The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Discworld isn't some Wheel of Time type story where there are issues that HAVE to be resolved for the books to make sense. Characters reoccur, but aside from that the characters have a story/adventure that gets told in a single volume.

You can think of it like: Vimes isn't dead, and he has some adventures, and probably dies at some point, we just don't hear about it.

I mean what is there about Vimes that isn't "resolved" already?

# ¿ Jun 1, 2011 14:40

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:36

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

FactsAreUseless posted:

I was seriously unimpressed by the audiobooks for Thud! and Making Money (the latter is unsurprising because I hated that book, but then I wasn't the one who picked out the audiobook either). I don't like the person they got to read them at all. He reads everything with the same pacing and inflection, and he can't do voices. Easily some of the worst audiobooks I've ever heard (but I'm not much of a connoisseur).

Unless I'm mistaken those are read by Stephen Briggs, who has been reading Discworld/Terry Pratchett for like the past 10 years or something.

The only other person to read Discworld (I think) is Nigel Planer.

subx fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Jun 6, 2011

# ¿ Jun 6, 2011 13:25

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

thebardyspoon posted:

Tony Robinson did the abridged ones.

Ah ok, I've never listened to an abridged version so I didn't even think about that being a different person.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2011 13:44

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Hungry Bit posted:

Terry nooooo

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/12/pratchett-starts-process-to-end-his-life

Well okay this doesn't mean he's actually going to go through with the whole assisted suicide thing but somehow this still manages to depress me greatly.

That makes me so sad. I've been reading Discworld since I was like 13 years old, so the majority of my life. Almost everything he has a hand in is great and his wit is something that is not duplicated by any other writer.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2011 14:03

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

TheJazzMess posted:

I'm about to order some of these books off Amazon. Should I read them by their publication date or should I follow this ?

Either way is fine. Personally I suggest people read by series, as it gives the Discworld in small chunks rather than "hey there's this series of 20+ books you should read!"

Reading chronologically you meet lots of characters and there's a good amount of variety. You do gain some slight advantage this way too as there are some subtle character references to previous books that you might not pick up on reading by series. Nothing that takes away from the actual story though.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2011 20:32

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Sophia posted:

How does Small Gods connect to Wee Free Men? Does Wee Free Men mention the History Monks or Brutha and I just don't remember?

That has to be a mistake - I can't think of any connection between the two, even a tentative relationship.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2011 20:45

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

thebardyspoon posted:

That line might have been supposed to connect to Carpe Juggulum since that has an Omnian priest as one of the main characters. Makes more sense than Wee Free Men since as you say I don't think that has anything that's brought up in Small Gods.

That sounds plausible. Easy enough to make a mistake when you have that many lines going everywhere.

Also if you start with the witch series, I suggest starting with Wyrd Sisters rather than Equal Rites. It's more of an independent book.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2011 20:53

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Pope Guilty posted:

There's also a new boardgame by Martin Wallace.

My wife bought me this from the place where we play MTG (for Christmas) a couple of weeks ago. Can't wait to try it.

Edit - Those sentences were terrible and I apologize.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2011 20:39

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Imazul posted:

Yeah I saw the reading guides but I wanted to know if the published order was considered better and I think I will go with it not skipping anything. I think for this kind of serie where the universe seems to be the focus, I am better off just reading everything.

Some prefer reading by series, some reading chronologically. Honestly it doesn't matter too much, they are a ton of fun either way.

The good thing is none of the books require a previous book to be understood, even the series-based ones. It surely helps, and some jokes are better understood, but not required.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2011 20:18

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

The Bromeliad is a fun series that would be great for kids.

Amazon link

# ¿ Jan 2, 2012 19:00

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Iacen posted:

"It's not Discworld"

This doesn't make sense to me. You like Discworld but not Terry Pratchett? Or what?

It's not like he's writing an entirely different genre even, it's still fantasy.

This isn't only directed at you, but you are the second person to say that, so I'm sure there's other people that feel the same way, and I just don't understand it.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2012 14:04

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

The Bromeliad Trilogy is a good (fairly short) read. There's a lot of great humor in the books.

I listened to them as audio books on a trip and they made the trip much more enjoyable.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2012 14:48

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Sammyz posted:

Depending on how you count it, a Discworld novel after Snuff would be the 40th I think?

Depressing as the thought is, anybody thinking he WON'T make that a final effort and tie up the series?

I don't really think he will try to "tie up the series" as it was never really a "series." It's just a world with characters. Life should generally continue on as it always has. I really hope he doesn't try to "finish" it or anything like that.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2012 18:48

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Sammyz posted:

Touche, if he were going to write a finale as it were, I'd love to see the Last Hero's follow up where we see cohen and company again.

My illustrated Last Hero book is one of my favorite things on my shelf. I feel like a giddy kid reading it with all the pretty pictures.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2012 16:16

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

LooseChanj posted:

You know they'll let you buy another copy right?

I'm sure that breaks some sort of copyright law!

# ¿ Nov 28, 2012 03:11

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

daggerdragon posted:

Has anyone picked up Dodger? I'm about halfway through it and while there's definitely some hard-core Prachett-style writing in there, it's also so heavily.... British compared to the Discworld books. If it wasn't for the footnotes on the Cockney rhyming slang and the Internet as a dictionary to parse out the less obvious Britishicisms (cove means "dude", not "little body of water"), I'd be completely lost in this book.

I'm enjoying it, though.

precision posted:

I've been listening to the audiobook, which makes it even better/more confusing.

Finished the audio book and enjoyed it as well. Honestly I haven't had any problems picking up what a slang term meant when you think about it in context. I already knew the cockney rhyming slang stuff as it was always interesting/funny to me, but aside from that most things are easy to puzzle out.

And of course it's more "British" as that's sort of the whole point. He meets a good amount of British history/folklore throughout the book.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2012 17:30

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

The Supreme Court posted:

The game is brilliant! Don't be deterred by how complicated it looks; it's as simple as "play a card, follow the instructions, pick up a card". It goes from interesting to bloody great after the first game, when everyone knows how to play quickly and the devious screwing-each-other-over begins.

The cheat sheets really help, so make sure everyone has one. They've got the symbols on one side and the personalities/ locations on the other.

Yea it is quite a bit of fun - some of the cards are fantastic and make me chuckle every time I see them. I wish more people around me had actually read Pratchett, as some of the people I have played with don't get the jokes on the cards (they have fun regardless, just not as much).

# ¿ Dec 28, 2012 17:01

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Pham Nuwen posted:

To follow up, I've finished it and there just wasn't anything to it.

It was the first and only Discworld book I just couldn't get through.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2014 18:00

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

ConfusedUs posted:

Granny really is the best. She's got some great scenes in the Tiffany Aching books, and it's great to see how all the other grumpy old ladies feel about Granny. It ranges from horrified admiration to hushed, terrified dismissal, as if she might be watching. (She is.)

Granny is great but I don't think she would be half as amusing without Nanny. She provides a great counterpoint, and it makes both of them more amusing as a result.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 14:46

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Damo posted:

Anyway, I've made it up to Eric right now, only about 40 pages in. It's OK so far, nothing special. Looking forward to the next witches or watch book at this point honestly, but I still don't mind just plowing through publication order.

Eric is one of the weirder books. It's not really "bad" but I don't believe I've ever heard anyone call it good either. If I were making suggestions to someone on reading order, Eric probably would not be in there at all, or at the very least after you read the better books.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 19:32

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

DACK FAYDEN posted:

The only scene I even remember in any detail at all is the one at the end with We are in the damnation business!!!

(and I guess also the one where Rincewind tells the guy he gets home okay)

...it just didn't leave any impression on me at all

That's a pretty good summary of how I feel as well.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 14:47

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Markovnikov posted:

I recently finished reading Good Omens. Didn't really like it tho'. The first half with Aziraphale and Crowley dicking around is pretty entertaining, but then you get to Adam and the gang and the book just dies. The ending is completely anticlimactic too, Adam just wishes all the baddies away and that's it. The book is also unnecessarily dark/schizophrenic in tone, didn't need the part about people being turned into skeletons by a maggot demon in a book that makes a running gag out of the number of nipples someone is carrying around.

Feels like they should have focused more on Aziraphale/Crowley, or the predictions of Agnes Nutter and the associated present day cast (Agnes feels a lot like a Discworld witch). Or even played up the analogies between the four Them and the four Riders they apparently were going with. All in all, it feels like a weaker/discarded Discworld idea.

How are the other non-Discworld Pratchett books? Any one recommended in particular? I only have the latest Discworld books to go through (I think the last one i read was Thud! ?), but they are the sort of not so good ones.

We'll it was co-written with gaiman, and I think you basically said you hated everything he wrote and liked Pratchett's stuff.

Anyways, try Nation, it's pretty good.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2014 21:10

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

It obviously looks to be some sort of autobiography, but was anything ever mentioned about such an endeavor?

# ¿ Jan 16, 2016 19:40

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

angerbeet posted:

I liked The Long Earth, and the sequels less so, but I think I mostly liked the concept of the long earth itself. The characters were just sort of there, doing everything perfectly at all times.

Same, I enjoyed the first one alright as it introduced a neat concept, but the sequels were pretty bad. I never read past the second one technically, but it was bad enough that I didn't want to pick up the third.

# ¿ May 13, 2016 13:27

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Rand Brittain posted:

Hm, it looks like Isis Publishing offers Pratchett books on CD and also on MP3 CD. Is anybody familiar with the quality of the MP3 CD versions? Are they particularly good or bad compared to plain CD? I don't feel like ordering one all the way across the ocean just to find out.

If they are the same ones that are on Audible, then they are well read. As for quality, I can't imagine an MP3 being that much worse than normal CD for spoken word. If you put a single book in MP3 on a CD the quality could be really, really good.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2016 05:42

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Drunken Baker posted:

Never read Pratchett before but I was idly browsing some books at lunch and picked up Colour of Magic.

I enjoy Colour of Magic but it's not the best book in the series. If you even remotely enjoy parts of it make sure to give his other works a chance.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2016 13:47

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:36

subx: Jan 12, 2003; If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes should fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Drunken Baker posted:

So I might shelve "Colour of Magic" for now as it's not quite clicking for me. The only other Pratchett book the local shop has is MORT so I might get that tomorrow.

IMO, Mort is a much better introduction to the series than Colour of Magic.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2016 04:42

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds