|
Applewhite posted:Terry Pratchett's always been an outspoken critic of racism and he's also made a point of featuring nontraditionally beautiful protagonists. It was something he got a lot less deft at over time, and well before the whole alzheimer's thing. I think maybe he felt obligated to have those moral analogies in every book, and it started to get a little preachy because it's hard to do that without getting repetitive. I blame that one reviewer who wrote the quote about "stealth literature" that got attached to the back of all of his books. gently caress off, book reviewer that doesn't know genre fiction. Basically he went from having bad systems with villains who were products of those systems (Small Gods) or sometimes even slightly sympathetic characters trapped within them (Pyramids), alternating with meditations on the nature of humanity (early death books) or even books that didn't have a deep meaning (Moving Pictures, Eric); to books where the forces of evil were made into avatars. The Auditors sucked. The Saurus posted:like it was basically just an entire book about how the gold standard is retarded and fiat money is better To be fair that is a perfect premise for a discworld book because it's something that some people in the modern world still don't understand, and the whole concept of money as a social construct is grade A pratchett material It's just a topic that needed Pratchett at the top of his game, not a poor sod with holes in his head 
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 23:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 07:50 |
|
|
Hogge Wild posted:alzheimer 
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 23:21
|
|
|
Night watch, monstrous regiment and going postal were really good then after that I thought the quality dropped noticeably but for understandable reasons
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2015 23:47
|
|
|
Anyone see the Going Postal TV adaptation? It's pretty great. Richard Coyle isn't exactly who I'd picture for Moist, but he does a good job with it. and it has Charles Dance as Vetinari which is basically perfect
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:09
|
|
|
Leroy Diplowski posted:He did Death just this past year I love these GBS threads that are entirely justified by one sick rear end comment. Hogge Wild posted:alzheimer Oh drat a challenger appears!
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:15
|
|
|
Faux Mulder posted:Anyone see the Going Postal TV adaptation? It's pretty great. Richard Coyle isn't exactly who I'd picture for Moist, but he does a good job with it. They made adora belle poo poo though, with the dumb giving up smoking plot
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:22
|
|
|
Leroy Diplowski posted:He did Death just this past year They just found the last book he was working on. It was an Iggle Piggle colouring book smeared with faeces.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:40
|
|
|
DOWN JACKET FETISH posted:well yeah that was the plot Snuff was awful. Raising Steam wasn't bad, all things considered. There are some retreads but also some neat call-backs to old stuff from a billion books ago. Goblins in Snuff were pointless bullshit. Nothing about them mattered unless you're some weirdo who just HAS to know Goblins work in Discworld. Goblins in Steam were okay. Steam didn't have a main antagonist at all, beyond just Terrorists in general, which was a good call. The lame antagonists might've been the worst part of Snuff. Vimes rampaging around a small town like some overpowered, overleveled Legendary Hero was bad. But that weird local serial killer kid had no credibility at all, Rust's nephew was pointless, and Lord Rust himself was more sad than threatening. Raising Steam didn't try to make a central antagonist at all - and that was better than trying to pull off another Carcer or Teatime and falling short. You can say Raising Steam isn't as good as Pratchett in his prime, and that's true, but it's far from his worst book (his worst books are Rincewind books, especially the ones without Cohen in 'em, Rincewind can go eat a dick).
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 00:58
|
|
|
you can go eat a dick
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 01:01
|
|
|
Im a vimes fan and I kinda liked the last book simply because you could see how terry pratchett would write vimes fanfiction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 01:15
|
|
|
Hopefully his daughter doesn't go and do a Brian Herbert on his work.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 02:02
|
|
|
Say Nothing posted:Hopefully his daughter doesn't go and do a Brian Herbert on his work. I don't think she needs the cash, IIRC she has a great job working for big video game studios, proofreading their games scripts and re-writing the worst dialogue into something less embarrassing. I'm sure that games designers, specifically the ones who think they can write but can't, are an absolute joy to work with and really appreciate her criticisms.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 02:42
|
|
|
Zogo posted:Why don't Death's teeth move? There is no justice, there is just us.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 02:51
|
|
|
Syd Midnight posted:I don't think she needs the cash, IIRC she has a great job working for big video game studios, proofreading their games scripts and re-writing the worst dialogue into something less embarrassing. I'm sure that games designers, specifically the ones who think they can write but can't, are an absolute joy to work with and really appreciate her criticisms. I didn't realize she was a successful writer in her own right. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhianna_Pratchett
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 02:59
|
|
|
It's a shame she's decided not to continue the series proper, even with Terry's seal of approval. Pratchett crafted Discworld so well that I'd enjoying see other authors tell stories in the world. You know, like Eoin Colfer's Hitch-Hiker book, which was definitely brilliant and not awful.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 03:27
|
|
|
Say Nothing posted:I didn't realize she was a successful writer in her own right. Yeah, and in interviews she's said that a big motivation is to do things that aren't just her dad's legacy. Video games is a medium where only inside baseball people pay attention to who the writer's name is, and nobody is looking at the last name and expecting more Discworld or whatever. I'd really doubt she'd continue the series, at the most maybe do a one-off anthology with other writers bet even that would be a change of heart well in the future.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 04:03
|
|
|
Nekodoshi posted:His last book was for his kids series, The Shephards Crown, which I'm tempted to buy just so I can see how things ended with his writing. Have you seen the cover for the British edition? It's got her with a white cat. Makes me wonder if Weatherwax dies in this one and Tiffany inherits the cat she'd given to her in Wintersmith.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 04:44
|
|
|
i'm pretty sure the worst books are the tiffany aching books hope that helps
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 04:49
|
|
|
while raising steam isn't great i really do enjoy the undercurrent and tone of ankh morpork becoming more modern at this insane exponential rate
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 04:50
|
|
|
Hogge Wild posted:they get worse. i quit reading raising steam, but the they started to get bad before. you really shouldn't read any more It was downhill after Making Money, honestly. I loved Going Postal, and Making Money was a solid sequel (even if it retreads a fair amount of ground), but after that it just kind of hurt to read new books. Blurry Gray Thing posted:Snuff was awful. Snuff was just loving terrible to slog though, especially after Unseen Academicals. I just couldn't deal with another heavy-handed "racism is bad" novel, and Snuff didn't really have anything interesting outside of that message. Raising Steam was ok, but sadly when I read it my first reaction was "this is Pratchett trying to throw in as many call backs as he can before he dies", which sadly ended up being true. I need to read it again sometime, but I'm not terribly optimistic that a second read is going to raise my opinion of it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 06:06
|
|
|
Rhianna wrote the first Overlord so she could deffo do something creative with Discworld. While the game itself isn't all that great (a mix of Dungeon Keeper and Pikmin) it's prett funny and charming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xp1oOKtCRg Also if anyone hasn't watched Terry's documentary on alzheimers it's really good but also heartbreaking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmejLjxFmCQ
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 08:08
|
|
|
Leroy Diplowski posted:He did Death just this past year You bastard! Applewhite posted:Really? Night Watch series are my fav followed by the Moist Von Lipwig stories. They are much better written but the characters aren't as interesting to me.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 08:17
|
|
|
lmao loving goons, someone tries to write a story about the victorian industrial revolution Done Right and without it turning into an abomination against humanity: a sign of the vast sjw conspiracy
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 09:23
|
|
|
I really liked Thief of Time, my favourite book of the lot. Vimes series is the most solid overall though. They should make another puzzle game with Eric Idle and Tony Robinson voicing. Just make it less of a slog through the devs insane mind.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 09:51
|
|
|
It got kind of annoying towards the end of the series where vimes was getting shoehorned into every single book for no reason. Like what the gently caress was the point of him being in monstrous regiment? And he was lovable when he was a drunk with his heart in the right place in the original 3 books with him, and it was cool to see him sent back in time and poo poo in night's watch, but he just became a gary stu by the end.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 09:59
|
|
SirEvelynTremble posted:Why can't somebody put Terry's brainwaves and personality into an AI computer like Johnny Depp can do? It could carry on writing Discworld novels while Mr Pratchett retires with dignity that's the plot of a short story that Terry wrote. It's a good one.
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 10:16
|
|
|
Raising Steam was just straight up depressing to read. Like, yeah, he'd definitely had a drop of in quality over the years, for entirely understandable reasons, but Raising Steam just read like a first draft and I was constantly going in the back of my head, "Wait, this is really rough, why didn't he have another round of edi- O... "Also, Moist von Lipwig supremacy.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 15:09
|
|
|
Xiahou Dun posted:Also, Moist von Lipwig supremacy. It's really too bad such a great character got introduced so late in Terry's career.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 15:20
|
|
|
Did I like Making Money a whole lot because I didn't read Going Postal?
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 15:23
|
|
|
The Saurus posted:but he just became a gary stu by the end. I like the books about the goony pathetic idiots like Rincewind, Moist and Teppic. Oh and anything Cohen shows up in obviously.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 15:47
|
|
|
Vimes was okay at the beginning but he got to be a crappy character loving fast. I like characters doing better in life too, but Vimes whines the same amount regardless sooo
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 15:59
|
|
|
To answer your question Op it is basically because Cribbins didn't really have the money or desire to get better fitting teeth. Dental science in the Discworld mythology hasn't really proceeded that far, and to be honest false teeth have to be hand made specially, and then only as an absolute last resort. See "Unseen Academicals" pp. 100-105 Additionally, Cribbins' own need to be unique has driven him to identify with his teeth. They are misplaced in his mouth in the same way he is misplaced in this world - struggling to find a place or purpose. Indeed, at points Cribbins himself thinks the world may be better without him in it. Like his mouth would be better without the teeth in it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:09
|
|
|
Veskit posted:Did I like Making Money a whole lot because I didn't read Going Postal? I read both and I thought they were both pretty solid so
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:29
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:To answer your question Op it is basically because Cribbins didn't really have the money or desire to get better fitting teeth. Dental science in the Discworld mythology hasn't really proceeded that far, and to be honest false teeth have to be hand made specially, and then only as an absolute last resort. Wow. That's very insightful. Thx!
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:31
|
|
|
Applewhite posted:Wow. That's very insightful. Thx! NP my PhD thesis was on Going Postal and Making Money so ask away.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:33
|
|
|
Pick posted:Vimes was okay at the beginning but he got to be a crappy character loving fast. I like characters doing better in life too, but Vimes whines the same amount regardless sooo Vimes without a chip the size of a continent on his shoulder is not Vimes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:45
|
|
|
SquadronROE posted:NP my PhD thesis was on Going Postal and Making Money so ask away. Why was the head banker guy a clown?
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:50
|
|
|
Deki posted:Why was the head banker guy a clown? It's quite simple actually. The author simultaneously wanted to showcase the childlike glee we all feel when going into a bank and really being involved with money, while at the same time instantiating the dread of the financial sector that looms over all of us. What represents childlike glee and dread at the same time? A clown.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:53
|
|
|
Did you find the title of the book clever or over used?
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 16, 2024 07:50 |
|
|
Veskit posted:Did you find the title of the book clever or over used? My opinion doesn't really factor into it, I tried to stick to the facts. The title of Makin Money was actually pretty clever though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 26, 2015 16:57
|
|