Sakura of DOOM

I skipped the other Watch books between Feet of Clay (partially read) and this one, largely because the Watch kind of annoys me. Don't get me wrong; I love Vimes. But Carrot doesn't interest me much, and Pratchett seems to use the Watch books to get in messages about sexism and racism that are well-meaning but do not take power differentials and institutional oppression into account.

Night Watch is more about rebellions, revolutions, and Les Miserables, only with time travel, cynicism, and a central tragedy that may or may not reoccur. And that tragedy is all the more effective because the men who die are not idealistic students. But mostly, it's got Vimes being Vimes, and I especially loved all the scenes in which he's trying to do the right thing by his younger self.

Also, getting glimpses of a younger, non-Patrician Vetinari is priceless.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this; I like it a lot, and it affected me emotionally. But on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure if I agree with what Pratchett is saying, as is the case with some of his other books. In the end, his overarching humanism wins me over, even as I can't help but feel that there are some missing pieces of the puzzle.

I think this is up there with Lords and Ladies and Hogfather as one of my favorite Discworld books.

The Auditors, having failed in their latest scheme to make the universe a neater and more orderly place, have hatched a plot to stop time altogether by getting someone to build a perfect clock. Meanwhile, Death has sensed something running amuck and summoned Susan for help, the History Monks are trying to deal with a thief who's way too good with time, and the clockmaker's helper Igor really just wants a good thunderstorm.

Unlike some of the other Death books, all the plotlines in this book were engaging, and I'm not sure if I had more fun reading about Susan trying to whap Death of Rats on the head, Lu-Tze teaching everyone about Rule One, Death trying to round up the Four Horsemen, Igor just trying to serve the first sane master he's ever had, or the Auditors attempting to analyze human behavior.

Everything ties together wonderfully, and though I wanted more of Lobsang and Susan in the end, the ending was highly satisfactory.

I was trying to decided how disgruntled I was about the History Monks being some weird amalgamation of Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan practices, but Lu-Tze is so awesome that I kept getting distracted. I also generally like how it pokes fun at the romanticization of Eastern religion and how Lu-Tze's Way is the Way of an innkeeper in Ankh-Morpork.

Also, literal death by chocolate!

Now I want to reread Small Gods and figure out what Lu-Tze was doing in there, since I'm pretty sure that was when he was trying to reconstruct all of history the first time around.

This was appropriately frightening and hilarious at all the right places, and I would love to see more of Lobsang and Susan in the future, but am not sure if we'll get a chance to.

Upon the birth of his daughter, King Verence of Lancre decides to have a giant party. Unfortunately, this means he decides to invite Omnian priest Mightily Oats and the Magpyr family, which in turn sets off Nanny Ogg, who takes issues with Omnian past practices of setting so-called witches on fire (the real witches got away, of course), and Granny Weatherwax, who does not approve of vampires attempting to take over Lancre.

I enjoy the witches books, so I'm a little sad to see that this is the last one that directly stars the trio of witches (I like the Tiffany Aching books, but I miss having more Granny Weatherwax). I'm also sad that Agnes/Perdita has not quite achieved the same place Magrat has in my heart (and I am very glad Magrat is in this book), although I suspect she very well could with another book.

I think (?) people tend to like this one better than Maskerade; I may be the exception, largely because I howled at all the parody in Maskerade but was a little meh to the vampire ones in here. They aren't as frightening as Fairy, and the tropes that Pratchett lampoons are tropes that aren't much in play any more.

Now, if he had written this book about brooding, morally conflicted and yet utterly gorgeous, perpetually teenaged hero vampires and the clumsy gorgeous girls they find to save them from their lifetime of misery and angst and squirrel blood, I would have lapped that up!

On the other hand, I had been expecting a more negative treatment of Mightily Oats in the book and was pleased to find that he actually developed as a character. And I very much love seeing Granny Weatherwax being put into a tight spot, from her opening encounter with Death to her battle against the vampires, largely because she always rises to the occasion. Or makes the occasion come to her, sometimes.

And we continue to be All Pratchett, All the Time!

Let us not talk about my sleeping habits or what I am not doing in lieu of gobbling down Discworld.

I really loved this one. Not as much as Lords and Ladies because I didn't like this one's ending as much, but this had me giggling like a maniac on the train. I think right now the Witches books are my favorites, but that may also be because I've read the most of them. Also, it helps that they're mostly female and that there's the young-woman-coming-into-power plot in several of them, which apparently is a button of mine and explains why I am so addicted to YA.

Plus, awesome older women!

Anyway. Agnes Nitt has gone to the Ankh-Morpork opera to Be Someone; namely, Perdita X Nitt, opera star and all-around glamorous person. Sadly, it's just not quite happened yet. Instead, there's an Opera Ghost wandering around, people getting murdered, and she's stuck with a ditzy soprano named Christine who can't sing as well as Agnes but can fit in the costumes much better.

Back in Lancre, Nanny Ogg finds that a two-person coven just doesn't work. Nanny and Granny go off to A-M and probably terrify half of Discworld in the process.

rilina's mentioned how much of Pratchett enjoyment lies in familiarity and love of the subject. I loved some of the prior Witches books because they dealt with Faerie and fairy tales, but this one is even more awesome because it's Phantom of the Opera! In Discworld!

(I fell into Phantom in sixth grade and have since never quite recovered, despite not liking it much now.)

I loved all the theater mentions and Christine and the mirror and people with their hands by their heads and the chandelier. All of it! I love the loving mockery of opera, I love how Pratchett takes a minor plot point in Phantom and makes it a major one (the voice subbing), the Discworld versions of the managers from Phantom, Andre vs. Raoul, everything.

Also, I absolutely adore Agnes, which was why I didn't like the ending as much. On the other hand, I loved how opera the ending was, down to Death's appearance, and it felt like all the meta anime out there ever making fun of anime tropes and conventions. Oh cracktasticness, I love you so much.

( Spoilers )

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, I enjoyed this a ton. I think it's the Discworld book I've laughed the most with so far.

Someone stop me! I am eating these up like candy. I don't know what it is, except I just don't feel up to reading anything angsty, emotionally significant, or serious right now, much less anything with a complicated plot.

Anyway, I've been a little wary about starting the Watch books, just because everyone likes them so much.

Carrot Ironfoundersson is told one day that he's not actually a dwarf (which handily explains his two-meter height); he's sent off to join the Ankh-Morpork City Guard with his birthright sword and the knowledge that he was found on a hillside. We all know where that leads....

Meanwhile, Captain Vimes of the Night Watch is trying to either get drunk or stay drunk, the Librarian has to find a missing book, and some suspicious hooded figures seem to be wandering around and siccing a dragon on Ankh-Morpork.

This was much better than I had expected, given the quality of the early Witches and Death books; the plot's coherent, all the parts fit together, the villain is actually creepy (the dragon? is scary! although it has a good point about people), and even though the characters are still more at the caricature stage, Vimes has a surprising amount of depth, considering that this is his first appearance.

Ok, I admit it, I suspect I will be a complete sucker for Vimes. It is his strange belief in people despite his drunk and cynical exterior! And the way he goes "Er" a lot at Lady Ramkin.

I like Carrot and Colon and Nobby, but they're more sketches than full-fleshed people right now; I adored Lady Ramkin, who is awesome awesome awesome; I laughed a lot at Errol the dragon and his strange digestive system; and in general had a good time. The points about humans vs. dragons and imagination and Vetinari vs. Vimes were a little anvilly, but whatever.

I think my favorite parts were Errol, Vetinari's prison, and the strangely charming interactions between Vimes and Lady Ramkin.

And... am already halfway through Men in Arms...

Someone tries to get rid of the beloved Hogfather, and it's up to Death to take his place! And while he's doing that (much to the disgruntlement of the faithful but snarky Albert), Susan attempts to figure out exactly what's going on and why previously non-existant deities and myths keep popping up, like the oh god of hangovers.

Everyone was right! This is my favorite Death book so far, not in the least because all the subplots worked together, the main threat was genuinely creepy, and ... it was good.

I wasn't actually that scared of Mr. Teatime, largely because I was reading The Truth at the same time and all the amoral assassin figures were running together for me. On the other hand, that world Susan ends up finding herself in? THAT was creepy.

I loved Death and Albert's conversations about how things should be, particularly Death's insistence that people would have a good Hogswatch and he would damn well make sure of that. I also liked Susan a lot more than in Soul Music, largely because I got a much better sense of her personality in this book.

I feel I should have more comments, except I keep saying the same things about Pratchett's books.

ETA: Oh! I forgot! One of my favorite parts was Susan berating her charges for attempting to be twee via lisping and cute looks. And the poker. And "I was fairly confident."

The problem with Reaper Man is that there's a great book in there, but it's unfortunately diluted by the really boring book that's also in there.

Death of Discworld gets fired from his job and ends up working on a farm for an old lady (the great book). Since he basically just runs off without giving two weeks notice, strange things start happening on Discworld as life starts to accumulate and as the dead get undead (the really boring book).

I could have cared less about the entire plot that has to do with Poon and his not-afterlife, the Unseen University, and the snowglobes attempting to take over the world. I find that in general, I'm bored to death by the wizards (I suspect this is why everyone says to skip the Rincewind books?). Also, the wizarding world is so male! I mean, I am stating the obvious, but it was hard to get used to after reading a lot of the witches books in a row.

On the other hand, I enjoyed the storyline about Death. I loved how excited he was about time, and then how afraid he got about mortality. I loved his relationship with Miss Flitworth and especially the resolution, which was touching even as it was a little funny, unlike the entire snowglobe/Poon plot.

Also: DEATH OF RATS OMG CUTEST THING EVER SQUEEEE!

Also also, Pratchett mentions the Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents here! I had no idea!

In conclusion: Death of Rats = Best Thing EVAR.

Especially that last bit with Death and the Death of Rats and the Death of Fleas and the matter of proper steeds. That was awesome.

I continue to go through Discworld! I think that while I am fond of the Discworld books I've read so far, I'm not head-over-heels in love. That said, they're remarkably good light reading, they generally cheer me up, and while Pratchett can get a little repetitive in his intended points, I find that I have been looking for light fluffy books these days. I suspect the fluffiness is more because Pratchett is very skilled at writing light without writing thin; the books are easy to digest, but they also have a lot more layers than they seem to.

Witches Abroad takes place after the events of Wyrd Sisters, though I'm guessing you can read these completely out of order, as Pratchett reintroduces characters and concepts. Sometimes he does this too much; the beginning of this book is nearly identical to that of Wyrd Sisters (the coven gathering, then the food), which had me rolling my eyes a little.

Anyway, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat find themselves trying to carry out the last wishes of a fairy godmother, which means subverting the evil intentions of Lilith, who just wants everyone to have their own happy ending.

Some of the themes got extremely anvilly, which was irritating, particularly that about not being able to make people's happy endings for them and that the easy fix is usually the bad fix (as someone who likes to pretend to be able to come up with hack-y solutions, I object a little to this, though I get Pratchett's point. Multiple times).

On the other hand, I really liked that I actually felt threatened by the villain; most of the other Pratchett books didn't have me really believing in the threat. There are also some genuinely creepy moments in the book (the big bad wolf, for me). And, of course, I am always a sucker for fairy tale takes.

Also! Actual black people! /sarcasm

More seriously, I liked that Pratchett mixed together New Orleans and gumbo and Voodoo and Legba with Cinderella and "traditional" fairy tales; the Discworld books I've read so far are pretty West-centric, though people have commented that there are Asia and Africa and Australia equivalents in the world. I probably just haven't gotten there yet. Is there a South American equivalent?

I would normally be irritated by Nanny Ogg's mastery of "foreign" (particularly the moments of "chop chop" and the pidgin Asian languages) except that Pratchett is clearly making fun of the general propensity of tourists to march in and bungle things up, and I laughed at Granny Weatherwax's belief that if she just said something slowly and loudly enough, the language barrier would magically disappear. I'm also not sure how he does with Voodoo -- from my very uneducated POV, I was a little irritated by the voodoo doll and the zombie, but I also liked the take on the zombie and the voodoo doll. Also, I loved Mrs. Gogol's gumbo pot, and in general, my impression was that Pratchett was taking the trappings of Voodoo that make it into horror movies, poking holes in those caricatures, but also building fairly solid secondary characters underneath. I'm still not quite sure how he does this, but I am very impressed by how he can pull it off consistently.

Is Mrs. Gogol black? I thought so, though reading through the passage via Google books doesn't explicitly say so. On the other hand, the Discworld wiki lists her as black.

Anyway. POC! Yay!

And I loved Pratchett's description of Cajun food.

My library doesn't have the next books in the Death series or the Witch series, which makes me sad!

Nine-year-old Tiffany Aching one day finds there is a monster in her river. Then some small blue men with funny accents start stealing the sheep. Then her little brother disappears.

Tiffany decides that This Will Not Do and goes after her brother with a cast-iron frying pan, along with a whole lot of the Nac Mac Feegle (the eponymous Wee Free Men).

I wasn't going to like Tiffany at first, since she was entirely too capable, but I ended up liking her anyway. She hits things with frying pans!

Um. I was going to say something else, except I have gotten stuck on the frying pan bit. It reminds me of Patricia C. Wrede's Frying Pan of DOOM!

Also, the Nac Mac Feegle are hilarious!

Oh yeah. Anyway, there is a lot of stuff about Faerie (the scary version) and dreams, and I found the latter to be particularly confusing, because people would keep slipping in and out of dreams. I have a difficult enough time following straight-forward plots, much less plots that change every two pages.

Still, I liked this quite a bit, particularly Granny Aching, and I am glad I already have the next two in the series checked out.

(Apologies for spamming! Um, yes, I am trying to catch up with my backlog, so there may be a few more...)

I actually haven't read very much Terry Pratchett at all. The first time I read this, I was mildly amused but not too impressed. I suspect for most things intended to be funny, I have to read them a few times. Otherwise, the prose strikes me as too twee or too contrived.

Mort is all elbows and thinks entirely too much for his small village, which is how he ends up at a fair for people trying to find apprentices. Fortunately (?) for Mort, Death of Discworld is looking for an apprentice.

Mort gets himself into a giant scrape involving the very fabric of reality, and antics ensue.

I enjoyed this the second time around, now that I had a better feel for Pratchett's sense of humor. I love the long footnotes, though I got sick of a few of them closer to the end of the book. I also like the characters a lot more; the first time I read it, I couldn't quite figure out how sympathetic I was supposed to feel and how much Pratchett was making fun of them. I think I rather like the gentle fun he pokes; I had originally read them with the vague idea that he wrote satire and not good story (this was pre-LJ).

My favorite character was Ysabell, even though she didn't get many pages; I am a sucker for overlooked girls who prove to be useful and down-to-earth.

I could tell from vague knowledge collected from LJ that Pratchett was bringing Mort to meet several established Discworld characters, but since I don't know any of them outside of Granny Weatherwax, it had very little impression on me.

So: I think I am going to try and read up on Pratchett, just to keep up with LJ, if nothing else. Also, he won me over in another book with SQUEAK! from the Death of rats.

I definitely like the Death books, so I think that is Soul Music and Hogsfather. Mely and Rachel both say to avoid Rincewind and to read the Guards books. Rec me! Also, let me know if I should read in any particular order!

Of the Discworld books, I have read: this book, The Amazing Maurice and The Color of Magic (was not terribly impressed by the last, but Mely says it is because it sucks).