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The Terry Pratchett Thread

Hawk one said:
I bought three books at the airport when going to Barcelona:

Nation - This was a very different book from Pratchett. .....

Unseen Academicals - This book was... messy......

I Shall Wear Midnight - The last book I read, and without a doubt the best I've read of Pratchett for some time now. ......
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Nice reviews and I agree entirely.

On Unseen Academicals, as I'm, apparently, missing the tribal gene, I have absolutely no interest in sports in general and football (soccer) in particular. The book plot, from quite early, was building to the introduction of a more familiar game format - and I just couldn't care less.

I enjoyed the other aspects very much.
 
I think that you two have made to little out of the character of Mr. Nutts, who in my opinion was the main thread of the story for most of the book, whereas the football plot takes over at the end. The secondary story (or tertiary if want) of Glenda and Juliet's rise to fame in the fashion world was also hilarious. My interest in football is also very low, but there is so much else in the book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Only the deciding football match was a disappointment, because the solution was far too easy and contrived. That, however, was soon forgotten.
 
Yeah, I did get Nutt's story better on my second read-through, as well as a generally less confused experience. Pretty much just as I suspected.

But I think that one of my main problems with how this book felt messy - and it still did to me second time around - was because there wasn't just one, or even two, but three main plots mingling and unmingling throughout the book (Glenda&Juliet being about as prominent overall as the other two plots, and thus not deserving to be called tertiary). It did feel easier the second time around, but it was still somehow feeling a bit like the ending of Making Money, except going on through the whole book. The book in short, didn't feel focused in the same way that I Shall Wear Midnight did.

Of course, I readily admit that I have a soft spot for the Mac Nac Feegle. ;)
 
Hawk one said:
I Shall Wear Midnight - The last book I read, and without a doubt the best I've read of Pratchett for some time now. Tiffany Aching is proving to be a great character, and I sometimes wonder why he suggests these books for younger readers, ...
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I agree with all you say in your post, and regarding the age of the reader, I found when I was a teacher and enjoying reading what the children were reading that, of course, a good book is for all ages.

I wonder when there will be another book out.
 
Hawk one said:
The book in short, didn't feel focused in the same way that I Shall Wear Midnight did.

Of course, I readily admit that I have a soft spot for the Mac Nac Feegle. ;)
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Because the Feegles are in every way good for focus and not at all messy ;)
 
I got it twice because I got excited and forgot that I had pre-ordered it.

Enjoying it, though it's a bit too like Thud in my opinion. Still very well done.
 
Hmm.

Will try and do this without spoilers.

Finished 'Snuff' and I'm a little disappointed, but impressed as well.

First off, this isn't as comic as much of Pterry's earlier work. His books have been getting more and more 'serious', and in the case of 'Snuff' he's almost gone all the way. It's quite a dark book, although it certainly has it's lighter moments. What impressed me is that he managed to cover the 'dark' stuff while keeping the light stuff there and not making it clash.

My earlier comment certainly stands, for my taste it's a little too like 'Thud' in places. Some of the characterisations seem a bit flat, and some seem a little overdone, but the core is still solid. The plot is a good one, and I was engaged all the way through, but I did think that there were some extraneous elements that didn't really seem to fit in, or go anywhere.

Another good book from Mr P, but I'm not sure it matches the heights of some of his other work.
 
I have some free Amazon vouchers winging their way to me. They are already partly allocated to Snuff.

I still have Nation sitting ¾ read on my bedside table (Thingy has just exited the cave with Whatsername and Grumpy-gramps IIRC).

I'm really struggling to enjoy it. Is it worth completing?

I reach for Nation but end up on a continued re-read of the Ancestor's Tale instead. Maybe they are not safe to be together.



.
 
rwguinn said:
Am I the only one who is reading "Snuff"?
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I bought a copy last week and handed it over to my wife, who will duly wrap it and give it back to me for Hogswatchnight. In a remarkable and uncharacteristic exercise of self-control, I managed not to even open it between those two events.

Dave
 
I refuse to purchase Pratchett hardbacks as a tatty, over-read hardback is more expensive to replace than a tatty, over-read paperback. :D

I hope to A'Tuin it's better than Unseen Academicals.
 
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