Soul Music (Discworld, #16)

Soul Music (Discworld #16)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96  ·  rating details  ·  25,885 ratings  ·  457 reviews
Soul Music is the 16th book in the bestselling Discworld series, with close ties to the fourth book, Mort. Susan Sto Helit is rather bored at her boarding school in the city of Ankh-Morpork, which is just as well, since it seems that her family business--she is the granddaughter of Death--suddenly needs a new caretaker. --Blaise Selby
Mass Market Paperback, 373 pages
Published 1995 by HarperTorch (first published 1994)
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Gavin
Not up there with the best of his stuff, but I should point out at this juncture that since Guards Guards he's been getting marked on a scale relative only to his other books. If I'd picked up this book last week written by some po-dunk nobody it'd be getting five stars and I'd be desperately googling them for websites, blogs and news of their next release.

Soul Music is a slightly unbalanced pair of narratives, one about the infringing of rock and roll into the Discworld and the other a rather s...more
Ben Crozier
Falls into the category of Disc World novels where he is moving through obvious targets such as the music or film industry lacks the bite or philosophical insight you would hope or expect.
Menteith
To this day, this book remains the best commentary on rock and roll, and the rock and roll phenomenon, that I have ever read.

The book opens with Death deciding to retire... again. This time, there's no apprentice to fill the shoes, but the apprentice had a daughter... Death's daughter. So the task of being Death falls on a young girl in a boarding school for rich, noble children who knows nothing about the skeletons in the family closet. Death of Rats, along with Albert, attempt to educate her,...more
Morgue Anne
I borrowed this book from my boyfriend (at his insistence) early in our relationship thinking "Alright, he's being cute and giving me his idea of a 'good book' because he knows I'm a reader. Just smile and pretend you liked it, Tori." To my surprise, I actually did enjoy this book. I tend to avoid the "fantasy" or "science fiction" genre, simply because I don't like learning a whole extra world, but this one was so close to our own that the transition was smooth.
Similar in concept at the very l...more
Tracey
Dec 21, 2007 Tracey rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who've sold (or at least rented for a bit) their soul to rock & roll.
Shelves: re-read
After reading some rather heavy & depressing books (James Morrow & Kurt Vonnegut), I figured I'd lighten things up with Soul Music, a re-read from the Discworld series.

Imp y Celyn, a bard from Llamedos, comes to Ankh-Morpork to find his fortune. He joins up with a dwarf and a troll, buys a mysterious guitar from an unusual music shop & discovers (or is discovered by) a new type of music - "music with rocks in". At the same time, Death begins to question his purpose and goes wandering...more
Ascexis
Sep 09, 2007 Ascexis rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Pratchett fans
This one grew on me. I don't know if I just didn't know enough about the music industry, and people, to really appreciate it, but I hated this one to start with. It seemed boring and silly (in 1994!)

At the same time though, it became associated with one of my best memories of 1995 -- a road trip from Aberystwyth to Cardiff to get the book signed by PTerry himself. Imagine two library geeks, Pratchett fen, best of mates driving through the Welsh countryside. Sunny and silly *g*.

So, the book perha...more
Rev. Nyarkoleptek
With the exception of The Color of Magic, this is the only Discworld novel I did not like. I'm not entirely sure why; maybe when compared with the lofty subject matter Pratchett has tackled in the other books, a fantasy novel about rock music seemed frivolous. Pratchett definitely belabored the Elf jokes (you'd recognize them); really, once was enough, and twice was pushing it. Past that, I was telling the pages that I got the joke, and would they cut it out. They didn't listen.

However, if I app...more
Anna
This one somehow seemed for a long time to lack the usual end twist Pratchett tends to do, but it was there in the end after all. Just a bit too late, in my opinion, since it took me quite a long time to finish this. Most Pratchett books keep me reading until too late in the evening when I get to the last hundred or so pages, here it was the last 40 or 50.

At least I understood more jokes than usual, since I had the privilege to read some samples of a thesis written about this book in particular...more
Al

When her dear old Granddad — the Grim Reaper himself — goes missing, Susan takes over the family business. The progeny of Death's adopted daughter and his apprentice, she shows real talent for the trade. That is until a little string in her heart goes "twang."

With a head full of dreams and a pocketful of lint, Imp the Bard lands in Ankh-Morpork, yearning to become a rock star. Determined to devote his life to music, the unlucky fellow soon finds that all his dreams are coming true. Well almost

...more
Eustacia Tan
Due to the dearth of Terry Pratchett in the house (I own 3 books :/), I kinda put off this reading challenge until my cousin went to the library. Because any excuse to go to the library always results in a Terry Pratchett book being borrowed.

Soul Music has a lot of things going. First, it's in Ankh-Morpork, at least most of the time. Second, it has Death, my favourite Anthropomorphic Personification WHO ALWAYS SPEAKS IN CAPS. Third, the Unseen Academy is involved. All this promises to be a humor...more
Sara
My copy of Soul Music has been read and re-read so many times that it is fluffy edged, lacking corners and badly faded. I think this pretty much sums up how much I enjoy reading this Discworld novel. Admittedly, the first time I read it when I was little I didn't get many of the jokes as I'd barely heard of rock and roll. Even now I think a few fly over my head. Here, though, is the main reason that Soul Music isn't one of my favourite Pratchett books - it relies slightly too heavily on puns, pa...more
Claire
In which we meet Death's grand-daughter...er...Susan, and discover what happens when your grandad meddles with causality... Death's attempts to make amends for this mean that Susan has to temporarily take over the family business, but she has a slight problem. Discworld has been taken over by Music With Rocks In, and its greatest talent should be dead - but the music is keeping him and his name alive. With the help of Albert, the Death of Rats (SQUEAK!) and a sarky raven called Quoth, Susan has...more
Chris
"Music is my life."

How many times have you heard that? From bona fide rock stars to teenage wannabes, there's something about music that occupies us, that possesses us and just won't let go. Even if you're not a big music lover, there are probably songs which can ease your mind, pull you out of a dark mood, or set your heart to racing. There's music that'll lift your heart and make you think the world is a better place than it really is, and songs that will convince you that the dark heart of t...more
Richard Stueber
Another winner in Terry Pratchett's humerous fantasy Discworld series. Death is in here as is his granddaughter Duchess Susan Sto Helit (age 16), Death is off, taking another holiday. He joins the Foreign Legion, which doesn't work at all, then gets drunk in a tavern in Ankh-Morpork (and thrown in (or onto) the river). Then becomes a beggar.
The main focus of the story is The Band With Rocks In It and the magical music they play. The three members are Imp (aka Buddy) a human guitarist, a dwarf ho...more
Remo
Nueva entrega de las aventuras del Mundodisco. En esta ocasión, Terry Pratchett [TP] recrea la aparición del Rock’n'Roll, parodiando todo lo parodiable por el camino. Un druida que parece un elfo (elvish, el constante juego de palabras con Elvis es difícil de manejar) con una guitarra mágica, un enano con su cuerno y un troll a la batería se convierten en estrellas de “la música con rocas dentro”. El gremio de músicos (léase directamente SGAE y el libro es aún más gracioso) no está de acuerdo co...more
Ron Arden
Terry Pratchett brings hilarity to another aspect of life as we know it, in the non-Discworld world. This story is about music and how "Music with Rocks In" changes people's lives.

I really enjoyed how this tale that recalls the start of rock music is applied to the crazy world of Ankh Morpork and its surrounding cities, villages and towns. Buddy, a human, finds a guitar in an old music shop and becomes their version of Elvis. The guitar is imbued with some type of life and plays the most amazing...more
Daveski
Terry Pratchett takes on sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Well, there's no sex really, and no drugs... but one out of three isn't bad ("Yes it is, it's only 33 percent!"). There is plenty of rock n' roll though, or at least the Discworld equivalent of "music with rocks in".

This book starts off as two separate stories that converge together by the end, which shouldn't be a surprise since that seems to be the format all of the Discworld books are taking by this point. This is primarily a "Death" book...more
Katy
My Dad bought me the Spanish translation of this for Boxing Day, so it's sort of a re-read but not really, I guess? This used to be my favourite Discworld book for quite a long time, so I remembered a lot of the original jokes, which helped with working out the Spanish puns. It's mostly a pretty good translation, I think, but there were a couple of places where the name changes were inconsistent (e.g. Glod Glodsson is usually renamed to Odro Hijodeodro, but not always) and the whole Imp y Celyn...more
Ashleigh
It was an okay book. It's by far not one of my all time favourites, nor is Pratchett's writing some of my favourite writing. The story in itself was quite good, but I hated the structure.

My first issue is there were no definite chapters. This is a pet peeve of mine - I like structure. I like obvious breaks. I like chapters. This was one solid book. And yes there were breaks in the writing, but it's one of those books I hated to put down because I'm a bit OCD when it comes to reading to the end o...more
Jennifer
In Soul Music we meet Death's granddaughter, Susan. When Death goes AWOL again, as he is prone to do, Susan gets drafted into donning black and taking up the scythe in his place. At the same time Susan is dealing with the truth about who and what her grandfather is, The Music With Rocks In is trying to take over the Disc World. It's fastened onto a young musician, Buddy and through him is infecting Ahnk-Morpork.

Pratchett's take on the rock & roll movement has plenty of nods to classic rock...more
Gavin Felgate
Rock and roll gets the Discworld treatment in a book with a cover that appears to have been inspired by Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell.

At the start of the book, we are introduced by Susan, who is attending school when she is visited by the Death of Rats and a raven called Quoth (in a parody of Edgar Allen Poe, he refuses to say a particular word beginning with "n"). She is later taken to Death's domain where the manservant Albert explains that she is Death's grand-daughter, and that she was raised...more
Maria
I like the idea of music carrying the essence of people and life and it never fading away. However, I didn't want a whole book more or less just about that when examining the relationship between Death and granddaughter Susan would have been a lot more interesting. Death is dealing with a significant loss in this book and a closer, more intimate look at his grief and how Susan learning about her grandfather effects everything would have interested more than the homage to music this book turned o...more
Sarah
Soul Music, first published in 1994, is the next novel in the Death storyline. Death has, once again, problem with his profession and leaves to seek forgetfulness. He couldn't have chosen a worse time...
His talents are transferred to his granddaughter, Susan Sto Helit, who didn't know of her heritage since her parents, Ysabell and Mort, had a dispute with Death when she was small. Susan has difficulties with her new tasks, since she grew up to be a very sensible abd realistic person and just doi...more
Katerina
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
David
Pratchett's 16th Discworld book really appeals to me, since I am a musician and this book tackles the musician breaking into the business on discworld. Lots of great music jokes and parodies on pop culture. Not to be overlooked is that this is one of the novels starring Death...and they are always among the best of this series. This time Death's 16-year old adopted granddaughter Susan fills the void when Death runs off the job again. Also featured is the city of Ankh-Morpork, its sluggish river...more
Victoria
If there were any way to give this one more stars, I would. Number 16 in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, it is one of my favorite books of any kind. Pratchett's sly humor and carefully hidden, but obviously meant to be found puns and satire on our own world are at their best here. This is the tale of Imp y Celyn, a young musician from the Discworld equivalent of the sticks, who comes to Ankh-Morpork to make music with rocks in. I'll leave the translation of his name, his band and his fate to...more
Molly Westerman
It's funny: I find Pratchett's Death novels genuinely comforting, as a person who's pretty freaked out about mortality and death. In this one, Death, Albert, and Death's horse Binky are their charming selves, the Death of Rats (SQUEAK!) gets to be a real character, and we meet Death's granddaughter Susan (amusingly referred to by one bystander as Susan Death). I am really very fond of these people, or--um--anthropomorphic personifications--or whatever.

Meanwhile, we also get to spend some time wi...more
Pedro León
Esta vez los protagonistas son, por un lado un bardo y su banda de "música con rocas dentro" y por otro la nieta de LA MUERTE.
En esta ocasión aparecen también varios de mis personajes favoritos: I.V.A.L.R. Escurridizo y sus panecillos con salchichas, los magos de la universidad invisible, la ciudad de Ankh-Morpok, etc.
El libro es una parodia del rock and roll, las tonterías que hemos hecho todos como fans de algún grupo, el estilo de vida de los músicos, la falta de escrúpulos de los representan...more
Michael
In the third story in the Death series of the Discworld novels, Soul Music, takes us through rock n' roll coming to the Discworld or more aptly titled "Music With Rocks In". Imp y Celen, (aka Buddy) a dwarf horn player Glod Glodsson and a troll Lias (aka Cliff) Bluestone on percussion form a band called "The Band With Rocks In" and instantly become an overnight sensation after their first gig at The Mended Drum thanks to a magical guitar that Buddy has purchased.

Meanwhile Death has decided to t...more
Raj
It's obviously been a long time since I read this book since the last time I read it, I didn't get the Blues Brothers jokes, and it's been over a decade now since I first saw The Blues Brothers. I'm sure there are still many other musical jokes that I missed, but that doesn't stop the book being funny and great fun to read.

This is the Discworld book that introduces Susan Sto Helit, who is forced to take over the family business when her grandfather (Death) goes AWOL just as a new form of music i...more
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Can you read this without having read the other Discworld novels? 13 59 Jan 14, 2013 04:14pm  
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Soul Music (Discworld, #16)
Soul Music (Discworld, #16)
Soul Music (Discworld, #16)
Soul Music (Discworld, #16)
Soul Music (Discworld, #16)

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Sir Terry Pratchett sold his first story when he was thirteen, which earned him enough money to buy a second-hand typewriter. His first novel, a humorous fantasy entitled The Carpet People, appeared in 1971 from the publisher Colin Smythe. Terry worked for many years as a journalist and press officer, writing in his spare time and publishing a number of novels, including his first Discworld novel,...more
More about Terry Pratchett...
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch The Color of Magic (Discworld, #1) Mort (Discworld, #4) Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8) Night Watch (Discworld, #29)

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“In theory it was, around now, Literature. Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book.” 155 people liked it
“It was sad music. But it waved its sadness like a battle flag. It said the universe had done all it could, but you were still alive.” 52 people liked it
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