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Thief of Time

Thief of Time is the 26th Discworld novel written by Terry Pratchett.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Synopsis
The Auditors convince a young clock maker, Jeremy Clockson, in Ankh-Morpork to build a perfect clock, capturing Time herself into it. What he does not think of is that capturing Time into a prison will freeze the time on the Discworld. That's exactly what the Auditors are trying to do. Naturally, Death isn't about to let that happen, but since his hands are tied he sends his granddaughter Susan to thwart them.

Meanwhile, in a distant valley, a young apprentice of the History Monks, Lobsang Ludd, and his old teacher, Lu-Tze, called 'The Sweeper', hear about this plan, and head for Ankh-Morpork to stop this clock from being built. The Auditors, meanwhile, are using human bodies to pose as and learn about humans, and one in particular, operating under the alias Myria LeJean, is quite disturbed by "her" experiences as "she" becomes more and more human by the minute...

Notable aspects
Thief of Time features the neologism Substition (first used by Pratchett in Jingo), a term denoting the opposite of superstition.

"'No, they're a substition,' said Susan. 'I mean they're real, but hardly anyone really believes in them. Mostly everyone believes in things that aren't real.'"