Alchemists influenced by eldritch forces discover the secret of making movies and this proves popular enough with the public that there are soon multiple movie factories grinding out product in a Holy Wood. Notorious Ank-Morpork sausage vendor Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler manages to take over the management of one of them, called Century of the Fruit Bat Studios.

But there are signs of a hidden menace. A gorgeous blond actress starts having visions of a mysterious figure, a sort of shining knight holding a huge sword (posed like an Oscar, in fact) who might be a threat or might be a guardian. The wizards at Unseen University detect a sudden flood of unreality leaking into the world. Eventually the unreality becomes so powerful that a giant projected image of the actress steps off the screen and is soon climbing the University’s Tower of Art, the tallest building in Ank-Morpork, clutching the University’s Librarian, who happens to be an ape, in one hand.

As usual with Pratchett it’s funny and entertaining, and there are scads of movie references, including some I no doubt didn’t notice. Probably not the best Discworld novel, but fun.

As noted in a post yesterday (link), Terry Pratchett is no longer with us. He died at home in bed with his family around him, as he had wanted to do.

by