Ho ho ho. Even the laugh is wrong. The switch has been arranged by the Auditors, mysterious superbeings who want our universe to be a collection of rocks swinging in curves through space. Life is messy. Why not get rid of it? And who better than--you know who? Somebody has to rescue the real Hogfather before this morbid impostor tracks soot on the world's carpets. It's up to Ankh-Morpork's intellectual elite, the assembled wizards of Unseen University--with the help of a monster-bashing nanny, the world's worst inventor, plus a bona-fide, honest-to-god god (the oh god of hangovers, to be precise)--to come up with a plan to save the universe. And they'd better hurry. The bogus Hogfather is asking the wrong questions. Like: How come rich kids get all the nice toys? How come the poor kids are left with the cheap stuff? "That's life," he is told. Which cuts no ice with Death.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 100 more reviews...
 Not even my airport choice November 19, 2008
Robert M. Sterry (Oregon, USA)
This was my first, and accidental, entry into discworld. And while I acknowledged the cleverness of the idea I found the writing fairly ordinary, even sophomoric at times. In a way it reminded me of a cheap combination of the writing of two masters of the bizarre, Tom Sharpe and Douglas Adams. Using my standard criteria of book review; would I take it on a transatlantic plane journey? I find the answer is no.
 Happy Hogswatch Night October 26, 2008
Science nerd (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
If you aren't prepared to read satire about Christmas, do not read this book. Also, don't read this book if you haven't read two of the earlier books in the Discworld Death series (Mort and Reaper Man) and possibly Soul Music as the story will lose a lot of impact if you are not familiar with the characters. However, if you do want a to read a satire of Christmas and have read the books mentioned above, then you will find Hogfather to be a Terry Pratchett classic. Be prepared to find the assassin Teatime totally repulsive (although you have to admire someone who likes their work) and to cheer the hero Susan. I couldn't help feeling, however, that there were a lot of references to the British way of celebrating Christmas that I didn't get. Nonetheless Hogfather was well worth the read.
The worst ! April 12, 2008
Annette Muller (France)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is probably the low end of anything he has written before or since.
I've read the more recent ones, and some were quite funny, and if not just as much as the former, at least they were more intense and profound.
But everything he wrote from about a year former or later to "The Hogfather"
should be buried and forgotten.
God blees Terry Pratchett. He's given me such laughs. But not here.
 Happy Hogswatch January 19, 2008
C. Radon (Grand Rapids, OH USA)
I gave a few of this book out as Christmas presents and it's a good thing I got them early enough because I opened one to read a few pages and had to finish it. A fun, witty, and thoughtfully written book. Skyone did a good job on the TV movie (CD out in March 08) but, as usual, the book is better for its detail, pace, and completed thoughts; I'll be stocking up on the CD though, for next Christmas. A good read anytime, but I'm trying to start a fun family Hogswatch tradition.
"IT'S NICE TO DO A JOB WHERE PEOPLE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU." October 11, 2007
Michael K. Smith (Gonzales, Louisiana)
I know this is one of the most popular and highly-regarded of Pratchett's Discworld novels, but I can't decide whether that's despite or because of the fact that the plot is so difficult to get a handle on in the first two-thirds of the book. The Hogfather is more or equivalent to our Father Christmas, but with more explicit ties to Paleolithic religious beliefs. And the four huge hogs that pull his sleigh through the skies on Hogswatch Night are a far cry from Donder and Blitzen. But this year, the Hogfather is strangely missing and Death decides to takes his place, temporarily, in order to uphold people's belief in him. Why is the not-so-jolly figure in red missing? Well, that comes back to the felonious plans of Mr. Teatime, a extremely bent assassin whom even the Guild of Assassins aren't thrilled about. The other major player is Death's adopted granddaughter, Susan -- a genuine duchess working as a governess -- who has special powers that will come in very handy. Plus, there are the wizards of Unseen University, a thinking semi-machine called Hex, the Death of Rats, Medium Dave Lilywhite and his brother, Banjo, and a raven with a fixation on eyeballs. As always, there are some truly hilarious scenes, such as Death/Hogfather at the mall, giving children (and Corporal Nobby Nobbs) what they actually want for Hogswatch. Not one of Pratchett's best, but even his less successful efforts are way ahead of most writers' best.
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