The Terry Pratchett Thread

[Galactus]

The Colour of Magic - Rincewind - 1983

Enjoyable, but a different style and feel to the other books. The Discworld is more of a serious fantasy world, Rincewind is merely a bumbler who has misadventures there. However, some iconic imagery and the most detailed exploration of the nature of the Discworld itself make it an interesting read. The graphic novel version is also very good. ***

Agreed, though i think it gets a slightly unfair rep. It has some really gold scenes/parodies. It's clear that it's an embryo of the Discworld and not what it would become.

The Light Fantastic - Rincewind - 1985

Direct sequel to TCOM but already the style of the writing is shifting more towards Pratchett's later tone. Very entertaining, especially the introduction of Cohen the Barbarian ***

Much better, loved the Gingerbread house.

[Equal Rites - Granny Weatherwax - 1987

Solid and enjoyable, introduces Granny Weatherwax. Funny, but somewhat slight. ***

Agreed.

Mort - Death - 1987

Lauded as the best Discworld novel for years, I found it rather lacking. Some good laughs but nothing too special. ***

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Don't get the Mort Love either. It's decent, but not amazing. Death is much better in the other books.

Sourcery - Rincewind - 1988

Rincewind returns, mayhem ensues. Notable for introducing the other three Horsemen of the Apocralypse and the scene where they miss the end of the world when they stop for a pub lunch. Extremely funny. ****

Yeah Discworld still hasn't *really* found it's shape yet, but it's funny as hell.

Wyrd Sisters - Granny Weatherwax - 1988

Introduces Magrat and the unstoppable Nanny Ogg and fills in the background of the Kingdom of Lancre. The plot may be lifted from Macbeth, but it's still raucoulsly funny. An early classic. ****

The first Discworld book I read, really funny. I didn't get most of the Macbeth jokes and I *still* loved it.

Pyramids - stand-alone - 1989

Another classic, introducing the Kingdom of Djelibeybi (d'ya get it?), a pyramid-obsessed Egyptian-flavoured country 150 miles long and 2 miles wide. ****

Some fun scenes, but not his best work. Though I lvoed the part when they all started building wooden horses

Guards! Guards! - City Watch - 1989

Almost continually funny satire on police procedurals marking the first appearance of Vimes, Nobby, Colon and Carrot. The first solid classic in the series. *****

Yep, this one is gold.

Faust Eric - Rincewind - 1990

Short and somewhat slight novel. Intermittently amusing, but lacking the depth of the other works. ***

Agreed, not much substance, but afew funny japes.

Moving Pictures - stand-alone, cameo from the Wizards & City Watch - 1990

Oooh yeah, loved Moving Pictures. LOTS of references though.

Reaper Man - Death - 1991

Solid book, but as with most Death ones lacking something for me. Enjoyable. ***

I think it is excellent.

Witches Abroad - Granny Weatherwax - 1991

Road movie-style story following the Witches from Lancre to Genua and the unwitting mayhem they trigger along the way. Very funny, although the ending is a bit flat. ****

Agreed with the "funny" and "Mayhem" part

Small Gods - stand-alone - 1992

Simply the single best Pratchett book of them all. Religious fundamentalism is tackled in arguably the most serious book in the series, but featuring by far the most hilarious death sequence. *****

Yep, but funny and serious. Amazing book.

Lords and Ladies - Granny Weatherwax - 1992

The Elves finally turn up and every single person who has ever wanted to lay out Legolas gets their wish come true in what is partly a war story and partly a treatise on the superficiality of beauty. Introduces Casanunda, the greatest dwarf since Thorin Oakenshield, and reveals Ridcully to be a surprising man of action. Also a great joke on the Schroedinger's Box theory. *****

Oooh yeah, and Casanunda freaking RAWKS! Though he actually makes his appearance in Witches Abroad (as a guard in the Genoese palace)

Men at Arms - City Watch - 1993

Entertaining sequel to Guards! Guards!, introducing firearms to the Discworld and a love interest for Carrot. ****

Loved it when I first read it, but somehow I don't love it as much on re-reads.

Soul Music - Death - 1994

Solid book which introduces rock music to the Discworld. Aside from some great band names, the novel is somewhat ordinary, notable only for introducing the recurring character of Susan. ***

Susan freaking rocks. Similar to "Moving Pictures" in that it's very reference-heavy.

Interesting Times - Rincewind - 1994

Surprisingly weak book, with out first (and to date only) visit to the Agatean Empire and the Counterweight Continent weakened by some inane scenes at the start of the book. The novel never really gets going and it feels like Pratchett only wrote it because his publishers wanted to see Rincewind again. **

Yeah, it's not that good.

Though the running gag about potatoes was funny. And the Lemmings references with the Red Army

Maskerade - Granny Weatherwax - 1995

The Witches come to Ankh-Morpork in this intresting take on The Phantom of the Opera. As someone who hates opera, this book was surprisingly funny and enjoyable. ***

I really liked it (the thing about multiple exclamation marks is a classic) it's a solid book.

Feet of Clay - City Watch - 1996

Excellent continuation of the City Watch stories. Very well written, featuring a great fantasy take on robots and androids. ****

Not my favourite book, but it has it's funny moments.

Hogfather - Death - 1996

Actually strangely forgettable book about Christmas. I remember it not being tremendously bad, but not great either. ***

Hogfather is one of my favourites Look at it as a parody of all those sugary-sweet Christmas movies

Jingo - City Watch - 1997

Ankh-Morpork goes to war over some pointless islands in this interesting take on warfare, but ultimately not one of the funniest books in the series. ***

I don't find it amazing, but I don't find it *bad* either. Some very good points.

The Last Continent - Rincewind - 1998

Very weak novel, possibly the weakest in the series to date, albeit with a few good gags. **

Agreed.

Carpe Jugulum - Granny Weatherwax - 1998

Another weak book about unreformed vampires menacing Lancre. Feels too much like treading over ground alread established in Lords and Ladies. **

I *loved* Carpe Jugullum, if only for the vampire-movie references and the fact that they were relatively *smart*. Ending is weak though.

The Fifth Elephant - City Watch - 1999

Dull book about Vimes sorting out problems in a city allied to Ankh-Morpork. **

Agreed, not the best book.

The Truth - stand-alone, camoes by the City Watch - 2000

Excellent return to form, establishing Pratchett's 'new' format of basing his books mainly in Ankh-Morpork with more cross-pollination between his established characters and new ones. Very funny satire on the newspaper and tabloid industry. *****

Pretty amazing, one of his better books, definately. (And a dwarf named *Gunilla*.)

Thief of Time - stand-alone - 2001

Irritatingly dull book about the nature of time. **

Yeah, not very funny at all.

Night Watch - City Watch - 2002

Vimes in time travel story. Funny with a serious underpinning and an interesting book all-round. ***

Something jarred me about it, but it was still good, if only for the Patrician as a young man

Monstrous Regiment - stand-alone, cameos by the City Watch - 2003

Despite the slightly unbelievable premise, this war story sees a young woman joining the army to search for his missing brother. Pratchett turns cliches on their heads once again to great effect. ***

Very uneven. Funny at times, at times not. The officer who hopes to get things named after him is hilarious

Going Postal - Moist von Lipwig, camoes by the City Watch - 2004

Largely different characters, but a similar feel to The Truth with a promising, initially very amoral new character and some great development of Ankh-Morpork, plus at last an in-depth look at the AM 'clacks' system. *****

Yeah, slightly preachy, but amazing book. One of his best.

Thud! - City Watch - 2005

Haven't read it yet. I take my Pratchett in paperback.

A good, solid, Watch Book. Somewhat preachy, but still very good. Mr. Shine rocks

I haven't read the Young Adult novels yet (The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents,

Has a few funny scenes (involving intelligent rats) but it's not too amazing.

The Wee Free Men,

Funny, I like Tiffany as a person and a character

A Hat Full of Sky

Pretty good book. The tiffany books are quite decent.

[Artas]

As for all of you dissing Last Continent - bite your tongues!

I'm sure it's very funny for Australians, but many of the jokes just went over my head. Plus, I thought the storyline was quite weak - Rincewind running away from things (again), the Librarian's illness, which is never really explained and is resolved in a way which is far beneath Pratchett's usual standard, and to merge it all together a confusing backstory about the time and space of the Last Continent being one big mess. It still has some funny bits, though, mainly about the UU wizards.

I can't believe people think that the ending of "Carpe Jugulum" was disappointing. Granny's way of defeating the vampires was her best trick yet, and as far as I'm concerned, one of the most satisfying solutions in the series.

[Cynon]

His latest books; Going postal, Thud and Monstrous Regiment are all sub-par. Maybe I'm too used to his sense of humour now, but I found it predictable and at it's best amusing, never outright funny. Despite this I really like the 'city' books though. The Thruth and the Nightwatch are booth excellent books. I especially like how Vimes and the Watch has evolved from the first book they featured in until now. Vimes is by far one of Pratchetts better characters.

Oh, and The Lost Continent and especially Hogfather are both awsome.

[ltm]

I have to admit I'm still working my way through the Disc but the only book I couldn't get into was Soul Music ( and I suspect it was possibly because I'm not a big 50's rock and roll fan beyond being able to sing all the lyrics to Bye Bye Miss American Pie)

I love the parody and satire. I find it interesting to read someone say he "lifted" the MacBeth plot in Wryd Sister when I suspect that was exactly the point.

I laughed at an interview of Pratchett's where he was mentioning someone had been thinking about doing a movie version of "Equal Rites" but thought it was too much like Harry Potter!!!!! (consider who was published first)

I also like that when Pratchett decides to invent new characters, (and Mr. Martin just an observation) they get their OWN damn book.

[Lord Qwerty]

Am I the only one here addicted to Vetinari?

[DanteGabriel]

I hated Soul Music -- the story never seemed very focused, and it seemed to only serve as a vehicle for bad musical puns. Though I have to admit the "Well, they're certainly dwarfs" line killed me.

I didn't like Carpe Jugulum, because the vampire jokes just seemed so tired to me. I liked The Last Continent and The Fifth Elephant fine -- and I don't think you have to be Australian to get most of the Australian-based humor.

I thought Pratchett was on a roll with the recent spate of books he's put out -- until I read the too predictable and trite Monstrous Regiment. I do like the increasing focus on Vimes.

I would have to rank Small Gods as my favorite. All the Night's Watch centric ones (like Guards Guards and Men at Arms) rank up there too. I also dig the YA fiction -- Amazing Maurice was, well, amazing. I haven't felt such attachment to animal characters (especially Blackntan) since Watership Down.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Am I the only one here addicted to Vetinari?

Vetinari is easily my favourite individual Discworld character (Night Watch made me appreciate him all the more when it showed what Ankh-Morpork used to be like before he became Patrician).

[Mo Sneachd]

Night Watch was outstanding in many points. I will join the Vetinari-supporters mainly because of this book, although I noticed that he had great lines in Fifth Elephant too. And the whole Leonard of Quirm in the dungeon- thing is just great.

[Sgt Detritus]

Damn straight. Although I'd argue that Small Gods is actually the best individual novel in the series.

Radio 4, one of the BBC radio has been doing a dramatisation of Small Gods recently. Last night was part 3 of 4. They did a version of Mort last year

[Werthead]

Yes, the Pratchett nod to MacBeth in Wyrd Sisters is very, very, very deliberate.

By the way, the organisation is called the City Watch. Night Watch is the name of the book. Night's Watch is possibly an indication of cross-series confusion erupting (actually, I think GRRM and Pratchett have met several times at various WorldCons and gotten along very well, reading back on some reports).

[Lord Qwerty]

Anyone read Good Omens? Neil Gaiman supposedly co-wrote it, but Terry Pratchett wrote like 80% of it.

[VerySmallMonster]

Anyone read Good Omens? Neil Gaiman supposedly co-wrote it, but Terry Pratchett wrote like 80% of it.

Really? I didn't know that. Good Omens was pretty awesome, although it's tone was different than the discworld books. Darker in a way.

[Lord Qwerty]

Really? I didn't know that. Good Omens was pretty awesome, although it's tone was different than the discworld books. Darker in a way.

Yeah. Neil Gaiman didn't slack off or anything, but he was still very busy with the Sandman and wasn't really a serious novelist yet. Pratchett had more time and experience, so he did most of the actual writing and editing. The distribution of actual ideas is equal, but Pratchett's the main influence as far as form and technique. There's a great Pratchett interview somewhere where he discusses it.

Found it. Scroll down a bit and you'll find it.

http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/words-from-the-master.html

[Baeraad]

I can't believe people think that the ending of "Carpe Jugulum" was disappointing. Granny's way of defeating the vampires was her best trick yet, and as far as I'm concerned, one of the most satisfying solutions in the series.

It's not the shape of the ending I disapprove of, it's that it took so damn long. As of that scene in the village, it's obvious that the vampires are going to get defeated, so why keep it going for two hundred more pages? (okay, so I guess it probably wasn't that many. But it felt like it) That felt like Pratchett saying "I really, really hate vampires, and I've had to be nice to them the whole story so far, so now I'm going to take my sweet time hurting and humiliating them before I let the book end."

[Sgt Detritus]

To be fair though, the Watch commanded by Vimes has been mentioned as evolving out of the Night Watch, as opposed to the folks from the Day shift.

The Day Watch commanded by Lt "Mayonnaise" Quirke so called because he was rich, oily and smelled faintly of eggs!

It's not the shape of the ending I disapprove of, it's that it took so damn long. As of that scene in the village, it's obvious that the vampires are going to get defeated, so why keep it going for two hundred more pages? (okay, so I guess it probably wasn't that many. But it felt like it) That felt like Pratchett saying "I really, really hate vampires, and I've had to be nice to them the whole story so far, so now I'm going to take my sweet time hurting and humiliating them before I let the book end."

I don't think he really hate vampires per se. After all Otto, the vampire who works for The Ankh-Morpork Time isn't evil

Yes, the Pratchett nod to MacBeth in Wyrd Sisters is very, very, very deliberate.

What about the reference to the late, great Tommy Cooper at the very start of The Truth?

[Galactus]

By the way, the organisation is called the City Watch. Night Watch is the name of the book. Night's Watch is possibly an indication of cross-series confusion erupting (actually, I think GRRM and Pratchett have met several times at various WorldCons and gotten along very well, reading back on some reports).

The City Watch was divided into the Night Watch and the Day Watch (Also russian fantasy novels ) at the end of, I believe, Man-At-Arms Vetinari appoints Vimes as Watch Commander and has him merge the organizations.

[Diva]

Yes, the Pratchett nod to MacBeth in Wyrd Sisters is very, very, very deliberate.

yep. and hamlet too, although people don't seem to pick that up as much.

witches abroad is based on faerie tales.

lords & ladies is A Midsummer Night's Dream

maskerade is Phantom of the Opera specifically, but also grand opera in general

Carpe Jugulum plays on all the vampire myths.

that is why I said the witches books are all about myths and folklore and faerie tales. plus shakespeare of course, but that is where he sourced a lot of his material from anyway.

btw - for those who aren't aware, Eric was originally a graphic novel. The mmpb novel was the same dialogue with the visuals described. that is probably why it feels a bit light on to read.

[Plessiez]

for those who aren't aware, Eric was originally a graphic novel. The mmpb novel was the same dialogue with the visuals described. that is probably why it feels a bit light on to read.

It wasn't a graphic novel as such - it was a normal (short) novel with illustrations (similar to The Last Hero). I've owned both the original version and the paperback, and as far as I can remember the text in both is identical.

[Diva]

It wasn't a graphic novel as such - it was a normal (short) novel with illustrations (similar to The Last Hero). I've owned both the original version and the paperback, and as far as I can remember the text in both is identical.

nope, I'm pretty sure one of my friends had it in a graphic novel format. with coloured pics by josh kirby. it is certainly described as a graphic novel in the gollancz back catalogue. 1991 edition I think. Extremely rare, and apparently the hardcover version is worth a minor fortune. and it wasn't mass market paperback sized, it was larger, more trade paperback sized but wider I think.

actually, just realised that I'm talking about the UK edition. If you are in the US then you might have had a different version.

[Rattle Pants]

Actually there is a graphic novel version of Eric. And Mort too I seem to remember.