''Has the energy of The Hitch-Hiker''s Guide to the Galaxy and the inventiveness of Alice in Wonderland'' Sunday TimesThe Discworld is very much like our own - if our own were to consist of a flat planet balanced on the back of four elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle, that is . . . OH, THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING IN THE STOCKING THAT MAKES A NOISE, said Death, OTHERWISE WHAT IS 4:30 A.M. FOR?Superstition makes things work in the Discworld and undermining it can have Consequences. It''s just not right to find Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho . . . It''s the last night of the year, the time is turning, and if Susan, Gothic governess and Death''s granddaughter (sort of), doesn''t sort everything out by morning, there won''t be a morning. Ever again . . . _________________The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Hogfather is the fourth book in the Death series; a festive feast of darkness (but with jolly robots and tinsel too).