Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17902 in Books
• Published on: 1988-04-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 288 pages

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.

About the Author
Terry Pratchett is one of the most popular authors writing today. He lives behind a keyboard in Wiltshire and says he 'doesn't want to get a life, because it feels as though he's trying to lead three already'. He was appointed OBE in 1998. He is the author of the phenomenally successful Discworld series and his trilogy for young readers, The Bromeliad, is scheduled to be adapted into a spectacular animated movie. His first Discworld novel for children, THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS, was awarded the 2001 Carnegie Medal.

Customer Reviews

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.

A great book - read it!
Having read all the discworld books, it was interesting to read this book which originally started the idea off... as well as being a great storyline, the characters were intruiging, as they were so different, and, as was pointed out many times, not at all human, yet you were still caught up with their feelings and the way their relations to each other as 'aliens' progressed. i found it interesting to read a book that wasn't discworld and was very different to the style which pterry uses in those books, and despite this difference, i really enjoyed it. it also adds the intruiging possibility that our universe really was made by aliens as part of a great big construction project....

A cleverly written book which illustrates human values.
The cover is great. That's what made me pick it up in the first place and as I got further into the book I kept turning back to the cover to see what the charecters look like. It generally helps the story along. I have read a lot of Pratchett, and although this isn't his funniest, it is one of the most clever. The story starts with a letter of complaint that modern artifacts have been found in fossils. This is intruiging and makes you want to read the book. I also like the fact that the main charecter is payed in "days" of life that she can exchange for longevity. This gives some indication that the book is set in an advanced civilisation, in fact you find out later that the book is set in the past. The "alien" charecters are interesting in that they do not have human values and you find this difficult to understand, as the writer says often. This book almost introduces the discworld,- featured in his later series and as an avid reader of his books, this interests me. I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes a sharp sence of humor and realistic conversations in Sci-Fi books.