Point of View

Reaper Man is a third person omniscient narrative. Perspective is anchored to the current character of interest, but routinely switches between characters to explore different facets of the overarching story. Though the author is omniscient, the reader is privy only to the perspective of the current protagonist. There is nevertheless a sense that the story is continuing elsewhere, "off the page." While the reader follows the events of Bill Door and Windle Poons, for example, the Archchancellor Ridcully and the wizards of the Unseen University are captured by the mall queen. The reader isn't aware of this fact, however, until Windle Poons arrives at the mall.

Pratchett is the Ringworld authority. He provides frequent annotations concerning other relevant "facts" of Ringworld. This gives the impression that Ringworld is a "real place" and that Pratchett is the scholastic authority on the subject of Ringworld's culture and history...