Only You Can Save Mankind

Terry Pratchett

Nov 2009 · Random House

About this ebook

IF NOT YOU, WHO ELSE?

As the mighty alien fleet from the latest computer game thunders across the screen, Johnny prepares to blow them into the usual million pieces. And they send him a message: We surrender.

They're not supposed to do that! They're supposed to die. And computer joysticks don't have 'Don't Fire' buttons . . .

But it's only a game, isn't it. Isn't it?

The first book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

Ratings and reviews

First, a confession: It took me a long time to warm up to Mr. Pratchett and his idiosyncratic style. Oh, the details are not important, but it was this book that really hooked me as a life-long fan of his; I read it more or less at the same time period in which it was set, when I was of a tender age, and I too was blasting computerised antagonists with my twitchy trigger-finger. The surreal nature of modern warfare as depicted in this book has only become... surreal-er... since it's first publication. While contemporary readers might find fault in it being very much a product of it's time, the central themes- essentially, a coming-of-digital-age story for both boys and girls- are even more relevant today than in the heady glare of the early 1990's. For me, this is the one book I hope to give to my children, in the hopes that it will help them as much as it helped me. Oh, also, there's jokes. Good ones, too. Shame about the new cover design, but you can't win them all.

Great book.

About the author

Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books which have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

www.terrypratchettbooks.com