Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

I've known that this existed for a long time and I've been dreading it a little. It seems like any T.V. show, if it lasts long enough, must do a Christmas episode. Usually this just means that the action happens among tinsel and Christmas carols. The wrap is usually has one of the approved Christmas themes of love or miracles.

The same idea holds true for long book series, but with book series, I find it annoying generally. If a series goes long enough, eventually there will be a Christmasy one...even if set in a fantasy world that doesn't have Christmas properly. Some Christmas analog is created and continue as planned.

*insert annoyed rant about a religious holiday (which stole a solar observance anyway) being secularized in order to turn a profit*

So, the Hogfather is an analog to Father Christmas and Hogswatch is Christmas. He flies around in a sleigh pulled by eight giant pigs dispensing gifts and consuming sherry and pork pies left out by the kiddies. By Jove, I believe we've stumbled across the Discworld Christmas novel. *sigh*


Alright, I should have trusted Pratchett a little more than I did walking in. Yes, it is a Christmas novel. However Pratchett plays with all the things about Christmas that I find annoying so it had some fun points too.

In Hogfather mysterious figures called The Auditors have hired the assassins guild to kill the Hogfather. The assassin Teatime, who's a little batty, develops a plan to kill an imaginary being by invading the realm of the Tooth Fairy. This plan works.

Without the Hogfather, the world is out of whack. Death steps into the sleigh to keep the Hogfather's place open. Household gods start popping into being because of the unused free floating belief which gets the wizards involved. Susan StoHelit (granddaughter of Death) gets involved by trying to figure out what her grandfather is up to.

Over the course of the novel Pratchett not only examines the human tendency to create  monsters and bogeymen but also the general evolution of these myths. It's interesting stuff if looked at from a distance. While there is the occasional gushy Christmas moment, on the whole this is more of a romp. I particularly enjoy Susan who just desperately wants to be normal despite her special death related powers. She works as a governess who can actually see the monsters hiding under the bed and gets them out by pounding them with a poker. I hope there is more of her.