DIGGERS

Second in the Bromeliad trilogy about the desperate quest of Nomes to outwit the enormous, ponderous humans and escape Earth. As the result of an interrupted space journey, Nomes have been stranded here for 15,000 years; still, for humans they are only legends, or models for garden statues. To Masklin, Grimma, Dorcas, and the other Nomes who have finally awakened their guidance computer, humans are only necessary evils who provide food, shelter, and electricity. In Duckers (1989), the Nomes contrived to drive a track away from The Store Arnold Bros (est. 1905) just before it was demolished, escaping to an abandoned quarry: here, they are entrenched and busy building in the quarry. Meanwhile, Masklin goes off with the computer, trying to find his way to Florida to contact their spaceship, which is still in orbit. Disaster strikes: humans reopen the quarry. The Nomes escape by tying up a watchman, then starting an old backhoe. Humans surround them, but just as all seems lost a spaceship suddenly hovers overhead, scattering the enemy. Pratchett's unquenchable good cheer carries this along as it did the first volume. Although Nomes are certainly literary cousins to Borrowers, they have neither their rigorous logic in interacting with the human world nor their ingenuity. But they do have a mission, and a drive to grow. They also have file zany, slightly off-center sensibility of Pratchett, who tells a rollicking good story. The imminent third volume will be eagerly awaited.