Title: Maskerade (A Discworld Novel)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Harper Collins

When I was in Italy I read this crazy novel. It is a parody on the Phantom of the Opera, set in his 'Discworld'. I didn't know it was part of this series, until I opened the book, but I didn't make the story less understandable. I do advise you to read the Phantom of the Opera or watch the beautiful movie, otherwise you might not get some of the jokes.

The story is as follows: Agnes Nitt/Perdita X. Dream (she has a split personality) auditions for an Opera. She lands a part in the Chorus, because even though her voice is beautiful and can do a range of things, she "doesn't have the right look" = She is fat.

She has to live in the Opera House of Ankh-Morpork, where strange things happen. It is supposedly haunted by a Ghost who has everyone afraid of him. Meanwhile, Two witches, Nanny Ogg & Granny Weatherwax, from Lancre, the country in which Agnes was born, go to Ankh-Morpork to fetch Agnes. They need a third witch for their coven, since the last one became a Queen (this probably happened in the novel before this one). Agnes, however, doesn't want to be a witch...

What I like about this novel is that a lot of the Phantom characters have been incorporated into the Discworld story. Most of them have been renamed, but are still very recognizable. We meet Christine who, in this version, is a very dumb girl who can't sing and she's possible anorexic, since she only eats celery. She also isn't brave at all and faints the entire time. The owners of the Opera are money-obsessed people who don't care about the arts. Madame Giry appears in the form of Mrs. Plinge and Meg Giry is a boy called Walter Plinge. The biggest star of the Phantom of the Opera also makes a smashing appearance: The chandelier. But the prize for coolest character goes to: Death. He turns out to be a pretty nice guy who only speaks in capitals.

The story is hilarious. I laughed my ass off a lot of times. I loved that a lot of the weirdness was on the fact they were 'doing Opera' as if that would be a logical explanation for it. I'm becoming a TP-fan. I already loved his Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman) and this book has similar humour;A very clever kind of humour that sometimes doesn't register right away. It's a very easy read and it will cheer you up when you're down.

For people who are new to Discworld there's a character glossary after the story. It explains who all the main characters in Discworld are, even ones that don't appear in this particular book. There's also a cool Quiz and a Discworld Travel Guide.

Verdict: I absolutely loved it. It's my kind of humour so I give it a solid 8.5/10.