Terry Pratchett's The Nation

I finished Terry Pratchett's The Nation last night -- weeks after my wife had finished it, but not long after I had flipped it open on the bus, on the way to work one morning. Pratchett's books tend to be devoured in my house -- my wife, my daughters and me, where the addiction first got started. My wife and I picked up the Nation at Waterstone's on Sauchiehall Street, in Glasgow, when we were on holidays in Scotland. I think we got it before its North American release. We usually have to wait until after Christmas to read a new Pratchett book, since it's usually bought as a Christmas present for someone. Not this time around, however.

The Nation is a departure of sorts for Pratchett. It's not a Discworld novel. It's set in a new world, very much like our own, but slightly askew. I'm not sure if the novel was intended for young readers, as it featured young protagonists -- but Pratchett doesn't do well writing for a young audience. If he's writing for a younger audience, he's specifically targeting the smarter, thoughtful bunch. They are the introverts. The ones who hang out in the library, and are inclined to join the library club in school and know the difference between the Dewey Decimal Classification system and the Library of Congress Classification system. Like every other Pratchett book however, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not going to review the book or give a synopsis in this post. You can find that stuff via Google. If you're a Pratchett fan, don't be afraid of the departure.

From the cover-flap of the book:

The sea has taken everything.

Mau is the only one left after a giant wave sweeps his island village away. But when much is taken, something is returned, and somewhere in the jungle Daphne—a girl from the other side of the globe—is the sole survivor of a ship destroyed by the same wave.

Together the two confront the aftermath of catastrophe. Drawn by the smoke of Mau and Daphne's sheltering fire, other refugees slowly arrive: children without parents, mothers without babies, husbands without wives—all of them hungry and all of them frightened. As Mau and Daphne struggle to keep the small band safe and fed, they defy ancestral spirits, challenge death himself, and uncover a long-hidden secret that literally turns the world upside down.