Posts Tagged ‘terry pratchett’

A Hat Full of Sky

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015 | Books

I have never been a huge fan of the Tiffany Aching Discworld novels. Probably because I am no longer a young adult, despite what the barman at the Squinting Cat insists. Still, it was readable and the Nac Mac Feegle are cool characters.

Most excitingly, that makes the next Discworld novel Going Postal. Which, has now been built up so much in my mind that it can only be a huge disappointment…

A_Hat_Full_of_Sky

Monstrous Regiment

Saturday, November 22nd, 2014 | Books

Monstrous Regiment is the 31st Discworld novel and is set in Borogravia. It was brilliant. I normally find the Discworld books funny, but it is rare that I actually laugh out loud while reading. Monstrous Regiment achieved that several times.

Plus it has added Sam Vimes and William de Worde.

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Good Omens

Monday, November 3rd, 2014 | Books

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a 1990 novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It was pretty Discworld-y, by which I mean it was a fantasy novel with lots of Pratchett in it, but that is only to be expected and certainly not a bad thing.

It is probably Gaiman-y too, but I have not read any of his other stuff.

It is starting to date a bit. I got the references to “cassettes” but I am not sure how much longer that will be the case lol. The Anti-Christ is never really going to get old though…

Good Omens

The Wee Free Men

Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 | Books

Not my favourite Discworld novel. It was a “young people novel”, so slightly different from most. I did enjoy the Nac Mac Feegle which were brilliant characters (and not racist at all). Tiffany Aching is an okay character, but maybe a little similar to Susan Sto Helit.

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Night Watch

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014 | Books

The 29th book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is “Night Watch”. Sam Vimes, the History Monks, time travel – what is there not to love about this novel? Nothing, that’s the answer. I love Lu-Tze and the City Watch is awesome too. It also reminded me of one of the half a dozen Star Trek episode plots that almost all of the 300 episodes are based around.

Night Watch

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 | Books

The Amazing Maurice is the first Discworld novel that is aimed at children. When that actually translates into texts, there is very little difference. The balance of jokes is perhaps more targeted at children than adults, but there was still plenty in there that I found entertaining and funny.

What did change was that even though it is set in the Discworld universe, you do not need to know anything about Discworld or have read the previous novels to be able to fully enjoy this one.

The-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents

The Last Hero

Saturday, August 9th, 2014 | Books

Leonard of Quirm, Rincewind, Captain Carrot, and a chance to save the world! What more could you want from a Discworld novel? Plus a little bit of Death too. I really enjoyed The Last Hero. It did not have too much substance to it, but it was only half the length of a typical Discworld novel and the short format worked really well for it.

The-last-hero

Thief of Time

Wednesday, May 14th, 2014 | Books

Terry Pratchett’s 26th Discworld novel is Thief of Time. It has a mixed cast of characters including The Auditors, Death, Susan Sto Helit and best of all, Lu-Tze.

It definitely is not one of my favourite Discworld novels. While I do like the History Monks, I am not a big fan of the Auditors. I found it dragged a bit which lead to be losing focus and struggling to follow some of it.

Thief-of-time

The Truth

Sunday, April 27th, 2014 | Books

The Truth is the 25th novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. It follows the adventures of William de Worde as he accidentally starts the first newspaper, The Ankh-Morpork Times.

Without a doubt, it has been my favourite novel so far. The pioneering spirit of free enterprise, the passion for reporting the news to the public and the almost-tangible smell of Ankh-Morpock that emanates from the pages makes for a powerful, if odorous, combination.

I do wonder as to what the sitcom element comes into play in making the stories enjoyable. In a sitcom, you get to know the characters and that is what makes the situations so funny (not because the situation itself is inherently hilarious on its own). Similarly, it could be that the earlier novels are just as good as the later ones, and if you read them the other way round, you would enjoy the earlier ones more. Or maybe not. Or maybe it is a combination of both.

The-Truth

The Fifth Elephant

Friday, April 18th, 2014 | Books

Everyone knows that the world sits on the back of four elephants. That are themselves standing on the back of a giant turtle. The elephants themselves are also pretty big. That is just how it is. Obviously it would be nonsense to suggest there was once a fifth elephant. Yet some people actually believe that!

In the 24th novel of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, Sam Vimes travels to Überwald to take care of some sensitive negotiations. In the usual way that Sam Vimes deals with things. Obviously a recipe for success.

It was a really good novel. While I generally prefer the goings-on of Ankh-Morpork, it was nice to get out and about a little to explore some more of the Discworld. You can’t beat a good underground dwarf fortress. Well, maybe goblins can. But they are still really cool.

The-fifth-elephant