The joy of this one is of course, once again, the fact that it pre-empts the Discworld so wonderfully. You can clearly see PTerry's mind cogs whirring and the imagination is startling. However, he isn't particularly adept at writing sci-fi: again, we have stuttering explanations and quite shoddy sci-fi elements where it feels like he was truly excited by this piece of technology but half-way through telling us about it he got a bit fed up.

Humanity Is Superior: Humanity rules the galaxy, and the few alien races we see in any detail have crippling physical or psychological problems. Kung are neurotically afraid of everything except immediate physical danger, and go berserk if threatened; the Chew Toy-like Shand are not only instinctively cannibalistic but turn into mindless eating machines if they don't feed regularly. The closest thing to a similar problem humans have is getting bored because they live too long. Artificial Cannibalism: Silver is fed meat cultured from her own cells because there isn't anything else with a compatible biochemistry. The Middle Ages: Flat Earth is in its middle ages when Kin arrives. Around the year 1001 AD, since she ends up interfering with Leif Eriksson's expedition. The express purpose of the Company's planet-manufacturing business is to create dispersed branches of humanity, diverse enough to ensure the whole species' survival for eternity. The Earth's population in the past has been decimated due to the lethal "Mindquakes", epidemic mass deaths caused by too much homogeneity among the populace. [2] :279

Retailers:

However, as a standalone novel, the book is, in my opinion, distinctly underwhelming. While not particularly long or verbose, this one took me particularly long; the plot and motivation were unclear, the action scenes lagged and were periodically underwritten, and so, hard to follow, and what few attempts at humour there are fail to redeem it. Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Warrior-caste Kung are operated on before birth, causing them to grow an extra pair of arms. It's mentioned several times that Marco is able to defeat humans in a 20:1 fight, or better. Kin Arad is a high-ranking official of the Company. After twenty-one decades of living, and with the help of memory surgery, she is at the top of her profession. Discovering two of her employees have placed a fossilized plesiosaur in the wrong stratum, not to mention the fact it is holding a placard which reads "End Nuclear Testing Now", doesn't dismay the woman who built a mountain range in the shape of her initials during her own high-spirited youth.

Strata by se totiž dala považovat za příběh o tom, jak by mohla vypadat Zeměplocha, kdyby ji Pratchett nepsal jako fantasy, ale jako sci-fi. That's more like it! Reading Pratchett chronologically, I was disappointed by the first two books. They were funny, but chaotic and disjointed. Strata wraps all the chaos and absurdity into a story which successfully holds it together, and stays strong throughout. Beast Man: The Shandi, who have giant tusks and need to eat constantly to stop them from going berserk. Auto-Kitchen: The Dumbwaiter, which is built around a Matter Replicator and is apparently able to supply them endlessly with food and drink. The medieval priests denounce it as evil and try to destroy it.Alternate History: Kin's Earth is mostly similar to ours, but many places have different names and Christianity apparently doesn't exist (because it's first discovered on the Flat Earth). Although this is a bit inconsistent, because at one point Kin says the flat world looks like "the vision of some medieval monk". The thing about it though, is that it's FUNNY. Taken by itself, it's an exceptional example of a sci-fi comedy action adventure. The story moves at a good pace, there's action in the right places, there some wonderful imagery. Waterfalls at the end of the world will never not be cool. It's just too crazy. It doesn't gel. I liked the idea of one of the main characters being an oversized alien having adventures on a mostly primitive world. The stuff with the food synthesizer was smart and was maybe the only thing that gave the story any real sense of stakes. I mean, if you can't digest the food around you, the idea of your stuff being taken away is pretty relatable. Earth That Used to Be Better: Earth's population was decimated by the Mindquakes (people spontaneously died from the psychic pressure of overpopulation), and there's now a large population of robots. Also, all but a few hundred books were lost in the collapse of civilization. Apparently this book is a parody of Nivens Ringworld. Anyway, via a series of circumstances, she is joined by two aliens and they find themselves on a flat earth. It’s a Discworld, not THE Discworld but something very similar. The ultimate point of the story is to figure who built it and why. Strata is still one of my favourite books, and one of my favourites, if not the favourite, by this author. There is something about the unspoken science of it, the characters and team dynamics as well as the story which is entirely satisfying to me. It also contains what is probably my favourite ever female lead character, Kin Arad. Kin, like her creator has a dry sense of humour, she is inclined to be practical and down to earth but has a startling chaotic streak in her behaviour at times. I am a little sad there is only one book of her.

Azrifel - Geni-like disc demon who unwillingly helps Kin reach the disc builders rather than have Marco the Kung do something interestingly destructive to his lamp. So, if you love Terry Pratchett, then you'll surely love this, not because its good, but it gives you further insight into the man and his writing.

The characterisation is poor and two-dimensional. Characters mainly exist as plot devices to drive the story to its conclusion. Scenes are rushed as Pratchett tries to manipulate his actors into the right places on stage before the next piece of 'business'. Fantastic Diet Requirement: The Shandi have to eat a protein only found in other Shandi. If they don't they fly into a feeding rage. They can synthesise the protein with a Dumb Waiter, but this leaves them in a bit of situation when it beaks down. The characters are similarly developed than in The Dark Side of the Sun, but there seems an edge to them here that you don't see in that one, but you do see in Discworld. We also have the wonderful camaraderie of a cosmopolitan world. The Disc has no aliens, but they all seem alien even on such a small world. Meaningful Name: "Marco" derives either from Latin Mars, and therefore means war-like, or from Greek and means polite. Both suit.