Thud!

“Thud!” by Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite novels in his expansive ‘Discworld’ series. It follows the head of the city Watch (like this universe’s police force) Samuel Vimes as he embarks on his first duty as ambassador to another country.

“Thud!” is a mixture of fantasy, science fiction and detective story as Vimes unravels a conspiracy between the warring races of Dwarves and Trolls, discovering secrets about both as the story continues.

This is one of Pratchett’s newer novels (he is very prolific, with a new book out ever year or two), and by this point it’s very evident that he knows his characters very well. Of his dozens of books, Vimes has made only a handful of appearances as a leading character but each book reveals new aspects of his personality. In “Thud!”, he is taking on a new role as a nobleman after marrying a noblewoman, and has yet to strike harmony between this and his position of Watch Commander. When the plot takes a turn for the worst during his diplomatic duties, Vimes needs to realize he can use both aspects of his new life and set things right in ways he couldn’t before.

One of my favorite things about the Discworld novels is their very casual form of continuity. “Thud!” is enjoyable on it’s own, but read as part of the 30+ book series, you really understand the characters and the existing backstory and can appreciate the in-jokes and dry wit of Pratchett. I’ve only read a few of the books, but it’s very clear that they interlock in ways that are very enjoyable and rewarding as a “loyal” reader.

Pratchett has a knack for creating very strong, interesting character that can hold the reader’s attention for multiple books. He writes books focused on certain groups of recurring characters, like witches, the Watch, or the city’s mailroom. It’s very convenient for the reader because if they like a certain set of characters more than others, they can seek out those novels without disrupting their understanding of what’s going on.

Discworld has grown to become a massive franchise (at least in the UK), sporting the impressive book series, a board game, two animated movies, and three live-action mini-series. Terry Pratchett, in my opinion, is comparable to a modern-day Tolkien in terms of world-building stories. If you are familiar with his work, then the amount of time Pratchett has invested in the characters, the cities, countries, customs and pantheon is remarkable. It is faintly reminiscent of the way Tolkien built up the different characters and their settings in any of his novels, and I think that Pratchett comes closest to capturing the same expansive fantasy feel.

Coraline

“Coraline” by Neil Gaiman is one of the darkest children’s books I’ve ever read (trumped slightly by Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”). The novel pulls from a lot of different sources, resulting in a children’s story that reads more like an uncut Grimm fairytale.

A lot of Gaiman’s children’s fiction kind of makes you do a literary double take; at first it seems pretty normal until he throws in that extra sentence (or some sort of grisly murder) that makes you stop for a second to realize what’s going on. Example: Coraline lives in an old house, with a door to another world. Cute! Enchanting! …And in the other world lives a bedlam that collects the souls of dead children after she’s cut out their eyes and trapped them in the walls.

He layers oddity upon oddity until you get the most quietly gruesome, twisted stories imaginable. Of course, this really just makes me love his stories. I might not have been the kid at 8 or 10 who would’ve enjoyed his children’s books, but I really wish I’d been. In his talk at MIT, he mentioned that kids often want the most ultimate kinds of justice, that they want the most satisfying ends, and that they can definitely handle the rougher stories. I often told my friends and family that he was the worst children’s author in the world, but I have to say, he really makes a point by saying that you don’t need to stuff children’s literature full of unicorns and candy to be suitable. Throughout history, children’s stories have been insanely grizzly; Grimm, Anderson and Perrault were no Dr. Seusses. If you told your kid the original Little Red Riding Hood, there’s no way he/she would stray off the path or stay out after dark. Because they’d be eaten. And that’s all. No woodsmen to save them in the original story; in some versions, the kid doesn’t even get to grandma’s house at all. She talks to a strange wolf, then gets eaten.

So in many ways, Neil Gaiman is just returning to cautionary storytelling. Coraline is fussy, impatient and ungrateful, and the story leads her to discover how to be thankful for the life she’s been given. Gaiman is pretty tame by historical standards, since his protagonists (nearly) always end up happy or sometimes with a better life than they started with. The journey can sometimes be rough and incredibly dark, but the aspect of danger and adventure is often a driving force in a story trying to teach a lesson.

The Hobbit

“The Hobbit” is one of the defining novels in the fantasy genre, and has held up for decades against more contemporary works (including three “sequels”). It combines all the classic characteristics of the hero’s journey with Tolkien’s trademark adventurous themes and world-building. “The Hobbit” began some of the most iconic characters and stories in literature, and has become a staple in most libraries and summer reading lists.

Surprisingly, Bilbo, the hero of the story, is as unlikely as they come. He is from a small town, has no real ambition, no yearning for adventure, and is even fairly advanced in years (even for a hobbit). However, when opportunity comes knocking on his door in a wizard’s hat, he is (forcefully) convinced to take hold of his destiny and be a driving force in it.

While this might be an familiar scene for many fantasy readers, the particulars of the situation isn’t in the slightest. Bilbo is in every way the underdog, and really doesn’t mind being so. However, Tolkien leads him through the same challenges and mental roadblocks that the standard hero often is lead through, and the outcome remains basically the same for both characters. Through his various experiences on his journey, Bilbo is changed. Whether or not he enjoys the fact, he is no longer ordinary by any means, and maybe never was to begin with.

Tolkien shows that no one can be ordinary; we all have that potential within us, and whenever it is released it will change us. We cannot be truly content until we have tapped into the hero within ourselves, whether that is as grandiose as a fantasy-fueled treasure hunt or just a quiet journey through a mainly mundane life. We all want to know ourselves, and the hero’s journey is the prime example of how we can better get to know ourselves as said “hero”.

Bilbo’s journey tests him in many ways: his wit, his will and his overall sense of self. He wins some, loses others, but can only come through as a conqueror of his own destiny. This is because no matter the outcome, he took control. He turned a tumultuous situation into a hero’s journey, and while it might not have sprouted of his own free will, it certainly ended that way. Bilbo is the primary example of an unlikely hero twisting destiny through a journey, and is the mainstay for fantasy novels wanting to explore the twists of the hero’s journey.

A Game of Thrones

R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” is a complex fantasy (part of his lengthy “A Song of Ice and Fire” series) following in the footsteps of many classic works. And although it might appear at the surface to be merely a homage to past novels, “Game of Thrones” twists the genre entirely, combining fantasy elements with plot devices reminiscent of a good detective novel. There’s twists and turns, false leads and slow-revealing clues; all of which add a new layer of depth to which might have been considered a standard fantasy novel.

The characters are another aspect which make this novel more modern and interesting. Ned Stark, who could be considered the lead, is the basic hero-type , but without the willingness to become the hero. He realizes the futility of a life in service to honor (in this case, the king), and instead chooses in many cases to do what he considers is best for his immediate family and his subjects. In a world coming out of a great war for the crown, Ned just wants the peace he fought for to be maintained. Amidst his strange setting, Ned is ultimately a realist and prizes his family’s well-being above any thought of personal glory.

Dany is also an interesting and unlikely hero. Once a princess, she and her brother were cast away from the throne as infants and sent into exile. They now live on the outskirts of “civilization”, and she is wed to the leader of a war-like band of nomads. Although this might seem like a typical role in fantasy novels, Dany is neither the shy, modest princess nor the warrior queen seen in many novels. When we are first introduced to her, she is nothing more than an emotionally and physically abused child who bends to her brother’s will to survive. However, she eventually breaks free of his control and comes into her own power as she learns how to use her intelligence to change her situation.

“Game of Thrones” has the potential to redefine the modern fantasy epic through it’s imaginative characters, captivating plot and epic length. It’s nod to more traditional works help to win over readers immediately, and the new twists it incorporates keep them intrigued for thousands and thousands of pages.

This novel shows that there are a lot of different ways fantasy can be presented, and that not every part of it has to be far-fetched. While the setting and many of the scenarios are fantastical, Martin’s characters stay very real and grounded. Even at 400 pages into the book, I was unsure of which characters I should be cheering for; they all had good qualities and dark secrets, and many of them had circumstances which might explain their behavior. I think that Martin’s characters have the kind of personalities which are often neglected in literature in general; there’s really no boring characters or stories going on.