Discworld

Terry Pratchett, "Wintersmith"

2006-10-10 14:07; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 128 words

The latest Discworld juvenile: the story of Tiffany Aching continues. There seemed to be an awful lot of material here recycled from previous Discworld books, and while it's got good parts I found it somewhat disappointing overall.

I'm particularly annoyed that Doubleday have chosen to publish this book in the same format as the regular Discworld series, rather than the smaller (and much more attractive) format used by the previous children's books; it makes the text is uncomfortably huge (since there's no more actual content here than the last book), and I can't shelve it in the right place.

I wouldn't say it's a bad book, but it's not up to the high standards set by the rest of the series.

ISBN 0385609841. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, the Discworld series

2006-04-02 23:15; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 665 words

Regular readers of these reviews (are there any?) will have noticed I haven't posted many recently; that's because I've been rereading a big chunk of the Discworld series:

• "Thud!", which I got last year and had only read once. I liked it better this time, and am eagerly awaiting an update to the APF to fill in the references I'm sure I'm missing. I'm curious as to whether "devices" will play a more important part in future books, since they weren't really needed for this one (the cube could just have been ordinarily magical). The section with Vimes under Koom Valley struck me again as a bit clumsy, although the fuzziness is probably intentional. I wonder what the book on the construction of the Ankh-Morpork Underground is going to be called, and how many New York Rapid Transit references he'll get into it...
• "Guards! Guards!", the first Watch book, since I realised I hadn't reread this thread (my favourite) for several years. A good read, even if the plot's pretty fantasy-ish by Watch standards.
• "Men at Arms". I'd forgotten how strong a book this was. It features both impressive bits of humour (for example, the secret society scenes) and some of the first really serious and moving bits in the Discworld series; I was particularly taken with the Carrot scene at the end.
• "Feet of Clay", which used to be my favourite Discworld book until Night Watch came out, and which I've thus read something like six times. I still found the occasional pun or turn of phrase that I hadn't noticed before.
• "Jingo", another good one, and with the satire looking significantly sharper a few years into the Iraq war. I thought it did a particularly good job of giving "screen time" to all the personalities involved (Vimes, Carrot, Colon and Nobby, Vetinari, Leonard, Ahmed...) without ever feeling rushed or bloated. I wonder if we'll get a Klatchian Watch book at some point in the future...
• "The Fifth Elephant", which was all right, but nothing spectacular. Some nice Vimes bits.
• (I didn't bother with "Monstrous Regiment", since it's only been a year since I last read it, and it's only incidentally a Watch book...)
• "Night Watch", my current favourite Discworld book, and probably the most serious work of the series. It stands rereading exceptionally well; the early sections actually work better when you know what's coming.
• "Going Postal". This one's a lot of fun, and it's nice to see that a Discworld book without any of the regular major characters can still work. The telegraph system's quite interesting, but I doubt we'll see any more detail of it than we have here; the Gnu references made me giggle a bit (and frown a little at the blurring of the hacker/cracker distinction, although at least the portrayal's reasonably kind here). I'll guess "Making Money" is going to be along similar lines.
• "The Truth", another Ankh-Morpork "independent" book, although characters recur in later stories. On the "good" side of OK, and resonates nicely with the Michael Green autobiography I read a while back...
• "Thief of Time", which I'd also only read once before. I didn't think it was a very strong book when I first read it, and my opinion hasn't changed since; the History Monks bits are fine, but Susan Sto Helit just isn't an interesting character to follow any more, and Lobsang/Jeremy disappear before we learn much about them.
• "The Last Continent", another one I didn't care much for when it first came out; I can see why there haven't been any more Rincewind books lately. This one's essentially just a collection of Australia-themed set pieces without much in the way of actual plot, and as such doesn't really stand rereading well.

As I'm sure you've gathered, I'd generally recommend the series; I'd probably suggest starting with "Guards! Guards!" and reading the Watch books in order for new readers, rather than diving in at "The Colour of Magic" (as I did, many years ago).

Terry Pratchett, "Where's My Cow?"

2005-10-15 09:52; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 56 words

Hm, a Discworld book I didn't like? Well, it's an artbook in the form of a children's story, and I don't care very much for the art style (although I suspect someone who's more interested in children's books than I am would appreciate it more). Look before you buy.

ISBN 038560937X. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Thud"

2005-10-15 09:52; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 49 words

Yay, another Watch book -- this time finding out the truth behind Koom Valley. It's not as dark nor as clever as "Night Watch", and I spotted a few jokes reused from previous Discworld books, but it's still an interesting and entertaining read.

ISBN 0385608675. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Monstrous Regiment" (reread)

2005-03-24 22:48; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 7 words

ISBN 0385603401. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Going Postal" (reread)

2005-03-22 00:05; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 53 words

Yes, I only read this at Christmas -- but, as always with Terry Pratchett's books, there's a lot more to spot the second time around. It's still very much recommended; the Discworld series is one which is still getting better and better 30+ books down the line.

ISBN 0385603428. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Carpe Jugulum" (reread)

2005-01-24 11:39; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 57 words

Reread having gone through the Annotated Pratchett File entry for it. Not being a bit fan of horror movies, I'd missed a lot of the references the first couple of times around. This book's growing on me; recommended, as with all the Discworld books, but slightly more so than before.

ISBN 0385409923. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Going Postal"

2004-12-26 12:58; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 7 words

ISBN 0385603428. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "A Hat Full of Sky"

2004-05-29 20:19; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 544 words

They granted wishes — not the magical fairytale three wishes, the ones that always go wrong in the end, but ordinary, everyday ones. The Nac Mac Feegle were immensely strong and fearless and incredibly fast, but they weren't good at understanding that what people said often wasn't what they meant. [...] She was never likely to say, out loud, I wish that I could marry a handsome prince, but knowing that if you did you'd probably open the door to find a stunned prince, a tied-up priest and a Nac Mac Feegle grinning cheerfully and ready to act as Best Man definitely made you watch what you said.

The thirty-first Discworld book from Terry Pratchett, and the third book in the series aimed specifically at younger readers, a sequel to "The Wee Free Men". Trainee witch Tiffany Aching, leaving home for the first time, has to deal with a dangerous creature only remembered from legends with the help of the Nac Mac Feegle and a few Discworld regulars.

Terry Pratchett's writing style has changed significantly over the course of the series; the latest "big" Discworld books have been very dark, with ambiguously-good characters and lots of situations where it's not obvious that there is a "right" thing to do. These books thus serve the dual purpose of getting children who've read J. K. Rowling and are looking for something a bit more serious into the Discworld series, and allowing Pratchett to revisit and reinterpret themes that he hasn't covered since the start of the series. That's not to say that this story is all sweetness and light; there are some serious themes here, handled elegantly.

I was particularly impressed with the bits with the hiver-controlled Tiffany: he's very good at slowly revealing bits of a character's personality through their thoughts and how others see them, and having the realisation slowly dawn that something's not quite right was a nice touch.

This is a really beautiful hardcover book: a rainbow-coloured cover by Paul Kidby that wraps around the dust jacket, with matching pencil drawings in the text and at the head of each chapter (yes, chapter; you can tell it's a book for younger readers because it provides convenient places to stop reading); readable (and large) body text with various forms of emphasis used as appropriate to the story; neat little motifs by the page numbers. I hope Doubleday are going to keep this up, since it's a bit easier to justify buying the hardcover edition when it first comes out if it's going to look this nice to read.

I've only got two minor quibbles with this book: a handful of reused jokes from his earlier books (we've seen "scared of depths" three times now, I think), and an awful lot of OKs instead of other synonyms for all right. I'm prepared to forgive the first because he's aiming this series at readers who won't have read the other Discworld books, and I can put up with the second, although it makes the prose sound a bit odd at times.

The "children's" books are Pratchett at his best; every bit as good as the Guards stories, but more accessible. Thoroughly recommended, particularly if you aren't already a Discworld fan.

ISBN 0385607369. Buy this book at Amazon.

Terry Pratchett, "Night Watch" (reread)

2004-02-02 00:00; in Adam's Books, Discworld; 7 words

ISBN 0552148997. Buy this book at Amazon.