The Carpet People

This was a fun and interesting way to see the beginnings of Terry Pratchetts literary career.

The story behind this story is nearly the best story of all: "This book had two authors, one aged seventeen, one aged forty-three. Both of them were Terry Pratchett." Having penned this tale and had it lapse into obscurity, Pratchett is impelled by his editors to revive it years later. Rightly so. For the dedicated PTerry fan, this example of his early writing is an illuminating read. Many views expressed in the Discworld books are readily perceived here. For someone new to Pratchett, it's a great introduction to the scope of his ideas and his writing skills. For any reader, it's simply a delight to enjoy. The story is a fine example of Pratchett's ability to view the world from a fresh perspective. If there's a fantasy novel lacking a dark forest and mysterious creatures, i've missed it. Pratchett, never a formula writer, simply shrinks the scope. His forested world is a thickly napped rug. Instead of pines or oaks, it's nylon and wool "hairs". The creatures are there, the snargs, the hymetors and others - including silverfish, who live under the world. There are also people - the Munrungs, the Deftmenes and - the Dumii. They interact, sometimes violently. Deep down in the pile, these people and their communities are invisible to humans. Something, however, sends terror through the forest peoples - Fray. This immensely destructive force topples cities and obliterates villages. Pratchett builds a story of the conflict of respected traditions countered by innovation and invention. There is an Empire, to which taxes are due. That means clerks, organisation, regulations. While the Munrungs have always met the demands for revenue, others have opposed the imposition, hence, the Empire. Could two such peoples find a common cause? It seems unlikely, but the best way to unite two dissimilar tribes is having a common enemy. Except for the conflict of good and evil, this story avoids formula approaches to fantasy. There are many characters, all of them reflected by people around us. Snibril, a Munrung, stands out but a little from the rest. One of his attributes is that he suffers sinus trouble. This isn't normally a heroic virtue, but it proves valuable here. There's also a philosopher. Everybody thinks to some extent. Philosophers are typified by telling about it in an interesting way. This description, of course, fits Pratchett admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The Carpet People is so well written that each word, each page allow you to see in your mind the exact same places, adventures and people of this story. It is the best book that I've ever read that still, after having read it over 10 years ago, that I still can remember the details clearly.

At the timid age of 17, Terry Pratchett wrote a fantasy novel called The Carpet People, and it was published, just in case you haven't been blown away by this already, let me tell you that this is a Very Impressive Accomplishment. In his own words, it sold a bit, and then went out of print, and years later, when people started being impressed by the quality of Pratchett's work instead of by the simple fact that he was being published, they started asking for it. Mr. Pratchett took the book down from wherever he had kept it, and said (I'm quoting this incorrectly) "Wait a minute, I wrote this book when I thought fantasy was about kings and battles, now I think fantasy should be about how not to have kings and battles." So he rewrote the book, and it's been published/reissued. Plainly speaking, this book is about a bunch of infintesimally small people who live on a carpet, whole societies have evolved, empires have risen and fallen, the most ordinary objects, dropped onto the carpet and forgotten there become magical lands, homes and sources of industry to the molecullar inhabitants of The Carpet. This is the story of Snibril, one of the Munrungs (or in their language The Real Human Beings) and how he and his tribe join the Doomi empire to fight the Moules (or in their language The Real Human Beings) who live in the deepest recesses of the Carpet. It is impossible to describe how TRUE Pratchett's idea's are about war and about making your own choices. If I were a better writer, I could describe how happy this book made me, how magnificent it is. But as I am not, you're just going to have to take my word for it, or read the book.