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Diggers

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Terry Pratchett's lovable nomes return in "Diggers," the second book of the Bromeliad trilogy. It's an improvement on the first book "Truckers," with a steadier pace and a new twist on this tiny-aliens-among-us plotline. It gets a bit silly at times, but doesn't wear out its welcome.

When last seen, the peculiar, lovable nomes had managed to drive a truck away from the Arnold Bros. store, and had set up a new home in an abandoned quarry. Masklin and his little band are doing fine, although many of the more pampered nomes are having to get used to the idea of farming and living in a place with no heating and too much open space.

Then everything changes. A human brings a paper to the quarry, and the nomes learn that the quarry is going to be reopened -- and the nomes risk discovery unless they can find a new place to live. When Masklin ventures off to the mysterious Florida, to find the descendent of Arnold Bros., a fanatic called Nisodemus takes the opportunity to rally the nomes in rebellion. Just then, Dorcas (a sort of nome technogeek) reveals the Cat (a bulldozer), which might help them against the humans.

Terry Pratchett seems to have found more solid footing in "Diggers." The book feels a lot steadier and surer, now that he's established the groundwork. He weaves in a little subtle social commentary (particularly on religious fanatics); it's not as subtle as it could be, but it isn't too annoying.

"Diggers" is also faster-moving than "Truckers." His sense of quirky humor (like the idea of Florida being made of orange juice) is present constantly, but he doesn't do it in a mean-spirited way. You laugh with the innocent nomes, not at them. Probably the biggest problem is that "Diggers" ends on a cliffhanger of sorts, with the line "I'd very much like to know what Masklin has been doing these past few weeks."

Masklin and the Thing aren't present for most of the story; they show up again in the third book, "Wings." So most of the focus is on Grimma, the girl Masklin wants to marry, and Dorcas the nome technogeek. Their characters are well-drawn, and their struggles to deal with the fanatical nome is tense and well-plotted.

While it's not his best work, Terry Pratchett is in good form in the second book of the Bromeliad trilogy. "Diggers" is a good return for the nomes, and a fun fantasy read.

This the second book of the Bromeliad trilogy (following Truckers and followed by Wings).

After escaping from the doomed Store of Arnold Bros (est. 1905), the nomes find refuge in a disused quarry. And although life's harder Outside than it was in the Store, after a while everything goes well... until they find out that the quarry is going to be reopened.

At the same time, they also learn that Grandson Richard, 39, an heir to the Arnold Bros (est. 1905) fortune, is going to Florida to watch the launch of his first telecom satellite. To Masklin it's an oportunity to send the Thing back into space where it could contact the Ship which will bring them back HOME. And so he sets out, with Gurder and Angalo, on a trip to the airport.

And as the rest of the nomes are waiting for them to come back, their food reserves are inexorably running out and the humans' presence is starting to be a real nuisance. Are they going to flee and hide or are they going to stand up to them?

As expected, Diggers is brilliant and extremely funny. And again, the confrontation between the nomes' and our view of the world is the source of many of the typically "Pratchettian" puns we've all come to love!

At the end of "TRUCKERS" by Terry Pratchett. Maskerlin and the gnomes of the doomed supermarket floor boards, escaped into the outside world, with Maskerlin driving a lorry carrying the gnomes. After the famous epic, A new adventure has dawned, The Gnomes from the lost supermarket lead by the heroic Maskerlin, make a new home inside the devastated buildings of a old quarry. The Gnomes begin to face a nightmare reality, as things suddenly happen, as their home has rain fall from the Earth's sky, in ice drops and the humans start causing chaos. But the Gnomes as a band of colonists, are brought toghere to protect their new home from humans in the horizon who have the help of a beast named Jekub. This is the best follow-up to Terry Pratchett's Gnome classic "TRUCKERS".

While the other two books in the trilogy can be taken half-seriously, this one is 100% comic farce. It's rare I laugh out loud while reading a book, so I didn't find it quite as good as the other two. I'm still rather disgruntled to find out that the entire trilogy is out of print, and only two Amazon.com frequenters have even read the first book, one of which can't even spell.

I recommend the purchase of The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings instead of simply book two. More story for the money.

In "Diggers" Masklin realizes the abandoned quarry the nomes occupied after the store isn't going to last forever. He sets off with The Thing, Gurder, and Angalo on a journey of his own (recounted in the next book, "Wings"). Meanwhile, Grimma and Dorcas are left to make due at the quarry, with major problems. Snow. A nome (Nisodemus) wants power, and will say anything for it. Plus, humans aren't deterred by the nome signs on the gates, and want to reopen the quarry. The quarry nomes have many battles for their survival...

Contains more vintage Pratchett, and while technically Young Adult, enjoyable for all ages of readership.

Now that Masklin and Torrit have left to explore the place where those big metal things take off into the air, Grimma has to fend for herself. That is, she has to take care of the nomes that have taken shelter at the quarry. But they are not alone. A very insistent human being is trying to invade their place. Grimma has to be creative to keep that pesky big annoyances away, but is afraid that they ultimately will have to flee to The Cottage. Luckily Dorcas, the techno geek of the nomes, has a secret weapon at hand: Big John.

Diggers is the second part of the Bromeliad trilogy, an adventurous fable about gnomes that want to return to their original homestead, intended for a younger audience. But the weak point of many trilogies also applies here: the second episode is a bit lost in between. The setting has been neatly composed in the first book and the finale has to wait until the next book. So, narratively it isn't a great novel, but it still is a good read. It's always nice to look at our world from the perspective of a little gnome. The best part is that it nicely introduces the final volume Wings, which as I type this is lying next to me. I can't wait to start reading.

In Truckers, Masklin rescued the other nomes from the store before its demoliton. Then, he led them to a quarry, a place that they could call home. But now, Masklin realizes that the nomes can never really be at home in the human's world, so he sets off to find the airport, and the spaceship that brought the nomes to Earth some 15,000 years ago. But for the nomes left at the quarry, now led by Grimma, things go from bad to worse, and worse still. Where is Masklin, and who will save the nomes?

This book is as funny as the last one. The nomes are so very human, and yet so very different. Plus, the story kept you at the edge of your seat, right up to the surprise finale. What a wonderful book!

In this second volume of the "Bromeliad" trilogy (the title of which has to do with tiny Amazonian frogs living in tree-top flowers, who know nothing about the world at large), the focus is on Grimma, the somewhat feminist love interest of Masklin, who led the four-inch-high nomes out of The Store to safety in a small hillside quarry outside the town. While Masklin and the other two leaders of the community go off to the local airport to investigate the possibilities of further escape, humans show up at the quarry and post signs that make it clear the operation is to be reopened -- threatened the nomes' existence once again. The hard part is Grimma's gradual realization that the humans aren't out to get her people -- they don't even know they're there. It's a human world and the nomes appear to be irrelevant in it. Finally, as the only alternative to starving in the dark, Grimma organizes the capture, Gulliver-style, of the human watchman, while Dorcas, their scientist/tinkerer, rehabilitates an aging backhoe to facilitate a second escape. As always, the author also has some astute observations of what it means to be human -- or nome. And the ending is a real cliffhanger, so be sure you have the third volume ready to hand.

Having come late to Terry Pratchett's writing and his wonderful sense of humor, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed all three of the Bromeliad books. The insights into human nature clothed in truly funny just plain stupid thoughts and actions by the nomes resonated with me on a primal level. I'm one of those who sees something funny when nobody else does, and only see poignant or tragic many times others' sides are splitting. What a story of triumph of the little fellow! Now I can't wait to read the rest of Terry's books!

These books (Truckers, Diggers, and Wings) are a fun romp! Well thought out, well told, with a liberal dose of humor. If you have read any of Terry Pratchett's "Disc World" books, you'll love this light hearted series. ... You can purchase them from Amazon.co.uk for ... plus shipping. You might find a few words spelled differently than standard US English but so what?