Strata

by Terry Pratchett

Book Overview

THE COMPANY BUILDS PLANETS. Kin Arad is a high-ranking official of the Company. After twenty-one decades of living, and with the help of memory surgery, she is at the top of her profession.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451451112
• ISBN13: 9780451451118
• Release Date: March 1983
• Publisher: Roc
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Pre-discworld, but Pratchett at his best!

This is the first Terry Pratchett book I ever read, and it led me to keep reading him. This is not a Discworld novel, but equally as inventive. It may not be as funny as the other novels, but it has its own sense of humor and surprises. I highly recommend this if you are already a fan, and I doubly recommend it if you haven't ready any Pratchett yet. This one will get you hooked!

A different Pratchett than you may be used to

A scifi/fantasy blend about a jaded planetary designer who gets embroiled in a mission with two very alien aliens to a disc shaped world where magic appears to work, this early work by Terry Pratchett also deftly parodies Larry Niven's Ringworld as well as several fantasy tropes. This is the first book outside of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett that I have read and it will not be the last. The humor here is more subdued than with the Discworld books but it still is present more or less throughout the story. There is a sense in reading that Pratchett is finding his wings as the book progresses. The begining is a bit rigid, however by the end the author relaxes and the style becomes more playful. It was a pleasure reading this book and I strongly recommend anyone who likes Pratchett's work to give it a try.

Really good speculative fiction

Strata is fun rather than rolling-about-laughing funny - it is similar in style to Alan Dean Foster's SF comedy. In this book T.P. created an interesting and thought provoking universe in which he makes fun of human (and alien) nature, and an odd plot twist explains some of the more bizarre things that people used to believe in our history.

One Good Read...

This book was one of the first few T.Prattchet books that I read and is probably my favourite. It is more science-fiction than fantasy, looking at a fantasy world with scientific tools. This is not only a good solid read. It parodys Larry Niven's Ringworld, it introduces new and origional ideas, and has a delightful twist (I read that bit twice before I understood it). You read it again and again and see more each time.

YES

This was my first T. Pratchett book and all I can say is BRING ON THE REST! What an imagination and funnaaay! Perfect balance of the science and the fiction. Not "hard s/f".