Soul Music

Soul Music is definitely the punniest Discworld novel so far. Every other line seems to be a joke or a reference. Since the theme of this book is classic rock, most of those puns are references to real world bands and songs. It's fun to pick up on them, and that was a big part of my enjoyment of this book the first time I read it.

In my memory, this was one of my favorite Discworld stories, probably because it was one of the first where I was able to pick up on all of the jokes. It also centers on Death, which is always fun, and introduces his granddaughter, Susan, who is one of the greatest characters in the entire series.

But despite these highlights, this book didn't quite live up to my memory of it. I didn't dislike it, but it felt disconnected in the way Discworld books often do. There's a story about Death attempting to forget, a story about Susan attempting to fill his shoes while he's away without leave, and a story about living music possessing a young musician and forcing him to live on past his death. Two of them intersect quite nicely, but the Death plot just seems like an excuse to get him out of the way so Susan can step up.

I'm sure there's a connection if I were willing to look a little harder for it. But the truth is that I didn't quite care enough to. This was a fun book on the surface, and that's all I really need it to be. It's a send up of and love letter to classic rock and music in general. And I'm not sure that I care what Death's inability to forget anything really has to do with that.

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