Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9016 in Books
• Published on: 1988-04-22
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
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. Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized plesiosaur in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard which reads, 'End Nuclear Testing Now', doesn't dismay the woman who built a mountain range in the shape of her initials during her own high-spirited youth. But then came discovery of something which did intrigue Kin Arad. A flat earth was something new...First published in 1981, "Strata" is an early exploration of the idea that was to become the bestselling "Discworld" series.

From the Back Cover
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. Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized plesiosaur in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard which reads 'End Nuclear Testing Now', doesn't dismay the woman who built a mountain range in the shape of her initials during her own high-spirited youth.

But then came a discovery of something which did intrigue Kin Arad. A flat earth was something new ...

Frist published in 1981, Strata is an early exploration of the idea that was to become the best-selling Discworld series.

Customer Reviews

Patchy but interesting
Readers who criticise this book as disappointing because it isn't of the same calibre as Pratchetts later works are, I think, missing the point. This was Terry Pratchett's first novel, and the reader can trace within it the seeds from which the Discworld grew. I enjoyed it and re-read it from time to time. I would agree that the middle part of the book, when Kin Arad and friends are searching for the answer to their problems, sometimes seems to lack direction - it fragments into a series of vignettes which although entertaining do not always seem to move the plot onwards particularly well. However if such a novel were to be published today by an unknown author, as Pratchett was at that time, I suspect that it would get reasonably good reviews, possibly including some of the comments I have made but almost certainly ending with '...this author has promise and will probably prodice some excellent stuff in the future', and who would say that Terry Pratchett has not done just that?

Criticising this book because it is the product of an unformed talent is the equivalent of rubbishing Equal Rites because the Granny Weatherwax in that book is not at all the same towering character we meet in later books like Witches Abroad, so; read and enjoy, remember it is an early work, and forgive it its imperfections.

The only novel by Pratchett I regret buying
I found this book poor. The start was okay, but the middle and end were boring. It failed to grip me, I finish most of his novels in 2 or 3 days, but this took me several months of forced reading to complete, I continued because I was sure that it would get somewhere near the standards of Pratchett's other books, but it didn't. I reread it to see if its failure to impress was just because of the unfamiliarity, but it wasn't. The plot is poor, the characters don't seem real, there is no philosphy and very few good jokes. This is advertised as "an introduction to discworld" and "an exploration of the ideas that became the discworld series", yet it isn't, it is a lame story about a woman finding an enclosed mass with lifeforms on in the shape of a disc, there is hardly any explanation as to how it works, questions asked but not answered. The use of a genie seems closer to plaguerism than parody here. Everything about this is vastly inferior to things in a good book, especially one by Pratchett, one of the greatest novelists around. Those who review this and give it 5 stars, must have some sort of mental illness, refuse to give the great Terry Pratchett a bad review, be impressed by any novel of more literary value than "Spot the Dog", be drunk when writing their review, or have failed to actually read the book and given it 5 stars because of the author. I am not just one raving critic that hates this book, 10 friends who have read this also found it poor.

"Dark Side of the Sun" is vastly superior book, although still not reaching the standards of the "Bromeliad" trilogy or most in the "Discworld" series, and is of a similar standard to the "Johnny Maxwell" trilogy.

I don't normally write critical reviews, but when I saw that this had an average rating of over 4 stars I decided I should ensure that the balance shifted slightly in the right direction, and to try my hardest to warn people not to bother. I would urge anyone considering buying this to think again, and if you are really desperate to read this despite all I've said, don't waste your money, borrow it from the library or a friend. This is only worth the paper it's printed on, nothing more. Avoid buying it.

The real 1st Discworld novel?
The second of two pre-Discworld science fiction novels, Strata is unfortunately a less enjoyable novel than The Dark Side of the Sun. Its most notable feature is that the novel revolves around a proto-Discworld, and while it isn't quite THE Discworld introduced in The Colour of Magic it's certainly a recognisable first draft.

The novel starts well, with a good build up as the three lead characters are drawn into a trip to the recently discovered Discworld, and the final revelation of what the Discworld is and who built it is satisfying, but there is a definite sag in the middle of the story, as the few Discworld inhabitants the exploration meet are decidedly dull. Thematically this is a sound novel, but the execution is sometimes a little flat.

A reasonably interesting but not wholly successful novel, Strata is best recommended as a curio for those Discworld fans who wish to see how Pratchett developed his ideas.