• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

The Terry Pratchett Thread

Thank you for the info.

Eaten by the luggage?!!! Shock, horror!! I thought he'd done one of those changing places, transmutation spells!!
 
Giraffe107 said:
I finished Snuff the other day. Very enjoyable.

However, did certain parts feel a bit "off" to anyone else? I though the Wilikins bits especially didn't match the tone of the rest of the book, or the more recent Terry Pratchett books in general.
Click to expand...

Curiously I am reading it at the moment, and I have exactely the same impression, and it is jarring terribly at time.
 
Re: swearing/"bad" words. If you go back and re-read some of the early books, I think you'll find it's far from unprecedented in the series, though it had been a while since he'd challenged those particular taboos.

Of course, if you go back and re-read some of the early books, you may also realize just how much he grew as a writer over the years. Honestly, I think Men at Arms marked his breakthrough into being a good writer as well as a good humorist. It was the first one that really made me care about the characters, as opposed to merely being amused by their antics. It was also the book that finally converted my mother, who'd previously been dismissive of his work, into a fan.
 
SusanB-M1 said:
2. I have just finished reading 'The Colour of Magic' and 'The Light Fantastic' - the first time I've read them since first doing so in the early 1980s! Can anyone tell me if Galder Weatherwax ever got back to the Unseen University, because when he changes places with the luggage, he isn't mentioned again in the book.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he didn't change places with the luggage, he got eaten. He was casting a spell to bring Rincewind to him, got the Luggage instead, and:

"There was a thunderclap, an implosion of light and a moment of complete physical uncertainty during which even the walls seemed to turn in on themselves. Trymon heard a sharp intake of breath [Galder's, in surprise at seeing the Luggage] and then a dull, solid thump [The luggage's lid closing over him].
The room was suddenly silent.

...The Luggage squatted in the centre of the circle and opened its lid."
 
Piscivore said:
Yeah, he didn't change places with the luggage, he got eaten. He was casting a spell to bring Rincewind to him, got the Luggage instead, and:

"There was a thunderclap, an implosion of light and a moment of complete physical uncertainty during which even the walls seemed to turn in on themselves. Trymon heard a sharp intake of breath [Galder's, in surprise at seeing the Luggage] and then a dull, solid thump [The luggage's lid closing over him].
The room was suddenly silent.

...The Luggage squatted in the centre of the circle and opened its lid."
Click to expand...


Thank you very much. I do like to know what's what!! I tried to find the place, but that would have taken me a very long time.
When I read it the first time, I hadn't realised that he was trying to find Rincewind!:)
I think I'm right in thinking that later on Twoflower writes a letter or something to say that the 'eaten' people turn up in the Agatean Empire and decide to settle there?
 
xtifr said:
Of course, if you go back and re-read some of the early books, you may also realize just how much he grew as a writer over the years. Honestly, I think Men at Arms marked his breakthrough into being a good writer as well as a good humorist. It was the first one that really made me care about the characters, as opposed to merely being amused by their antics. It was also the book that finally converted my mother, who'd previously been dismissive of his work, into a fan.
Click to expand...
Agreed, his earlier Discworld books were amusing but rather generic.
 
xtifr said:
Re: swearing/"bad" words. If you go back and re-read some of the early books, I think you'll find it's far from unprecedented in the series, though it had been a while since he'd challenged those particular taboos.

Of course, if you go back and re-read some of the early books, you may also realize just how much he grew as a writer over the years. Honestly, I think Men at Arms marked his breakthrough into being a good writer as well as a good humorist. It was the first one that really made me care about the characters, as opposed to merely being amused by their antics. It was also the book that finally converted my mother, who'd previously been dismissive of his work, into a fan.
Click to expand...

Given his much publicised diagnosis of Alzheimer's, it's extremely hard to avoid looking for signs that it might be affecting his work, and I'm probably over-analysing this. However, the use of the word didn't feel like the challenging of any taboo, it felt more like a placeholder to be replaced with a better crafted turn of phrase later, and, as I said before, out of place.
 
The last two Discworld novels felt terribly formulaic, though I still enjoyed them.
I enjoyed the Long Earth a lot, I'm always into alternate reality stories. I thought it was on the whole pretty good, not sure why people accuse it of rambling.
 
I've just finished Snuff and I have to say I found it very disappointing - for the first time ever I found myself skimming through long sections of a Pratchett novel. If it hadn't been a library book I would have felt that I'd wasted my money.
 
Aepervius said:
Curiously I am reading it at the moment, and I have exactely the same impression, and it is jarring terribly at time.
Click to expand...

I've never read Henry James but I understand there is a noticeable difference between the books he wrote and the ones he dictated. The same may be true of Pratchett.
 
zooterkin said:
Given his much publicised diagnosis of Alzheimer's, it's extremely hard to avoid looking for signs that it might be affecting his work, and I'm probably over-analysing this. However, the use of the word didn't feel like the challenging of any taboo, it felt more like a placeholder to be replaced with a better crafted turn of phrase later, and, as I said before, out of place.
Click to expand...

There's a wolf called ******** in The Fifth Elephant
 
I had the feeling Snuff re-iterated a lot of the themes of Unseen Academicals. With some country trappings.
 
Piscivore said:
I don't recall that.
Click to expand...
I could easily have imagined it!! However, as I gradually work my way through the Disc World series - I never read any of them twice - I'll remember to make a note o where it is if I ever find it!:)
 
Moss said:
I had the feeling Snuff re-iterated a lot of the themes of Unseen Academicals. With some country trappings.
Click to expand...

That was how it felt to me to, and with so much respect as I have for Pratchett, it made me cringe a little.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom