SOURCE: Tonkin, Boyd. “Pratchett's Orient Excess.” New Statesman and Society 7, no. 330 (25 November 1994): 48.

In the following review of Interesting Times, Tonkin praises Pratchett's use of word play.

A Martian who scanned the bestseller lists would have no doubt about the identity of Britain's leading novelist. His last novel squats invincibly at the head of the paperback charts; his new one jostles for the hardback top spot. Yes: Terry Pratchett's Pythonesque parodies of sword-and-sorcery fantasy have reached their 17th episode, with Interesting Times Many critics on the quality papers have cheered his wit and wisdom, while sneering at unhip rivals for overlooking such a craze.

It's strange, then, that none of these trend-followers has tackled one large theme of a novel that sets the (undersized) brain of Rincewind the Wizard and the (geriatric) brawn of Cohen the Barbarian against the inscrutable might of the Agatean Empire. Yet this aspect will...