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

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Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

I didn't like it as much as as Going Postal. It felt... unstructured.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 05:52

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 16:01

MidasAg: Oct 28, 2007; The Man of Silver

pretty much, it feels very contrived, and forced. Just not the same pacing as the other I have read. It jsut really feels awkward.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 06:48

Bograth: Dec 22, 2007; by angerbeet

Agreed. Making Money wasn't BAD, it just wasn't nearly as good as the greatness that was Going Postal. I mean, Moist did his own thing but the antagonist was kind of lacking as well as the clown thing and the mad scientist with his Igor were just...well, not bad but just...they didn't live up to Going Postal.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 07:04

MidasAg: Oct 28, 2007; The Man of Silver

Agreed. I loved Night Watch, Thud, and going postal. I realize not every book can be great, but I am expecting more out of a Moist book. I was thinking that maybe it was me at first. Like I just wasn;t into reading books. But I know that isn't the case for the whole thing. I know I go threw spurts of reading/not reading, but hey.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 07:56

magimix: Dec 31, 2003; MY FAT WAIFU!!!
She's fetish efficient; Nap Ghost

Quite the consensus here! While Making Money grew on me over time, it's definitely not as good as Going Postal. A shame really, because I really like the character Moist von Lipwig, and the banking/finance ideas behind the story were good, and there were many fun elements therein. But in execution it didn't seem to hold together so well.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 09:26

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

Part of the problem is that it involves the Fool's Guild, which was never funny or interesting (at least to me), and which spoils what is otherwise my favorite Pratchett book, Men At Arms.

# ? Jan 8, 2009 20:47

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Pope Guilty posted:

the Fool's Guild, which was never funny

Wasn't that kind of the point?

# ? Jan 8, 2009 23:14

MidasAg: Oct 28, 2007; The Man of Silver

Oh, the good old fools guild in 'Man at arms'. I really thought it was a bit overdone, but overdone in a good way, kinda of how you would expect them to be if they were really exorborant(sp?) and making fun of themselves while not making fun(sounds weird I know, but I don't know how to put it otherwise). Men at Arms was a good book too. I had the general jist of the ending done, but not in the way that it turned out, or who it was. I figured it was either a higher up in the fools, or assassins guild, not the head of the guild, the magic of the gun, or the sword in the wall/king thing.

# ? Jan 9, 2009 03:46

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

Entropic posted:

Wasn't that kind of the point?

I believe he means more in the sense that the Fool's Guild being unfunny wasn't itself very humorous.

# ? Jan 9, 2009 07:31

MidasAg: Oct 28, 2007; The Man of Silver

Vermain posted:

I believe he means more in the sense that the Fool's Guild being unfunny wasn't itself very humorous.

Totally agree.

# ? Jan 9, 2009 07:45

Pope Guilty: Nov 6, 2006; The human animal is a beautiful and terrible creature, capable of limitless compassion and unfathomable cruelty.

Yeah, everything about the Fool's Guild seemed totally laboured. Every time I come to the Fool's Guild in a book, I sigh sadly.

# ? Jan 9, 2009 10:00

Moist von Lipwig: Oct 28, 2006; by FactsAreUseless; Tortured By Flan

Pope Guilty posted:

Yeah, everything about the Fool's Guild seemed totally laboured. Every time I come to the Fool's Guild in a book, I sigh sadly.

Maybe that's the point, meta-humor?

Probably not.

While we're on the topic, I really liked Making Money, not quite as much as Going Postal, but it's not like comparing Night Watch to Moving Pictures.

Also, Pratchett is way better than Robert Plant, he deserves the CBE! :argh:

Moist von Lipwig fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Jan 12, 2009

# ? Jan 12, 2009 05:06

Mokinokaro: Sep 11, 2001; At the end of everything, hold onto anything; Fun Shoe

Well, taking my first dive into Discworld. Picked up Mort and Small Gods.

Finished Mort and liked it, but so far Small Gods is a lot funnier.

# ? Jan 13, 2009 18:54

DontMockMySmock: Aug 9, 2008; I got this title for the dumbest fucking possible take on sea shanties. Specifically, I derailed the meme thread because sailors in the 18th century weren't woke enough for me, and you shouldn't sing sea shanties. In fact, don't have any fun ever.

Mokinokaro posted:

Well, taking my first dive into Discworld. Picked up Mort and Small Gods.

Finished Mort and liked it, but so far Small Gods is a lot funnier.

Mort is one of my least favorites (not to say it isn't a good book; it is); Small Gods on the other hand may very well be my favorite. Most of Discworld is better than Mort (in my humble opinion), so if you liked Mort you should definitely read them all.

# ? Jan 13, 2009 23:20

ThaGhettoJew: Jul 4, 2003; The world is a ghetto

Mort is interesting background for the rest of the Death books, but it's not really a highlight of the series. You might want to go on with Death in Reaper Man or look into one of the Watch books like Guards, Guards or Men At Arms. Pyramids is another decent standalone, but it's not as good as Small Gods.

# ? Jan 13, 2009 23:25

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Several of the "series" within Discworld start out a bit lamely but get much, much better. Mort is only OK, but it's background for the excellent Reaper Man and Hogfather. Equal Rites is pretty dull, but the later Witches books are much more entertaining. Even the Rincewind books got much better once Pterry had a better idea of how everything on the Discworld sort of worked.

# ? Jan 14, 2009 00:00

GhostDog: Jul 30, 2003; Always see everything.

DontMockMySmock posted:

Mort is one of my least favorites (not to say it isn't a good book; it is); Small Gods on the other hand may very well be my favorite. Most of Discworld is better than Mort (in my humble opinion), so if you liked Mort you should definitely read them all.

Small Gods is definitely my favorite stand-alone, and also a good one to get people hooked on Pratchett in my experience.

Terry Pratchett posted:

And then a door burst open down the street and there was the cracking noise of a quite large wine amphora being broken over someone's head.
A skinny old man in a toga picked himself up from the cobbles where he had landed, and glared at the doorway.
"I'm telling you, listen, a finite intellect, right, cannot by means of comparison reach the absolute truth of things, because being by nature indivisible, truth excludes the concepts of "more" or "less" so that nothing but truth itself can be the exact measure of truth. You bastards," he said.
Someone from inside the building said, "Oh yeah? Sez you."
The old man ignored Brutha but, with great difficulty, pulled a cobblestone loose and hefted it in his hand.
Then he dived back through the doorway. There was a distant scream of rage.
"Ah. Philosophy," said Om.

# ? Jan 14, 2009 00:44

Nilbop: Jun 5, 2004; Looks like someone forgot his hardhat...

GhostDog posted:

Small Gods is definitely my favorite stand-alone, and also a good one to get people hooked on Pratchett in my experience.

Right, okay, two things I've learned from today:

a) I need to read Small Gods, quite soon.

b) Robert Plant is a Commander of the British Empire.

# ? Jan 14, 2009 18:44

Mokinokaro: Sep 11, 2001; At the end of everything, hold onto anything; Fun Shoe

Small Gods finished. Now I just need to decide where to go from here.

Going to see what the local store has later today or tomorrow.

# ? Jan 15, 2009 16:05

ThaGhettoJew: Jul 4, 2003; The world is a ghetto

Mokinokaro posted:

Small Gods finished. Now I just need to decide where to go from here.

Going to see what the local store has later today or tomorrow.

Since it's been a while since it's been posted, here's the fanmade reading order guide:
http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-1-5.pdf

And "Making Money" comes after "Going Postal" in the Industrial Revolution section. Keep in mind that almost any book from any of the character groups is a decent standalone, with most recurring characters well reintroduced each time. The further you go chronologically the less history you'll pick up on, but if you are limited to just what you can find in the local library or bookstore you still can't go terribly (Pterrybly?) wrong.

# ? Jan 15, 2009 21:11

GhostDog: Jul 30, 2003; Always see everything.

ThaGhettoJew posted:

Keep in mind that almost any book from any of the character groups is a decent standalone, with most recurring characters well reintroduced each time.

I think the "City Watch" books should definitely be read in order. The watch is always evolving and improving, and so is Vimes.

Edit: Goddamn, my bookshelf is beckoning. I have to read the whole watch series again, don't I? Yes. Yes I do.

# ? Jan 15, 2009 22:20

ThaGhettoJew: Jul 4, 2003; The world is a ghetto

GhostDog posted:

I think the "City Watch" books should definitely be read in order. The watch is always evolving and improving, and so is Vimes.

Yeah, but the same could be said for any of the books. New characters get added, new relationships pop up, etc. etc. You'll always get more if you've read the previous books (and especially if you don't want to be subtly spoiled), but I don't think you'll ever get totally lost. There really aren't too many overarching plots outside of each self-contained novel. The only exceptions I can think of are ~~Faust~~Eric, Witches Abroad, and Making Money, where the characters' motivations need a certain amount of background to make much sense.

# ? Jan 16, 2009 02:26

Vermain: Sep 5, 2006

GhostDog posted:

I think the "City Watch" books should definitely be read in order. The watch is always evolving and improving, and so is Vimes.

On the other hand, a lot of the Watch books are incredibly easy to pick up and read. My very first Pratchett book (which has also coincidentally become my favorite) was Night Watch. It was a bit confusing at the start, but the majority of his interactions in the book don't require you to have an encyclopedic knowledge of what Vimes has done. It certainly helps, and also explains a few more things about why he does what he does, but I still enjoyed the book immensely. It was probably one of the few books I had read in years where I had trouble going to bed because I wanted to see what happened so badly.

# ? Jan 16, 2009 16:59

Mokinokaro: Sep 11, 2001; At the end of everything, hold onto anything; Fun Shoe

I've been reading Men at Arms now. I probably should find the 3 novels that take place between it and Night Watch (which I picked up at the same time.)

# ? Jan 20, 2009 00:57

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Mokinokaro posted:

I've been reading Men at Arms now. I probably should find the 3 novels that take place between it and Night Watch (which I picked up at the same time.)

It's definitely worth reading the Watch novels in order for all the character development. And they're all good. And keep getting better. Night Watch and Thud! are probably my favorite Discworld novels bar none.

# ? Jan 20, 2009 02:00

Mokinokaro: Sep 11, 2001; At the end of everything, hold onto anything; Fun Shoe

I'm not sure what can top Detritus' Full Metal Jacket moment. One of the funniest thing's I've ever read.

# ? Jan 20, 2009 17:29

bewilderment: Nov 22, 2007; man what

It's always been my opinion that Night Watch is the best Discworld book, but only if you've read the majority of the other Watch books. Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, and Feet of Clay, at least. Jingo is pretty meh, but Fifth Elephant was good for seeing what went on in Uberwald.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 02:20

Jolly Jumbuck: Mar 14, 2006; Cats like optical fibers.

bewilderment posted:

It's always been my opinion that Night Watch is the best Discworld book, but only if you've read the majority of the other Watch books. Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, and Feet of Clay, at least. Jingo is pretty meh, but Fifth Elephant was good for seeing what went on in Uberwald.

Jingo was actually one of my favorites (I liked Vetinari when he was off his leash) whereas I didn't care for Fifth Elephant as much. I guess I thought it was cooler for the Watch to be in Klatch rather than Uberwald, but that's just a matter of opinion.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 05:00

hey mom its 420: May 12, 2007

Jingo is one of my favourites as well, mainly because it's just so funny.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 15:40

Surprise Giraffe: Apr 30, 2007; 1 Lunar Road
Moon crater
The Moon

Entropic posted:

The City Watch books just get progressively better and better.

I specifically remember finishing Fifth Elephant and not reading a better Discworld book until Night Watch came out. I hope Pratchet manages to get another Watch book out before he pops it.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 21:10

EvilMoJoJoJo: Dec 9, 2004; ask me about leaving the cult of black metal and bringing jesus into your life

Job 19:17

I know I am late on this but I have only just got round to Making Money. Reading it as the banking system - based on smoke and mirrors rather than, you know, actual gold - falls down in tatters around us is pretty amusing.

I can't decide if Moist would have been pro or anti synthesised CDOs and whether he would have shorted sub-prime mortgage providers, or whether he would have got caught up in the heady get-rich-quick atmosphere which prevailed on Wall Street and in the City until late 2007.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 21:20

LooseChanj: Feb 17, 2006; Logicaaaaaaaaal!

EvilMoJoJoJo posted:

I know I am late on this but I have only just got round to Making Money. Reading it as the banking system - based on smoke and mirrors rather than, you know, actual gold - falls down in tatters around us is pretty amusing.

One of the major themes in that book is that money is worth what it is because we all agree on it, and I loved the point about gold only being worth anything because...we all agree.

# ? Jan 21, 2009 21:53

Jekub: Jul 21, 2006; April, May, June, July and August fool

Dates for your diary's, 'Terry Pratchett : Living With Alzheimer's' :

BBC2 - Part 1 : Wednesday 4th February @ 21:00 GMT
BBC2 - Part 2 : Wednesday 11th February @ 21:00 GMT

I'm really looking forward to this, and pretty much dreading it as well. I've been reading Pratchett since my Dad first lent me Colour of Magic about 22 years ago. The thought that at some point there won't be any more books never really crossed my mind. I think I'm going to be very depressed.

# ? Jan 22, 2009 09:59

Total Meatlove: Jan 28, 2007; Rangers died, shoujo Hitler cried ;_;

Jekub posted:

Dates for your diary's, 'Terry Pratchett : Living With Alzheimer's' :

BBC2 - Part 1 : Wednesday 4th February @ 21:00 GMT
BBC2 - Part 2 : Wednesday 11th February @ 21:00 GMT

I'm really looking forward to this, and pretty much dreading it as well. I've been reading Pratchett since my Dad first lent me Colour of Magic about 22 years ago. The thought that at some point there won't be any more books never really crossed my mind. I think I'm going to be very depressed.

It's not that he's going to die, I think everyone accepts that's a part of life, and Pterry is going to be having a conversation with someone WHO TALKS LIKE THIS. It's the idea that a man with such a brilliantly comic mind, who can also deal with such complicated issues (Quantam theory etc.) is going to slip away from him and he'll know. :smith:

# ? Jan 24, 2009 18:59

Spatule: Mar 18, 2003

Anybody read "Nation" ? Is it good ?

# ? Jan 26, 2009 11:13

GhostDog: Jul 30, 2003; Always see everything.

Spatule posted:

Anybody read "Nation" ? Is it good ?

I liked it, but I didn't find it on par with his better books. In my opinion, it was missing a real climax and got stuck in a rut of repeating the same points over and over, without much variation in doing so. Good reading once, but there are not enough of the memorable scenes/dialogs that make me read some of Pratchett's books again and again.

# ? Jan 26, 2009 11:26

Camo Duck: Jul 9, 2006; I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative.
- John Stuart Mill

UK Goons, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this earlier but some of the Discworld novels are being broadcast currently as radio plays on BBC Radio 7, available on iPlayer.

Unfortunately Mort has been and gone and Wyrd Sisters is starting to "expire", but Guards! Guards! is still available. Not sure if any more books are going to be broadcast. I should point out that they're fairly underwhelming but some of you might like them.

# ? Jan 27, 2009 02:28

Jekub: Jul 21, 2006; April, May, June, July and August fool

I think they are replays of the various radio plays from Radio 4 which have been broadcast over the years. Some are better than others, I seem to remember Amazing Maurice being a really good one but finding Guards Guards a bit of a disappointment.

# ? Jan 27, 2009 11:01

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Jekub posted:

I think they are replays of the various radio plays from Radio 4 which have been broadcast over the years. Some are better than others, I seem to remember Amazing Maurice being a really good one but finding Guards Guards a bit of a disappointment.

Amazing Maurice even had David Tennant in it as Dangerous Beans!

# ? Jan 29, 2009 08:05

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 16:01

dregan: Jan 16, 2005; I could transport you all into space if I wanted.

Entropic posted:

Amazing Maurice even had David Tennant in it as Dangerous Beans!

There were some good points too...

I jest, David Tennant is actually quite a decent actor, just a shame about Doctor Who really.

# ? Jan 29, 2009 10:56

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

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