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A review by theanie
Nation by Terry Pratchett

4.0

"Waves happened, people died, and the gods did not care."

Meet Mau and "Daphne". Both victims of a tsunami. The book doesn't actually open with them, it instead opens in what I think is England and the whole opening leaves me with a very disjointed feeling. I had a lot of trouble getting into this book, but as usual Terry Pratchett did not disappoint. Mau was such a wonderfully intricate character and he was fascinating to read. What would you do if your entire world was washed away in a wave?

Mau thought himself to be the only survivor of The Nation. Daphne thinks herself to be the only survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy. The two at first have a strange relationship as Mau is hearing voices in his head and thinks Daphne is nothing more than a ghost and refers to her as the Ghost Girl. The voices Mau is hearing are supposedly that of The Grandfathers, his dead ancestors.

"Who'd want a pony when you could have the whole Universe?"

Ermintrude/Daphne is a girl who doesn't quite fit into the proper lady box her Grandmother tried to force her into. She questions the world around her and doesn't care that she is 138th in line to be on the throne. She was the character I had the most fun with... until she started hearing voices too. I could understand Mau hearing voices of what he believed to be his ancestors. He had just had to put to rest all of the bodies of everyone he had ever known. Daphne though? It seemed a bit extreme. I like fantasy and I can suspend disbelief but something about the Grandmothers talking to her just made me raise my eyebrow. I like who Daphne showed herself to be by the end of book.

"And Sometimes you laugh because you're alive, when you really shouldn't be."

I was originally only going to give this book three stars because of how long it took me to get through. It couldn't hold my interest. But those last 100 pages? Had me up all night. As survivors of the surrounding islands start to show up things being to get interesting as The Nation reforms itself and Daphne and Mau discover their roles in this new society they created. I found myself once again caught up in Terry Pratchett's wonderful world building wondering why I ever though this was a silly book. This was a wonderful book! I highly recommend it.

"Somewhere out there, flying to him from the edge of the world, was tomorrow."