Maskerade

Discworld, Book 18

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Indira Varma, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Maskerade is narrated by Indira Varma (Game of Thrones; Luther; This Way Up). 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.

'There's a kind of magic in masks. Masks conceal one face, but they reveal another. The one that only comes out in darkness....'

The Opera House in Ankh-Morpork is home to music, theatrics and a harmless masked Ghost who lurks behind the scenes. But now a set of mysterious backstage murders may just stop the show.

Agnes Nitt has left her rural home of Lancre in the hopes of launching a successful singing career in the big city. The only problem is, she doesn't quite look the part. And there are two witches who would much rather she return home to join their coven.

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have travelled to Ankh-Morpork to convince Agnes that life as a witch is much better than one on the stage. Only now they're caught up in a murder mystery featuring masks and maniacal laughter.

And the show MUST go on....

Maskerade is the fifth book in the Witches series, but you can listen to the Discworld novels in any order.

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

©1995 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Funny, delightfully inventive, and refuses to lie down in its genre." (Observer)

Fantastic

I loved this book. All of the books in the Discworld series about the witches are wonderful.

The witches are amazing as usual

Loved the story telling. The story itself is marvelous. Narrator is skilled and engrossing. The witches are just some of my favorite in discworld

Always great

Great production value & great source material.. makes you think if Andrew Lloyd Webber would get hold of this 🤪

Fantastic

Fantastic story as can be expected from any Discworld novel and the and performance of the narrator is stellar.

Awesome narrator!

Especially for a witches’ tale! And of course, as a complete skewering of the world of “L’Opera,” one could ask for no better skewerer than Terry Pratchett.

Sir Pterry at his gloriously snarky best

I started listening to this audiobook and quickly realized that it's not a good idea to be eating or drinking anything while doing so.

I'm a big fan of music, including classical, opera, and musicals, so this one struck a chord, so to speak, with me. I definitely recommend this one, as well as Soul Music, for music lovers.

Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg are like the Laurel and Hardy of the Discworld Witches. I found myself rooting for Agnes - excuse me, Perdita - and finding Christine to be an annoying little ninny. (And the subplot about Nanny Ogg's The Joye of Snacks is well worth the price of admission.)

An Old Favorite Invigorated With A New Performance

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the old Discworld narrators. But it's rather nice to not be distracted by a voice that doesn't fit with who the in-story narrators ARE. Also nice to be able to find a FULL edition, as opposed to the abridged one Audible had for so long.

More of a good thing

Discworld stories are my favorite. I enjoy new recordings and narration may bring new fans

The reader told the story better than a movie.

I like all the readers in this series, but the witches are my favorite. The performance almost makes you believe you are visiting the Discworld. I think the world would be a better place if more people experienced this series.

Amazing performance by Indira Varrma

Indira Varma moved the screen to a recording studio and is an amazing voice actor for this series. Each character voice is distinct with pitch perfect emotions. I've bought and loved every book she's voiced in the series. 5+ stars!
This book is one of Terry Pratchett's witches series. I don't think it's the best work in this series, but a great satire of stage performances and mashes up the novel and the musical versions of Phantom of the Opera (which really only share the overarching plot and character names). I really only bought this one because of the voice acting! Aha-ahaha!!!