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exterus's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of Terry Pratchett's best books. Full of many delicious touches of humour, it also offers genuine sympathy for the plight of human-like creatures four inches high, stranded in a world full of large and dangerous creatures, including full-sized humans.
Unlike most of his books, this is science fiction rather than fantasy, and I like that too; although he doesn't really deal with the problem of how the nomes with their smaller brains can have human-like intelligence.
The life of nomes in the wild is dealt with realistically, and the life of nomes in the Store is both realistic and richly comical.
Unfortunately for their comfort, the Store is facing demolition, and they have to leave it. With that accomplished, the book comes to an end. You have to buy the sequels to read the rest of the story, which is worth reading.
The nomes have a traditionally patriarchal society, and there are few female nomes on display here; adding more of them would have scored points with feminists but would probably have contributed little to the story. Pratchett has created plenty of good female characters in his time, but he's a man, and the majority of his characters are men. I'd rather have him concentrate on writing good stories than worry about meeting his quota of female characters.
I'm a bit puzzled by the unusual name Masklin for the hero of the story. Rather similar to Masculine, but it also reminds me of Mesklin, the name of the high-gravity planet in [b:Mission of Gravity|525285|Mission of Gravity|Hal Clement|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328628795l/525285._SY75_.jpg|894625]. I guess that it just came to Pratchett out of the blue and he had no particular motive for using it.
Unlike most of his books, this is science fiction rather than fantasy, and I like that too; although he doesn't really deal with the problem of how the nomes with their smaller brains can have human-like intelligence.
The life of nomes in the wild is dealt with realistically, and the life of nomes in the Store is both realistic and richly comical.
Unfortunately for their comfort, the Store is facing demolition, and they have to leave it. With that accomplished, the book comes to an end. You have to buy the sequels to read the rest of the story, which is worth reading.
The nomes have a traditionally patriarchal society, and there are few female nomes on display here; adding more of them would have scored points with feminists but would probably have contributed little to the story. Pratchett has created plenty of good female characters in his time, but he's a man, and the majority of his characters are men. I'd rather have him concentrate on writing good stories than worry about meeting his quota of female characters.
I'm a bit puzzled by the unusual name Masklin for the hero of the story. Rather similar to Masculine, but it also reminds me of Mesklin, the name of the high-gravity planet in [b:Mission of Gravity|525285|Mission of Gravity|Hal Clement|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328628795l/525285._SY75_.jpg|894625]. I guess that it just came to Pratchett out of the blue and he had no particular motive for using it.
bluestarfish's review
3.0
This is good fun! Nomes need to adapt to the changing world around them despite misgivings and tradition, and this is fun in a very Prachett way.
josephine687's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Sweet story, nice relaxing read
ceratopsians's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hadawada's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
sanjastajdohar's review against another edition
5.0
Such a great and funny story. Pratchett at his best.
kynan's review
4.0
TL;DR: The beginning of the Bromeliad trilogy, and some of my favourite Pratchett. It's short, funny and delightful. Just read it!
TL: Truckers is Masklin's story. Masklin is a Nome. I think that "Nome" is the equivalent to "Gnome" in the same way that people whom have been given an anglicised name still call themselves their actual name. Not that it matters.
Masklin is one of the last able-bodied Nomes in his tribe, with the majority of the hunting work falling to him whilst his female contemporary, Grimma, tries to maintain social and physical cohesion of the dwindling tribe. Things are not looking good, but Masklin has a plan, a rather adventurous plan and not one that the elder Nomes are the biggest fans of, but needs must where the devil drives!
I love everything about this book! It's classic, wryly sarcastic, playfully insolent and insightful Pratchett and it's one of my go-to "comfort reads". It's marketed as a children's book, but apart from page-count, I don't see any significant difference between Truckers and of Mr Pratchett's other work.
Masklin and his tribe are accidental skeptics. Born Outside, and with the phlegmatic pragmatism of people who've really experienced both the highs and lows of life, their integration with the highly stratified and religious world of the Inside Nomes was always going to be difficult. As with all of Pratchett's work there's someone, the Outside Nomes in this case, asking difficult questions of established "facts" and customs. Sometimes there's a reasonable, if nuanced, answer to those questions and sometimes the questionee is left with some difficult thinking and justification to do. And, as always, those difficult questions are things that most likely bedevil any given society at any given time.
This is the kind of fun fiction that you can read because it's humorous, but it's also sneaking in a little education at the same time - it's a teensy bit like a skeptical primer, planting the seeds of ever-present inquisitive evaluation!
You should definitely read this book. It's fantastic!
I most recently re-read this whilst down with my 2023 dose of COVID and, for the first time, listened instead of read. I did start with the Tony Robbins version which I bought on physical media about 50 million years ago, but after beginning to listen, I quickly discovered that it was (gasp) abridged! I hurriedly moved on to the [a:Stephen Briggs|19439|Stephen Briggs|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] recording, which was fantastically narrated.
TL: Truckers is Masklin's story. Masklin is a Nome. I think that "Nome" is the equivalent to "Gnome" in the same way that people whom have been given an anglicised name still call themselves their actual name. Not that it matters.
Masklin is one of the last able-bodied Nomes in his tribe, with the majority of the hunting work falling to him whilst his female contemporary, Grimma, tries to maintain social and physical cohesion of the dwindling tribe. Things are not looking good, but Masklin has a plan, a rather adventurous plan and not one that the elder Nomes are the biggest fans of, but needs must where the devil drives!
I love everything about this book! It's classic, wryly sarcastic, playfully insolent and insightful Pratchett and it's one of my go-to "comfort reads". It's marketed as a children's book, but apart from page-count, I don't see any significant difference between Truckers and of Mr Pratchett's other work.
Masklin and his tribe are accidental skeptics. Born Outside, and with the phlegmatic pragmatism of people who've really experienced both the highs and lows of life, their integration with the highly stratified and religious world of the Inside Nomes was always going to be difficult. As with all of Pratchett's work there's someone, the Outside Nomes in this case, asking difficult questions of established "facts" and customs. Sometimes there's a reasonable, if nuanced, answer to those questions and sometimes the questionee is left with some difficult thinking and justification to do. And, as always, those difficult questions are things that most likely bedevil any given society at any given time.
This is the kind of fun fiction that you can read because it's humorous, but it's also sneaking in a little education at the same time - it's a teensy bit like a skeptical primer, planting the seeds of ever-present inquisitive evaluation!
You should definitely read this book. It's fantastic!
I most recently re-read this whilst down with my 2023 dose of COVID and, for the first time, listened instead of read. I did start with the Tony Robbins version which I bought on physical media about 50 million years ago, but after beginning to listen, I quickly discovered that it was (gasp) abridged! I hurriedly moved on to the [a:Stephen Briggs|19439|Stephen Briggs|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] recording, which was fantastically narrated.