''Thief of Time'' is a

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. magic (paranormal), Magic, the supernatural and Legendary creature, magical creatures are common i ...

by British writer

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

, the 26th book in his ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'' series. It was the last Discworld novel with a cover by

Josh Kirby Ronald William "Josh" Kirby (27 November 1928 – 23 October 2001) was a British commercial artist. Over a career spanning 60 years, he was the artist for the covers of many science fiction books including Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' novel ...

Plot summary

The Auditors hire young clockmaker Jeremy Clockson to build a perfect glass clock, without telling him that this will stop time and thereby eliminate human unpredictability from the universe.

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

discovers their plans, but cannot act against them directly, so he instead sends his granddaughter Susan Sto Helit. Meanwhile, Lu-Tze of the History Monks leads gifted young apprentice Lobsang Ludd in a desperate mission.

Characters

*Myria LeJean *

– the anthropomorphic personification of Death, or Grim Reaper, a recurring and popular character in the Discworld series. *Jeremy Clockson – a master clockmaker tasked with creating the perfect clock, whose name is a pun on British broadcaster

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

. * Susan Sto Helit – Death's granddaughter. * Lu-Tze – a powerful member of the History Monks masquerading as a humble sweeper. * Lobsang Ludd – apprentice of Lu-Tze

Reception

''Thief of Time'' was shortlisted for the 2002 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. At ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', Sam Jordison called it "as complicated, daft, hilarious and satisfying as vintage P. G. Wodehouse: part kung fu epic, part philosophical novel, part mind-bending experiment with chaos theory (and a piss-take of those three things)", and categorized it as a book to "give (readers) hope".Books to give you hope: Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
by Sam Jordison, at ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''; published September 15, 2016; retrieved July 10, 2017. At the '' SF Site'', Steven H Silver observed that the book's parodying of

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

s is "masterful", and commended Pratchett for how "fresh" the humor was—while conceding that "reader(s) may not laugh out loud ... but there will be plenty of internal chuckling".Thief of Time
reviewed by Steven H Silver, at the '' SF Site''; published 2001; retrieved July 10, 2017. At '' Infinity Plus'', John Grant noted that it has "fewer moments of uproarious humour than" the majority of Pratchett's oeuvre, and that the "narrative fails to engender any sense of urgency in the places where it should", concluding that although "one could swiftly lay hands on a dozen genre-fantasy novels that are less worthwhile", it was not Pratchett's best work.Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
reviewed by John Grant, at ''Infinity Plus''; published June 2, 2001; retrieved July 10, 2017.

Writing process

During a 2011 interview, Pratchett discussed his process for writing, and mentioned a self-invented goddess of writers called Narrativia, whom he believed to be smiling upon him throughout his career. One example of Narrativia's intervention from ''Thief Of Time'' was the naming of a key character, Ronnie Soak, the forgotten fifth horseman of the apocalypse. Pratchett stated that he had picked the name at random, and was later "astonished when he noticed what it sounded like backwards. Suddenly, he knew of what this particular horseman would be a harbinger." In a direct quote Pratchett revealed his satisfaction with this coincidence, "I thought chaos – yes! Chaos, the oldest. Stuff just turns up like that."

References

External links

*
Annotations for ''Thief of Time''''Thief of Time''
at Worlds Without End {{DEFAULTSORT:Thief Of Time 2001 British novels Discworld books 2001 fantasy novels Doubleday (publisher) books Fiction about time Apocalyptic novels Science fantasy novels Hive minds in fiction British comedy novels de:Scheibenwelt-Romane#Der Zeitdieb