Soon, everyone is terrified of the ghost and wonders just who or what it is. This ghost appears as the one in the Phantom of the Opera, which this book spoofs. But the opera has a secret - there's a ghost haunting the opera and when she happens along, people start dying. She doesn't want to be a witch she wants to sing. Agnes has a beautiful voice and she can even harmonize with herself. Agnes sings in the chorus, but she sings the lead while Christine mouths it and thinks she's performing beautifully. Instead, her beautiful, skinny, completely untalented roommate Christine gets the leads. Agnes is a young girl with a rather sturdy build (okay, fat) and she's not viewed as star material. Dream, have gone to Ankh-Morpork and joined the opera. The problem is, Agnes and her alter ego, Perdita X. Show More coven to become royalty, they think Agnes Nitt might be a suitable replacement. The cameo of the Watch towards the end was good and has me looking forward to the next Watch book in the series, too. There wasn't much that I disliked about this one, though perhaps a few things didn't feel quite fleshed out enough as I was reading - but looking back, I don't remember any specifics. Seeing Granny and Nanny outside of Lancre was also great - I specially loved Nanny's use of her drawers as another place to carry things and the sound effects when she removed anything from them, and also the scenes when Granny makes use of Nanny's money (her outfitting as Lady Esmeralda was quite fun to read). I really enjoyed the new addition to the witches group, which was hinted at in L&L, but given full life here. I think I was actually expecting a different sort of theme, after Lords and Ladies and the title this one has. The pacing was good here, and there weren't so many spots where I groaned a the handling of humor as I've done in some of the other books that took on a very specific subject, like Moving Pictures or Soul Music. Maskerade was very satisfying to read, and it might be my second favorite witches novel yet - only outdone by Witches Abroad simply because that one panders to my special interests. Show More set-up that was barreling along until it got to the pay-off giant pun/parody/groaner of an ending, the way many of the earlier novels did. Originally posted on The Illustrated Page. So I’d recommend Maskerade to anyone looking for a funny book, particularly if it involves female characters and the opera. As far as I know, my grandmother doesn’t read much speculative fiction, but she loved Maskerade. I think this lends it to working well for people who aren’t generally interested in fantasy. There’s Death, a troll appears in one scene, a cat changes into a human, Agnes has a magically gifted singing voice… that’s about it really. “You can either be on the stage, just a performer, just going through the lines… or you can be outside it, and know how the script works, where the scenery hangs, and where the trapdoors are.”Īlthough set in a fantasy world, Maskerade‘s one of those Discworld books that doesn’t have much magic or fantasy elements. There’s also references to opera and musical theater, and I’m sure there’s even more I didn’t catch. It’s well woven, and the pacing’s on point. I’d actually forgotten the solution, so I had the pleasure of rediscovering it this time around. The plot of Maskerade is really a mystery story. Some of the language surrounding Agnes’s weight is troubling, but she’s one of the only female protagonists I’ve encountered who isn’t skinny. Agnes is a capable heroine in her own right. Granny and Nanny continue to be wonderful. Like the rest of the witches books, Maskerade is focused around the female characters, which makes it unusual and enjoyable. The Ghost hides behind a white mask, and Agnes herself hides behind the name Perdita. Maskerade is a story about masks, identities, and hiding who you are. I bet you could do just what you liked, behind a mask … ?” Masks conceal one face, but they reveal another. Nanny Ogg remembers that Agnes Nitt from Lords and Ladies had a talent for witchcraft, but Agnes has left Lancre to join the opera in Ankh-Morepork, where people are mysteriously dying at the hands of the “Ghost.” Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are missing Magrat and sorely feel the need for a new witch to take her place in the coven (to be in charge of tea making duties if nothing else). Show More story that riffs off The Phantom of the Opera.
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