Thief of Time

Discworld, Book 26

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Sian Clifford, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Thief of Time is narrated by the BAFTA award-winning actor Sian Clifford (Fleabag; Vanity Fair; Quiz). BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'The universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew… The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.'

Time is a resource. Everyone knows it must be managed. You can let it move fast or slowly, but what you mustn't do is allow it to stop.

On the Discworld, the History Monks have the important job of ensuring that tomorrow always comes. But the construction of the world's first truly accurate clock starts a race against, well… time.

Monk Lu-Tze, his apprentice Lobsang Ludd and Death's granddaughter Susan must stop the clockmaker before he completes his task. Because a truly accurate clock will stop time completely.

And then, there really will be no tomorrow…

The Discworld novels can be listened to in any order, but Thief of Time is the fifth book in the Death series.

The first book in the Discworld series—The Colour of Magic—was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

©2001 Terry and Lyn Pratchet (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Important Storytelling

Silly is not the opposite of serious - write that down somewhere and remember it. Sir Terry still is one of the most important writers of our time. This books contains so much wisdom about what it is to be human.

TFW "Not My Favorite of His" Still Means Fantastic

I've definitely enjoyed other Discworld books better (e.g. Hogfather, Maskerade). But Terry Pratchett was such a fantastic writer that when I say that "Thief of Time" isn't my favorite, per se, that still means that I'm thoroughly enjoying this audiobook. It's got all the humor and whacky characters you could ask for, including some of my favorites (e.g. Susan), even if the amount of switching between characters/storylines can be a bit dizzying at times. (Though, to be clear, this makes sense for the story.)

Sian Clifford is delightful as ever as the narrator, as are Peter Serafinowicz (Death) and Bill Nighy (footnotes). That said, Clifford's voice for Igor is a little bit grating. (The lisp itself – which is part of the character – is not the problem so much as a grating pitch/cadence of the voice.) But otherwise, Clifford is absolutely wonderful with almost everybody else's voices and really brings the characters alive. Having one or two dud voices among many wonderful ones is a pretty darn great track record, if you ask me.

Stellar Performance of a Fascinating Story

This novel was referenced in one of the other books I am reading on mindfulness. Suffice to say, I had no idea a novel could be read in this manner. The narrator was absolutely brilliant!

Good performance of a great story

The story is fantastic and the performance is very good. The only problem is the voice of Igor. It is possible to have a lisp and still be understandable. Igor is not as bad in this recording as in other new recordings. However, none of the new recordings strike that balance of lisp yet understandable. I wish they would hire a voice for all of the Igors like they did for death and for the footnotes.

Terry Pratchett a master

Enjoyed the narration greatly and of course the story. The main characters have come a long way in their development. They always rise to the task or the task was always their's.

His stories acknowledge strength, at least in this one he had more respect for women and gives them their due.

The magic seems to only serve the narrative and is not the narrative.

Excellent intuition into what drives different people, both strong even in doubt and weak, craven, greedy.

Excellent continuation

Really enjoyed yet another awesome Pratchett. I think Sian Clifford (plus Peter and Bill) did an excellent job.

Loved it

This was a fantastic listen like all the new discworld audiobooks! Smart witty and read like a performance