A boy returns to his island nation after a time spent on a smaller island as part of a coming of age ritual. Mau expects celebration, song and dance but is met instead with death. While he has been away, a tidal wave has swept over the only world he knows and in its path it has left the mangled bodies of every person this boy has ever known. Terry Pratchett gives us the parallel world of the Nation – a tiny tribe that does not know how tiny it really is, a tribe that does not know how powerful it really has been - a tribe that no longer exists but for one lonely boy who has yet to become a man. The usual questions arise: why is Mau the only one who has been saved? What is his purpose in life? How will he alone continue the legacy of the Nation? And when are the voices of all the old men in his head going to stop telling him what to do?

Passionate Terry Pratchett fans would probably like to group Nation with classic island literature – Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and perhaps even Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. And yes, while Nation does have some clear influences of the above, it also has a great deal of what Pratchett is best known for – humour. And regardless of whether you have been absorbed into the parallel universe of the Discworld fantasy novels, or you are the strange part history, part fantasy world of Nation, Pratchett’s humour is entirely modern. Of course, this contemporary slant on humour placed within a context of alternate reality simply adds to the absurd that Pratchett is so good at creating. But then so much of the absurd can also be said to be ageless, such as comedic errors caused by societal differences and strangers attempting to communicate without language. There are some things that will always amuse, because they are all so familiar to all of us and because like all good humour, they are serious after all.

Nation is a coming of age story of a boy on an (almost) deserted island. It is also a story of a group of strangers coming together for a mutual cause on an island that is part of a silent but powerful legacy of knowledge, science and mysticism. Pratchett writes about his imaginary worlds so smoothly, so perfectly that suspending your disbelief is always very, very easy. The only part that I personally found hard to swallow was the colonial angle to it all – with a young British girl called Daphne stranded on the island with Mau, it can only be so long before the colonists arrive to plant their flag and send their missionaries to convert the heathens, as it were. Admittedly though, Pratchett deals with this in his own sly way – why be a part of a kingdom when you can be a part of a society of scholars and scientists? Sounds odd, but Pratchett’s islanders are not your average spear toting, tattoo sporting tribesmen. But then just what is average, in a world from the mind of Terry Pratchett? 

Fans of the Discworld series will continue to be amused bt Pratchett’s faultless use of the absurd. For instance, the well brought up English aristrocrat, Daphne, invites Mau for tea, in a well meaning but ridiculous attempt at friendship. They can not speak each others language so she invites him via a note in pictures – two stick figures with some arrows leading one to the other. Mau, in his own tribal understanding of the images, presumes she wants him to throw spears at her. And so he does.

Of course, in the same typical Pratchett way, much of this kind of silliness leads to (or covers up) something serious. Mau and Daphne manage to understand each other eventually - the boy who is almost a man and the ‘ghost girl’ from the land of trousermen, the two survivors of a tidal wave that has wiped out an entire nation, an entire world, leaving behind a tabula rasa for the survivors to write their stories upon. Slowly, the island becomes a haven for those who have survived the tidal wave in the surrounding sea, and a motley crew assembles on what was once the great Nation. The others have come to Mau’s island in fear of cannibal pirates, and are disappointed when instead of the fierce patriarchal society, they find a boy who is not yet a man and a girl whose very presence means the distinct possibility of ‘trousermen’ and their guns.  Mau must assume responsibility of chief but there is only so much a boy can do, especially with the maddening voices of generations of grandfathers in his head. He must protect this new rag tag tribe, but he must also try to understand who he is and what he represents.

Let’s get one thing set – there is no one quite like Terry Pratchett. Say what you will about the man, love him or hate him, there’s no denying that he is the one of a kind. Witty, well read and fun, it is incredibly easy to be absorbed into whatever world he writes about. Whether is the Discworld novels or his stand alone pieces for young adults, like Nation, Pratchett’s voice is clear, strong, intelligent, satirical and so very, very funny. He has recently been diagnosed with the early onset of Alzheimer ’s disease and while its incredibly sad to think of how this sharp mind will suddenly dull, its also a relief to read Nation, and know that while he can, he will continue to write and entertain in a way that only he can.