Last week, we watched the TV adaptation of Hogfather, which got me to re-read the book. The book is a lot funnier. Pratchett’s written de­scrip­tions don’t translate very well to the screen.

The Hogfather is the Discworld‘s equivalent of Santa Claus: a large, jolly fat man who delivers presents to children on the longest night of the year. The Auditors, celestial bu­reau­crats who take a dim view of the messiness of human existence, decide to have the Hogfather killed. Death takes it upon himself to deliver the presents to children instead, while setting his grand­daugh­ter Susan on the trail of the assassin re­spon­si­ble for the chaos.

One of the better Discworld novels. Pratchett entertains us with his char­ac­ter­is­tic humor, while ruminating on the human condition, notably the nature of belief.

Rec­om­mend­ed.