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BigglesSWE posted:I think Rincewind grew enormously in my eyes in Interesting Times. His sympathy for the put upon people of Twoflower’s homeland (despite his usual reluctance to publicly put himself in harms way) solidified him as a person who wants a better world for the common man; but fear can be a terribly potent antidote to agency. I agree, it's by far my favourite of the Rincewind books, although I'll always have a soft spot for the first two for getting me into the series. Also because I read a ton of the material the books are spoofing so I'm extremely the target demographic. If you want to be even more bummed-out, can I recommend A Life With Footnotes?
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Oct 17, 2025 11:25
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Osmosisch posted:
A Life With Footnotes didn't bum me out, it made me smile more often than not. The ending is a bummer, but it's not like I didn't know it already.
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Oct 17, 2025 14:33
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BigglesSWE posted:I think Rincewind grew enormously in my eyes in Interesting Times. His sympathy for the put upon people of Twoflower’s homeland (despite his usual reluctance to publicly put himself in harms way) solidified him as a person who wants a better world for the common man; but fear can be a terribly potent antidote to agency. Take the dwarf bread approach: if getting something new in Discworld means the series The Watch, we should all feel happy nothing similar is on the horizon.
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Oct 17, 2025 17:32
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I know Snuff is where things are meant to start going downhill, but I'm about a fifth or so in and drat, I'm enjoying Vimes and Wilikins partnering up! This is precisely what I've been wanting for a while now, given Wilikins has always felt like such an excellent, underutilised character  Hopefully he continues to utilise his array of cutting implements, and doesn't get put on the backburner again! Either way, it's been a good start so far
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Oct 21, 2025 01:05
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BigglesSWE posted:I think Rincewind grew enormously in my eyes in Interesting Times. His sympathy for the put upon people of Twoflower’s homeland (despite his usual reluctance to publicly put himself in harms way) solidified him as a person who wants a better world for the common man; but fear can be a terribly potent antidote to agency. I think "Rincewind as a character himself" is at his best in Interesting Times and Sourcery, where his compassion is a major factor in the end. Rather than "reluctant hero" I would like to point out the "wandering hero" trope. The title character comes upon someone else's story, plays a part in its resolution, and then leaves with the other characters changed but the hero only having a few more scars. Mad Max (after the first), a lot of Conan and Prince Valiant stories, all sorts of Westerns, stuff like that. In this sense Rincewind is the Wandering Coward who serves as a camera-focus for somebody's story of adventure while he's trying to run away from the last one. Rincewind is mostly an observer who plays some critical role in his stories but is not the Main Character, and that's the point.
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Oct 23, 2025 02:19
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The closest comparison I can make to Rincewind is Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China. The story presents him as the hero, but no. He is merely the protagonist. It’s not a perfect analogy but I haven’t found a better one.
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Oct 23, 2025 03:41
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Interesting Times is a lot of fun. I particularly like [paraphrased]: "What did he say?" "He said you're a eunuch, Hamish!" "That's right! There's only one of me!"
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Oct 23, 2025 04:07
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ConfusedUs posted:The closest comparison I can make to Rincewind is Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China. The story presents him as the hero, but no. He is merely the protagonist.
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Oct 24, 2025 11:31
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Alhazred posted:Jack Burton wants to be the hero though. He's just bad at it. Rincewind doesn't want to be the hero but somehow he still manages to save the world. Even though he only has a sock with a brick in it. Correct. It's not a perfect analogy.
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Oct 24, 2025 13:57
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Alhazred posted:Jack Burton wants to be the hero though. He's just bad at it. Rincewind doesn't want to be the hero but somehow he still manages to save the world. Even though he only has a sock with a brick in it. Half a brick.
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Oct 24, 2025 16:23
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Alhazred posted:Jack Burton wants to be the hero though. He's just bad at it. Rincewind doesn't want to be the hero but somehow he still manages to save the world. Even though he only has a sock with a brick in it. More importantly, Jack thinks he is the hero. I can't think of a character less like Rincewind in the heroism stakes.
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Oct 26, 2025 09:24
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Yeah Jack thinks he knows better than everyone around him and his plans mostly involve running headlong at the big bad and demanding his truck back. The only situation you might find Rincewind willing to risk his life for a personal possession is if someone took his Wizzard hat.
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Oct 26, 2025 14:00
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Once again, I'm glad A.E. Pessimal was brought into the Watch, so that he can discuss Dreadful Algebra with Carrot. ("You know how it is in a street fight, Cheery. Sometimes if things get hot and you know it's you or them - that's when you do the algebra.") It's just a shame we'll never be able to read about his escapades during the end of the fiscal year!
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Nov 1, 2025 00:22
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Double-posting I know, but wow, a whole week passed without a word! Anyway, I finally had enough time to power through the rest of Snuff. I can see why some here think it spends a lot of time being a bit... preachy, I guess? Either way, I dunno - seeing as it's Vimes' last hurrah, with a kid in tow now, while tackling a Big Issue (which perhaps has some of the biggest long-term societal impact on the disc, that Vimes has contributed) I kinda get it? I know it probably went on a bit long for many, but I felt it was fine. He's a dad with a great kid with him, and he's slowly been becoming more 'soft'/sentimental and the like in recent books, so it seemed like a fairly natural progression with such an issue like what was presented in the book. (e.g. "that goblin kid could've been my kid! If it's OK to kill goblins, where do they draw the line?" kinda stuff) In any case, I quite liked it still. I wouldn't exactly say it's my favourite Watch book (I think Men at Arms would have to take that title, followed by a tied-up Fifth Elephant and Night Watch) but I still found it to be a good read, like the rest of the pack. I think I'd have a very hard time picking a least favourite, to be honest!
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Nov 8, 2025 10:56
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I've been binging through the end of the Discworld series from Thud up in to Raising Steam right now via audiobook. I read sequentially through Going Postal the old-fashioned way a few years back and not sure which I prefer. The narrator is really excellent with the variety of voices though. The thing is, from reading I understand Pratchett's decline is evident in his later work, and I have to say that throughout Snuff my progressive brain was getting a little perturbed by his neo-liberal drug war nonense. I hope that's the worst of his ill-informed opinions because throughout the series I always loved his moralizing pedantry but this crack analogy is paper thin dogshit that I think he would have seen right through if he'd had a few more years of clear thought in him. Everyone who is not a troll or Sam Vimes' alcoholic rear end is free and clear to drink and smoke themselves to an early grave but poor stupid trolls need to be protected from things starting with the letter 'S' innit? I mean whether it's meant to be crack, PCP or crystal meth is not really the issue it's just stupid on its head to preach the death penalty for distribution from your increasingly high horse. And I say that as someone who no longer partakes of anything much in particular. It's like as the characters get grander in scope and ambition the stories suffer from fix-it-itis. It'd be like if Hank Hill became the president or something, smhd. Sorry for the rant because I love the series but am not enjoying the decline. e: holy poo poo I didn't read the post at the end of the thread that precedes mine 
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Nov 9, 2025 07:12
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The issue with Vimes drinking was the fact he was both a non-functioning alcoholic and knurd, with him continuing to be a teetotaler in part because for the same reason he always was home in time to read to young Sam. I will admit that the parallel with crack etc slipped by me, which might be blindness on my part.
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Nov 9, 2025 16:07
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Also, has anyone actually tried making that beetroot juice he drinks in Snuff? (Or the 'Virgin Sam Vimes', for that matter) I wonder hkw could it could really be!
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Nov 9, 2025 20:49
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I really liked Snuff. I agree with the criticism that Willikin's character seemed off, and not for the better but enjoyed the story and most of the rest of the book.
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Nov 9, 2025 22:06
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Major Isoor posted:the 'Virgin Sam Vimes' vs. the Chad... uh, Moist von Lipwig, maybe?
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Nov 9, 2025 23:23
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Jolly Jumbuck posted:I really liked Snuff. I agree with the criticism that Willikin's character seemed off, and not for the better but enjoyed the story and most of the rest of the book. Regarding your spoiler, I do understand the concern - he was definitely a lot more gung-ho than normal. But TBH, I actually quite enjoyed seeing him cut loose a bit, while out in the country! He's always had that darker side of him simmering beneath the surface (kinda like Vimes I guess, but muuuuch better disguised) so I was really hoping I'd get to see him play by his own rules, sometime this seriesDontMockMySmock posted:vs. the Chad... uh, Moist von Lipwig, maybe?  That would be a drink for the history books
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Nov 9, 2025 23:41
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I enjoyed the actual story of Snuff but for me it was the start of books where characters felt slightly off. Not as harshly as some books later in the series (Raising Steam feels like there's one person playing most of the characters) just where I started to notice it.
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Nov 10, 2025 17:13
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QR Code Geass posted:I've been binging through the end of the Discworld series from Thud up in to Raising Steam right now via audiobook. I read sequentially through Going Postal the old-fashioned way a few years back and not sure which I prefer. The narrator is really excellent with the variety of voices though. Is it better in multiple previous Watch books where the troll drug trade is an established thing but only Detritus seems interested in the Watch actually going after the dealers?
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Nov 10, 2025 17:43
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Sometimes I'm really glad Terry kicked the bucket when he did because if he saw the state of the world as it is today he'd have an aneurysm
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Nov 10, 2025 17:45
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Youremother posted:Sometimes I'm really glad Terry kicked the bucket when he did because if he saw the state of the world as it is today he'd go spare!
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Nov 10, 2025 18:09
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Narsham posted:Is it better in multiple previous Watch books where the troll drug trade is an established thing but only Detritus seems interested in the Watch actually going after the dealers? I dunno? It's been a few years since I read the ones prior to Going Postal. I don't think writing a troll who agrees with you is any way of mitigating that the war on drugs was a complete failure and will continue to be long after we're gone though. I just happen to believe that treatment and understanding is a better option than criminalization and stigmatizing addicts. There is always going to be availability, no matter how many literal bombs we throw at the problem. Going after drug dealers like that is more of what I'd expect from Tom Clancy.
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Nov 10, 2025 22:41
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the drug stuff is probably Pratchett's Wambaugh fandom coming through
fez_machine fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Nov 10, 2025 |
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Nov 10, 2025 23:19
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Yeah I mean, there's no doubt that there's a little bit of a knee-jerkness about the whole troll drug/war on drugs thing in Terry's later-in-life mind. But TBH it wasn't totally out there to me - since Detritus (and later, Crysophase I think his name is?) had been gradually pushing the matter and raising awareness throughout the books, right up until it became a huge issue when the more dangerous Slide came out in Thud and the Diamond King gained power among the trolls. So yeah, although it may have been focused on in his writing, uh, quite a bit more than necessary in Snuff, as far as the political situation in the setting/background goes, it does make sense to me. I mean, trolls getting hooked on super crackmeth and running through buildings and market crowds is very bad news to Ankh-Morpork in general. Plus with the Diamond King pushing for it to be banned disc-wide, well, what else are the watch gonna do at that point other than to crack down on its distribution? Obviously like in the real world, there are much better/long-lasting solutions out there to help with those who are addicted to the stuff, but I feel like that aspect would've eventually had a Watch-adjacent book like Going Postal etc that addresses the matter in a far more satisfactory way later down the line, if he didn't have his health issues. Anyway, apologies - I basically just woke up and saw this, so I might be a little more incoherent than usual!  Anyway, it's just a shame Terry couldn't keep going a bit longer, before having his issues. I'm certain he'd end up with the tail end of a botched 'war on drugs' in Howondaland leading into Vetinari finding an opportunity to start plans to help with rehabilitation etc.QR Code Geass posted:Going after drug dealers like that is more of what I'd expect from Tom Clancy. drat, now you're seriously making me want to read a Pratchettised take on Without Remorse, where some ex-soldier goes rogue on a Slide manufacturing and distribution network, after his ex-prostitute troll girlfriend spontaneously and fatally oxidises, turning into a pile of sand and gravel while out on his boat. Then obviously, he's later pulled out of hot water and recruited by Vetinari, who gives him a new name and a role as a Dark Clerk, performing Dreadful Algebra in the name of the city
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Nov 10, 2025 23:46
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Detritus going after the drug dealers "serving" his community harder than the rest of the force is right out of old police procedurals. It isn't great but at least the adoption of Brick shows a willingness to reform users.
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Nov 12, 2025 09:56
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I thought it was obvious that rincewind was more of an excuse to do some supplementary world building than he was a proper character in his own right. He's a plaything of the gods and he's well aware that he isn't in control of any single aspect of his life, but in the rincewind books we get to see a ton of different parts of the world and make a bunch of cheap cracks about Australia. These are both good things and they make the world a richer place to explore instead of just bouncing back and forth from ankh morpork to lancre
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Nov 12, 2025 23:37
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Youremother posted:Sometimes I'm really glad Terry kicked the bucket when he did because if he saw the state of the world as it is today he'd have an aneurysm Eh, as an author who saw the absurdity of humanity he would have just laughed at it. There is nothing new under the sun in how humanity behaves, just new variations. Interesting times is interesting here, because Cohen is literally re-enacting a previous barbarian takeover in a slightly different fashion.
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Nov 15, 2025 19:12
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