Maskerade (Discworld #18, Witches #5)
- Author: Terry Pratchett
- Page count: 285
- Audio length: 605 minutes
- Started on: 2026/10/15
- Finished on: 2026/11/04
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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In my quest to read/listen to all of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels in descending order of series popularity/ranking, I just finished Maskerade. It is the 5th book in the 6-book Witches series, and the 18th Discworld novel overall.
In book 4 ([Lords and Ladies][book4]), Magrat helped defeat the elves and became the queen of Lancre. In Maskerade, Pratchett brings the other two Lancre witches (Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg) to Ankh-Morpork, in search of a new third witch for their coven.
At the Ank-Morpork Opera House they have to deal with a murderous ghost who wears a white mask, in an obvious nod to The Phantom of the Opera. And of course, in typical Pratchett fashion, it mocks all kinds of tropes (like the corpulent tendencies of operatic performers), while at the same time reminding us these storytelling tropes don’t always reflect real life (don’t judge a book by its cover, or an opera singer by their body size).
I really liked the many references to existing operas and musicals in this story, and how people can wear masks or change their personalities to fit into different situations. The narration from Indira Varma was good as always, and the additional voices (Peter Serafinowicz as Death, and Bill Nighy for the footnotes) are really well integrated.
