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Maskerade

a Discworld Novel
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Jul 24, 2014forbesrachel rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
By way of introduction to Terry Pratchett's 18th Discworld novel, Maskerade, the curtains open up to the shrill singing of Nanny Ogg. This neatly sums up the entire plot....witches plus opera equals trouble. After the events of Lords and Ladies, the witches find themselves one witch short of a coven, and because of this instability, Granny is starting to exhibit too many "black" tendencies for Nanny's conscious. There is only one thing to do, convince the sole candidate, Agnes, to join them. Only thing is, she has joined the opera. The opera house is a world unto itself with its less than secret passages, high-maintenance performers, money-eating expenses, and a ghost that may not be sane, and then there are the murders. The show must go on though, as superstition rules this stagehouse more than the new owner Mr. Bucket does. Into this comes Agnes, aka Perdita, a young girl with vocal abilities so unusual that her singing is both described and visually represented by the text. The witches will have none of this though, and their meddling may change opera forever. The Phantom of the Opera gets twisted around in this parody, where the chandelier is a red-herring, explanation marks gauge ones sanity, and no one is who they say they are. There are both physical and metaphorical masks aplenty to create intrigue for the murder mystery element too. Opera is a nonsensical world to the uninitiated, but this is hardly a challenge for the witches.