About 7 h 45 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 16 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Rincewind's chief ambition is to stay alive, but a request for a Great Wizzard sends him from Ankh-Morpork to the distant Counterweight Continent. In the Agatean Empire, rival factions are competing for the throne, young revolutionaries await his help, and Cohen the Barbarian's elderly Silver Horde has plans of its own. Rincewind wants to escape before anyone requires heroism of him.
Reader notes
The comic fantasy mixes absurd adventure and jokes about aging warriors with satire of imperial power and revolutionary slogans, drawing heavily on Chinese history and British popular culture. Familiar characters return from earlier Rincewind novels, although the story can be read on its own.
How it reads
Writing style
Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Witty
Tone
Humorous · Irreverent · Playful · Satirical
Structure
Braided · Linear
Driven by
Character · Ideas · Plot
Point of view
Multiple viewpoints · Third person, omniscient
Setting
Agatean Empire (invented world) · Aurient
Reading complexity
Writing
3 / 5
Ideas
3 / 5
Structure
3 / 5
Background knowledge
2 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
Writing
How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas
How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure
How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge
Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity
Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
No, the story can be read on its own. Familiar characters return from earlier Rincewind novels, so prior reading adds familiarity with the cast.
Is it hard to read?
Not really, the prose is conversational, witty, and driven by dialogue, with a brisk pace. Multiple viewpoints and satire drawing heavily on Chinese history and British popular culture add some complexity.
What kind of comedy is it?
Absurd adventure and jokes about aging warriors sit alongside satire of imperial power and revolutionary slogans. Rincewind wants to stay alive and escape, while rival factions, young revolutionaries, and the elderly Silver Horde pursue their plans.
How much violence and sexual content is there?
Violence and sexual content are mild. The adventure involves rival factions competing for a throne and revolutionaries seeking help, with a humorous, irreverent tone.
How long is it?
384 pages in the Harper Paperbacks 2024 paperback edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Harper Paperbacks · 2024 · Paperback. ISBN 9780063373716.
How long does it take to read Interesting Times?
About 7 hours 45 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 384-page Harper Paperbacks edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett was an English fantasy novelist whose career began with The Carpet People and became centered on the long-running Discworld series. Starting with The Colour of Magic, Discworld developed from a broad parody of sword-and-sorcery conventions into a more flexible form of comic satire. Pratchett built stories around familiar fantasy machinery such as wizards, dragons, gods, and Death, then used it to examine institutions and ordinary social behavior. His method combines brisk plots, conversational wit, absurd premises, and characters whose practical weaknesses often prove more revealing than heroic competence. Guards! Guards! turns a dragon story into an inquiry into civic authority and policing, while Small Gods brings organized religion and sincere belief into conflict through a god trapped in the body of a tortoise. Mort similarly makes Death’s apprentice confront rules that appear fixed by fate. The result is fantasy distinguished by its alertness to power, faith, bureaucracy, and human folly, while remaining accessible as comedy.
