Terry Pratchett is....back on form :)

[British Red]

After "Nation" (what a bunch of pretentious nauseating twaddle) and "Unseen Academicals" (Okay, but not up to his normal standard), his new book is a stunner.

"I shall wear midnight" is the fourth Tiffany Aching book - and every bit as good as the first three!

I don't know if these (kids) books resonate because I lived on the high chalk for a long time...but they just work (as do most of the Discworlds).

Nice to see the maestro back on form!

 

[Toddy]

Son1 brought me it last weekend and I agree, it was very, very good

I quite like Nation tbh; not his usual offering I agree, somehow grief-full iimmc, but still rich.

Unseen Academicals was a bit left field.

cheers,
M

 

[Marttiini Girl]

wasn't there some close timing between Nation and him finding out he has Altzheimers, but I agree the Tiffany Aching books rock

 

[EdS]

excellent - finished it last night.

 

[Graham_S]

I'm waiting on it arriving from amazon. It should be here in the next week or so.

 

[durulz]

Must say, I stopped laughing at the same joke after The Colour Magic.
'Comic novels' seldom are - you can see the scaffold holding up the jokes (and not in an ironic way either) and they are just trying to be funny with cartoon characters of the sort dreamt up by 13 year old school boys in every school yard every break time.
I prefer the spontaneity of wit rather than laboured 'gags' for humour.

 

[Tengu]

I read the `Wee Free men`

He describes the downs very well...but he fails to capture their spirit.

 

[Nagual]

Not read Nation, but really thought Unseen Academicals was far below par, it felt completely non Pratchetty to me, some of the established characters were 'off' if you know what I mean. I have enjoyed all of the "Aching" ones I've read (first 3 perhaps? Not sure) and would no doubt enjoy a further offering on this line, however the standard Disk World storys are just about dead for me. I shall miss them.

 

[locum76]

Is the Wee Free Men a Tiffany Aching novel?

 

[British Red]

Yep - sure is

 

[locum76]

Thought so, It's been ages since I read it - it's a great book.

The Wee Free reference obviously resonates with anyone who know's the western isles at all well.

 

[Melonfish]

Wee free men roaming the landscape on "ships" hehe, dying to get this book!
i enjoyed nation for what it was, academicals was ok, not one of his best discworld books but its the first one where he's had to dictate everything to someone so i reckon thats his "run up"
i do love his books though and i regularly dig them out for a re-read.


also have you noticed the way that we all read the so called kids books and still enjoy them just as much? thats something about terry that amazes me he brings out the child in all of us.

 

[shaggystu]

Not read Nation, but really thought Unseen Academicals was far below par, it felt completely non Pratchetty to me, some of the established characters were 'off' if you know what I mean. I have enjoyed all of the "Aching" ones I've read (first 3 perhaps? Not sure) and would no doubt enjoy a further offering on this line, however the standard Disk World storys are just about dead for me. I shall miss them.

what nag said.

pratchett is an outstandingly talented author, the only one i've ever enjoyed enough to pre-order his books. it wasn't until a conversation with mesquite and decorum at rough close a little while ago that i realised how much i'd lost interest. nation had been, wriiten, released, read, and slated before i was even aware of it's existance. unseen academicals was rubbish, plain and simple. how you can possibly spend what must be the best part of 20 years developing the story of a fantasy city, to the extent that pratchett has, and then just try and slip street football into the mix without anyone wondering why there was no previous mention is beyond me. i think that it's probably about time for terry to let someone else take over, there are plenty of other people out there who are quite capable of following on with the discworld novels, i think they should be given a chance.

as some of you may be able to guess i'm at the angry stage of grief, and no grief isn't the wrong word, i have been genuinely upset by the last few discworld novels. pratchett was my first literary love, it's not nice to watch your gods die.

cheers

stuart

 

[decorum]

... just try and slip street football into the mix without anyone wondering why there was no previous mention ...

Oh, the irony :yikes: I haven't read 'Unseen Academicals' - I (think that I) was unaware of it until this thread .
The street football is mentioned somewhere - Carrot starts an equivalent to scouting (... WIB, WIB, WIB ...)

 

[Eric_Methven]

Forgive my ignorance. I've never read of any of his works. Never even heard of him TBH. Which genre does he write?

Eric

 

[British Red]

He started off writing "spoof" science fantasy (sort of micky taking Lord of the Rings and Conan etc.). After the first couple of books he developed his own style and writes...hmm..ironic fantasy. He has a "Discworld" on which he sets his characters, but the character development after the first two books is superb. From witches who acknowledge its mostly "headology" to a librarian accidently changed into an Orangutan who resists all attempts to turn him back (as his problems have resolved themselves into where his next banana is coming from). The first couple of books were weak, but after that they are great and each picks a theme of "real world" and explores and pokes fun at it. He covers things as obscure as the fame of people in the cinema to the Gold standard in financial transactions. But in a very light and funny way.

Red

 

[BorderReiver]

The man's a genius.

There is no "bad" Pratchett book, only one or two not as brilliant as the rest.

His strength is in his characterisation; I'm sure I've met a few of 'em

 

[robin wood]

Well I was expecting this thread to be about the times article the other day.

Sir Terry Pratchett,a knight needs a sword, so he made one.
"Most of my life I have been producing stuff which is intangible, and so it's amazing the achievement you feel when you have made something which is really real."

 

[Tengu]

Pooh, what a girly!

If I was a knight Id carry a sword...good enough justification to me.

And making it from scratch...Well, there would be an awful lot of swordless knights if they all had to do that.

My favorite was `Nightwatch` (he gets around a paradox very neatly.)

The one that dissapointed me was `Lords and ladies` I like my Elves to hurt....and though he knows the myth, his elves arent hurty enough.


(but much more so than JRRT, who I cannot believe ever read a real myth)

(Talking on the subject of ironwork and elves, one area Pratchet `does` get dramaticcaly wrong, is that elves hate it. They dont, plenty of elven blacksniths out there.)

 

[Toddy]

Our tales say that iron changes the world around and the Fae can't touch anything that it has touched or leant against.
The Beltane fires must be lit with no iron use at all, even in the cutting of the timber.
The Smith creates his own magic, the strongest metal they knew from the fire and the Earth and the heavens.
The horseshoe over the doorway, the iron nail in the stoop and the Oak. Kings wore gold crowns, but iron rings.
Chains and swords and ploughs.....Kipling's Baron had it, "...but iron, cold iron, is master of them all"
The first iron that the child touches decides it's fate.
The compass and the magnet, the spark of fire with flint. Stronger than bronze, harder to make, and it defined mankind's growth of substance.

I thought Pratchett did okay getting in most of that lot

Eric, it's a derivative humour, but it's rich in detail and characterisation
Happy to lend some if you want

cheers,
Mary