This was my first Terry Pratchett book, and I found it a mixed bag.

First, the good. Pratchett writes really well, and is pretty damn funny. In the Truth, he looks at the birth of journalism in a fantasy, sci fi land and covers all kinds of relevant media issues like tabloidism, classifieds, cost of distribution, etc. - all wrapped in a sometimes hilarious whodunnit. A lot of the writing is really smart, and pretty relevant to today's collapse of the newspaper industry.

On the other side, Pratchett's humor doesn't always work. A few of the characters are really annoying. It drags in spots.

Overall I found it a collection of about 15 awesome one liners, and a few smart paragraphs, surrounded by a mediocre plot.

William de Worde can hardly imagine what he unleashes when he gives birth to his latest idea: let's publish a paper that actually tells everyone what is happening in Ankh-Morpork and abroad, certainly when it concerns vegetables that grow in a shape that is similar to the reproductive system of humans. Until now only the rich people got informed about things that might or might not have occurred last month. That is all about to change. For the better. Or the worse. When William and his reporter Sacharissa Cripslock unveil a murder attempt on Havelock Vetinari, not everyone is happy to read this in movable type. On top of that, the stone carvers cannot accept to lose their job because people simply start to recycle letters. Some measures need to be taken. Immediately.

When Terry Pratchett makes fun of something as influential as moveable type, it cannot be anything but hilarious. And indeed, The Truth proves to be one of the better episodes of the whole Discworld saga. In one go he guides us through a complete history of the printed press. From the early problems with the printing process, the struggle for independence of news gathering till the trend of printing what the people want even if it has not that much similarity with the truth. It is really funny to see the similarities with cases like Watergate. As an extra plus, also the city guard, under supervision of Commander Vimes, gets to play an important role. The Truth is a great example of great satire. It can even be fully enjoyed without knowing anything about the previous novels. Highly recommended.

It's important to note that in the Discworld, newspapers have never existed. The engravers guild, in order to preserve their monopoly on printing, preventing anyone from using a mechanical press. That is until a group of dwarfs arrive from the mountains yearning to make money by printing.

Along comes young William de Worde, a prodigal aristocrat whose broken from his wealthy father to make it on his own. When William visits the printing shop, he finds himself plunged into the new world of journalism. Together with a proper young lady named Sacharissa, they set out to create the Disc's first newspaper called the Times.

As luck would have it, just as they're starting out, a huge story breaks. The metropolis of Ankh-Morpork's leader, The Patrician, is accused of stabbing his clerk with a knife and then trying to flee the city with embezzled funds. The City Watch is baffled by the case, but William soon finds a "man" on the inside, the mysterious Deep Bone. Aided by Sacharissa, the dwarfs, and a vampire photographer (on the wagon, meaning he only drinks animal blood) who turns to dust if he uses flash photography, William is determined to get to the bottom of things. But the truth isn't always so easy to set free, especially when hired goons are trying to kill you.

This was a good addition to the series, but it could have been better. When I first read the description, I thought for sure there'd be some Citizen Kane references in there. I was expecting William to be one of those larger-than-life type characters like Charlie Kane and his real world counterpart William Randolph Hearst. That never materialized, which is disappointing. Instead William is an earnest young man in search of The Truth, which is OK too, but don't we all like more grandiose characters?

There are some good insights into what makes the news, especially in the comparison between the Times and its rival The Inquirer--which despite its name is more based on Weekly World News. As the Deep Bone indicates there are references to Watergate and also the hired goons Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip are based on the killers in Pulp Fiction, as evidenced by the line, "Do you know what they call a sausage-inna-bun in Klatch?"

On a side note, this story probably was the template for the later Going Postal, the first in the series I read. That involved the creation--resurrection really--of the post office in a similar fashion. Though the central character of that one, Moist von Lipwig, was more interesting. Conmen are just more exciting than conflicted aristocrats.

And that's all the news fit to print.

Okay, how can you not like this book? Again we are featured in Ankh-Morpork, in the dawning of a new revolution in print technology. Movable type. Now, can William de Word, the editor of the Ankh-Morpork Times live to sell their paper when they find out about the dastardly plot to incriminate the city's Patrician?

The Truth, a novel in the Discworld series, represents one of Terry Pratchett's better efforts, which is quite the accomplishment given his immense talent. The book is very satirical look at journalism but without bludgeoning the reader. While the book contains a panoply of new and interesting characters, many of the characters are recurring. To those who have read several other Discworld novels, I strongly recommend this book. However, to the new visitor to Discworld I recommend waiting to read this book until you have read several others precisely because of the recurring themes and characters. [...]

A lot of your enjoyment of Terry Pratchett's DiscWorld series comes down to your awareness of the object of Pratchett's satire. In the case of "The Truth," it's the world of newspapers and journalism in general. Having a background in this, I found a lot of Pratchett's zingers and satire to be dead-on accurate in their humor and observation.

What I didn't find quite as spot-on was some of the twists and turns of the novel. For one thing, the identity of who is behind the elaborate conspiracy is so easily deduced that it ruins some of the driving force of the last half of the novel. Of course, the problem is that the readers know the identity (or can deduce it easily if you're paying attention), while the characters don't because they don't have as much information as we do. It's a case of the reader being a bit too omniscient for his or her own good and ruining the final revelation a bit.

Another issue is the speed at which things occur. William DeWorde goes from hand-carving a monthly newsletter for five at-home benefactors to running a newspaper complete with moveable type press within a week. Pratchett works too hard to pile on absurdity after absurdity as the newspaper takes off in ways that William can't expect and doesn't prepare for. Pratchett works too hard to make a few funny observances by compresing the timeline and making the story feel a bit rushed at points.

Which a lot of this can be forgiven with Pratchett being his typical self and finding unique ways to put words together to be both thought-provoking and funny. Once again, Pratchett has this way of finding just the exact right turn of phrase and combination of words to make what he's doing appear completely effortless. But if you step back and look at it, you realize exactly what he's doing and how he's doing it. And that alone makes "The Truth" worth appreciating