Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pratchett does SF, 15 Jul 2004
Before the success of the Discoworld novels, Terry Pratchett tried his hands at a couple of science fiction novels. His first, 1976's The Darks Side of the Sun, deals with the oft-tackled idea of a creator race, one (here called the Jokers) which shaped the universe and its inhabitants but have since disappeared.The novel serves as a travelogue through Pratchett's future universe, and with its cast of well-developed aliens and locations this is a rich journey. Probability maths, quantum physics and evolution are dealt with in a light and readable manner with a small but well drawn cast. The novel isn't laugh out loud funny, but there are elements of Pratchett's trademark humour. A short but successful piece of sf universe building, recommended even for those who may not enjoy the authors comedic fantasy output. After re-reading this the real mystery is not the whereabouts of the Jokers, but why with his prolific and relentless Discworld output Terry Pratchett has never found either the time or the inclination to produce another science fiction novel - on the evidence of this he certainly has the talent.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sci-fi Pratchett, 4 Oct 2003
What do you get when you combine Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dune, and the Foundation trilogy? The answer is an interesting book by Terry Pratchett, entitled The Dark Side of the Sun. It was written in 1976, long before the first Discworld novels. On occasion it is evident that this was an early effort by Pratchett - it's not as funny or thoughtful as any of his later works, and it's very brief and hurried in places. But there's a lot of interesting ideas and concepts, show-casing the inventive mind of Pratchett in his early days. There are a number of ideas here (mostly just names) that will later turn up in the Discworld novels (for example, Hogswatchnight, Small Gods, etc.).
The story is about Dom Salabos, a member of the wealthy Salabos family in charge of the world of Widdershins. Dom should have the perfect life, but there is one problem: he keeps getting assassinated all the time. The story revolves around the concept of probability math, with Dom setting off on a quest to find the mysterious Jokers World, accompanied by his robot Isaac and his alien mentor Hrsh-Hgn. One thing to note is that there is no heroine or "love interest" in this book, refreshingly enough. However, just before the ending, it's as if Pratchett has noticed this short-coming, and a "female lead" type of character is introduced. The ensuing scenes jars violently with the preceding story, both in style and content, and it's as if you suddenly find yourself reading an entirely different story. The ending itself is very abrupt and hurried, and not very satisfying.
This book does show that Pratchett could be one of the sci-fi greats if he wanted to. However, much more could have been made with the universe and the ideas Pratchett developed in Dark Side, and it's to be hoped that he will return to the realm of sci-fi some day. Recommended for fans of Pratchett (and of sci-fi in general).
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
funky and furiously original, 3 Mar 2006
This Terry Pratchet novel is a hilarious, coming-of-age romp through a funky and furiously original galaxy populated by 52 intelligent races and beings with endearing quirks. Some of these beings are luckier than others and our hero, Dom Savalos, is one of them. On the eve of his ascension to the chairmanship of his planet, he finds out about something that has preoccupied some of he best minds around - the science of probability maths, which predicts both likely and seemingly inevitable outcomes of individual lives. Dom find himself in the position of being predestined to find the world on which the enigmatic jokers reside - a prehistoric, highly evolved race thought by many to be responsible for most of the other intelligent life in the galaxy. But the story only starts here...
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