Rating: 
Summary: Pratchett makes Phantom of the Opera give up the ghost...
Review: Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax, the Lancre Witches, are suddenly out one member of their coven. What's a wise crone and a many-times mother to do without a maiden to flesh out the female trio? Unfortunately in Lancre, it's hard to find many qualified women, and the only one close enough moved to Ankh-Morpork, a city whose major industry is greed. However, with a little manipulation from Nanny, it's off to Ankh-Morpork to seek Ms. Nitt, aka Perdita, a potential witch with an amazing voice and a desire to do something with her life.
Of course, if you have an incredible voice, where do you end up? Opera! And, of course, what would an Opera House be without ledgends, rumors, superstitions, and a strange masked figure lurking about? Well, safer for a start - and Granny and Nanny are determined to figure out just what's going on in the life of their hopeful recruit.
This novel is both a parody of Phantom of the Opera, and a more realistic portrayal. The "Opera Ghost" is both who you'd expect AND who you wouldn't. There are hilarious and subtle parodies, mixed with serious looks at how we percieve people. Best of all, Pratchett's Phantom of the Opera parodies point out what I've always felt - that in the musical, most of the characters were complete idiots.
If you love Pratchett, buy it and read it. And if you know someone who liked Phantom, and doesn't mind starting a series in the middle, you may have a way to introduce them to Discworld . . .
Rating:
Summary: My Review of Maskerade that Compliments Terry Pratchett
Review: Maskerade is probably the best book I have read - it's nothing like opera, so don't worry!!! Granny Weatherwax is annoyed when Nanny Ogg writes a cookery book under her name, The Lancre Witch. This all leads into an exciting adventure including the mysterious opera ghost - is it Walter Plinge or not? An exciting novel - an excellent read! I favour this book more than any other.
Rating:
Summary: Give a friend a crowbar.
Review: If you don't have time to read Maskerade in one sitting, then give a friend a crowbar to take it away from you.
I've never been disappointed by Pratchett (although Soul Music came close 'cause I don't listen to Music with Rocks in). But Opera is my speed and the inside jokes are hilarious. The satire of Opera, Operetta and Webber's musicals is cutting. This book is chock'full'o belly laughs even if you don't know opera.
Perhaps most exciting is a new Witch to accompany Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. I can't wait to see more of her.
Rating: 
Summary: Very funny, if not as inventive as other Discworld novels.
Review: Maskerade is yet another Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett,
although the only binding elements to the Discworld are place
names, the Ramtops and Ankh/Morpork, and a few beloved characters.
The witches, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (with Greebo the cat),
being the main characters. Oh yes, Death puts in some cameo appearances.
Apart from this, the story could be any fantasy setting.
Pratchett is, once again, extremely witty, making me laugh out
loud several times. The plot is not, perhaps, very original; being
an obvious satire of the Phantom of the Opera, but it has enough
of a Pratchett twist to keep you reading. A who-dunnit Phantom?
One drawback of the book is that the author assumes a knowledge
of the Discworld's magic, anyway how the witch's magig works, and to a much lesser extent the geography. While this will
probably not lessen a first time readers enjoyment very much,
it will perhaps make for some puzzling passages.
While perhaps not as inventive as his other Discworld novels,
such as Lords and Ladies, it is still very good and extremely funny.
PS: I missed the footnote jokes present in Pratchett's
other novels.
Rating:
Summary: make opera fun
Review: I've got to admit: I'm not an opera fan. I've seen a few, though in a modern setting... So I don't know a lot about the 'real' opera world, only the thing you read about in books, magazines or see on tv or in movies... But Terry Pratchett makes it all so real. He says in the beginning of the book he's not a real fan and in the book he makes fun of it all: the superstitions, the little rituals, how opera doesn't make sense... And I really loved the book. I like all of his work, but especially the ones with the whiches and death...
So I was in for a treat. Agnes, born and raises in Lancre, has a great personality and great hair (in other words: she's a BIG girl). She also has a great voice and goes to the city to make it in the singing world... Nanny Ogg and granny Weatherwax go to after her to convince Agnes that she has to become their third which. And of course they also get mixed up in the theaterworld. And there is also the small matter of the cookbook that nanny wrote... using granny's name...
Rating: 
Summary: Opera on the Diskworld
Review: MASKERADE by Terry Pratchett is not one of his best. Definitely funnier than SOUL MUSIC and quite entertaining to anyone like myself who likes opera and has some contacts into the running of an exceptional opera house. Pratchett has spoofed many facets of modern life and this time he takes on the business of opera (readers get the feeling that Mr. Pratchett is not an opera fan). Granny Weatherwax is back but it is not really her story. An interesting twist on the Phantom of the Opera musical.
Rating:
Summary: Among the Best of Discworld
Review: This Discworld novel plays off Phantom of the Opera. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg set off to Ankh-Morpork to find out why they have not received royalties due Nanny for her best-selling cookbook of naughty erotic and aphrodisiac delicacies, and to check up on Agnes Nitt, who has gone to seek her fortune and is singing in the background for a young airheaded opera starlet who looks good in a sequined costume, in a sort of Milli-Vanilli scenario. She has not yet joined the coven, but has found she doesn't seem to fit in anywhere else; her alter-ego, Perdita, is also not yet developed into the alternate personality it becomes in later books. This one is quite funny, and the plot moves along well. There's a pseudo-Italian imposter tenor, Greebo makes an hilarious appearance in human form, and we get to experience a lot of Granny, my favorite witch character. It loses a star only because it dissipates some of its energy on one too many minor characters and subplots.
Rating:
Summary: Another bullseye for Terry
Review: Yep, Terry Pratchett strikes again, this time with a hilarious parody on `The Phantom of the Opera'. With Magrat Garlick finally settled nicely as the Queen of Lancre, the remaining witches, Esme `Granny' Weatherwax and Gytha `Nanny' Ogg, travel to the big city of Ankh Morpork to visit young Agnes Nitt - a promising potential witch from Lancre who went to Ankh to find her future in the Opera. While they're there, the witches help solve a series of mysterious murders at the Opera House. The Witch books seem to get better every time, and the characters of Nanny and Granny are, on Maskerade, more full and charming than ever before. The new characters - Agnes, Senor Basilica, Walter Plinge and the rest - are all hilarious and very well-written. And let's not forget cameos by old favorites like `Nobby' Nobbs, Sgt. Detritus and the Librarian. One of Terry's most intelligent parodies, equals Lords And Ladies but much, much funnier - Maskerade is essential for Pratchett fans and Discworld veterans.
Rating:
Summary: One of Pratchett's funniest to date
Review: I've read every one of the Discworld novels, and this one's my favorite. In a world that is sometimes nonsensical, very much like our own, the witches tend to provide a clear look inside the human mind. This novel is at once riotously funny and extremely thought-provoking, as Pratchett pokes his usual gentle fun at the establishment.
Agnes Nitt (alias Perdita X. Dream) is a girl from Lancre who moves to Ankh-Morpork to be an opera singer. When she gets a job in the chorus at the opera house, she immediately stumbles on some peculiar happenings (and some extremely peculiar people). The two Lancre witches also happen to be in town on some financial business, and they set out to find out exactly what's going on in the opera house.
This book is for you if: you like opera; you think opera is silly; you like fantasy; you like satire; you have a pulse.
Rating:
Summary: Pratchett just keeps getting better and better!
Review: You know what I think? I think Terry Pratchett is breaking the rules. He's not writing these books for his publisher, or even for us - I think he's writing for himself. And I'm so glad he is. Because instead of sticking to some "formula for success," which usually results in most sequels turning out to be pale, thin imitations of the books that made us ask the author for more, Pratchett just keeps on turning out great STORIES and each one gets richer and better as his characters and his world develop and become more real. But enough of my half-formed Theory of Great Literature. Here is why you want to read Masquerade: It has Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg in it. And, as if that weren't enough to make you want to read it (well, it was enough for me!) Death shows up (of course he's everywhere, right?) in a very interesting cameo, wherein we get to wonder just who - Granny or Death - IS the most powerful character on the Disc. Dear (?) ol' Greebo gets a large speaknig part in this one, too (mee-yowl!) This is the story of how Agnes/Perdita Nitt came to be involved in in the unconventional coven. It's also a murder mystery (people are dropping out of the flies like flies) and it's a belly-busting look at opera and the entertainment industry and - as always - human nature overall. It never ceases to amaze me how Pratchett manages to make me say "wow, that is so deep, that is so true," and yet laugh so hard I have to put the book down for a few minutes - every few minutes.
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