Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Discworld Mania
As I may or may not have mentioned, for our anniversary Pauline got me a whole slew of Discworld novels (Terry Pratchett). We already had a bunch, so the 12 (I think) that she got nearly completed our collection. Since then, the whole family (aside from Emily) has gone on a Discworld kick. I've finally finished reading all of the new books, and re-reading a lot of the books we already owned, so here are my book reports:
I first read all of the books involving the "City Watch" characters. They are probably my favorites of all.
1. Guards, Guards! - OK. I didn't re-read this one, since I had just read it a few months ago. But it's the first one you should start with if you are interested in following my footsteps. See the review here.
2. Men At Arms - 9/10. Sequel to Guards, Guards! This was an excellent book about the Night Watch of Ankh-Morpork, largest city in the Discworld. An assassin toting a "gonne" [gun] is on the loose, and must be stopped by the city watch (aka the police force).
3. Feet of Clay - 8/10. In this book, the guards must catch a murderer. The plot is very much connected to golems, magical creatures made of clay--hence the title. I won't say much more about that, to avoid spoiling the plot. Lots of good stuff here, though, with Captain Carrot, Commander Vimes, and the rest of the gang. This may have been the book in which Carrot's werewolf girlfriend Angua gets introduced, and it is the book in which female dwarf (yes they exist!) Cheery Littlebottom joins the squad as a forensic scientist.
4. Jingo - 8.5/10. In this book, Ankh-Morpork goes to war (or nearly so) with Klatch (an Arabian-like country) over a strategically placed island which appears suddenly in the sea. The guards join the army, and try to stop the war before it starts.
5. The Fifth Elephant - 10/10. This is one that we already owned; I re-read it. One of my favorite discworld books, it takes place primarily in Uberwald, native home of dwarfs, werewolfs, and vampires. Trolls too, probably, but they don't come up in this book. The books title comes from the four enormous elephants upon which Discworld rests (the elephants themselves are resting on the great turtle A'Tuin). The *fifth* elephant is one that careened away at some point in the distant past, orbited back around, and slammed into the disc in the region of Uberwald (again in the distant past). Consequently Uberwald is famous for its fat mines. Best lard anywhere, as they say. Anyway, this is another mystery novel, where Vimes is called upon to solve the mystery of a stolen dwarf relic. Runs into some nasty werewolves along the way (Angua's relatives).
6. The Truth - 9/10. The main character in this book was someone we hadn't met before, William de Worde, but it had some City Watch stuff in it so I read it next. This is about starting a newspaper with the first movable type printing press. It's also a bit of a mystery story, where Mr. de Worde through the power of investigatory journalism helps clear the Patrician (Vetinari, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork) of murder charges.
7. Night Watch - 10/10. This was a fabulous book, one of my very favorite Discworld novels if not my favorite one. Vimes is the main character; he accidentally gets sent back in time while chasing a crook. The crook he was chasing murders Vimes' old mentor on the police force, so Vimes himself has to step in and play the part so that history doesn't unravel. This is all set against the framework of a Les Miserables-type revolution with people barricading the streets, and the like.
[Monstrous Regiment would have come next but Pauline didn't get me that one. We'd read it before and it wasn't particularly one of the better ones.]
8. Thud! - 9.5/10. Another really good one. Here Vimes and the rest of the guards have to stop a war between dwarfs and trolls (who have been fighting each other for ages). They even end up traveling to Koom Valley, site of upteen dwarf-troll wars, where the truth of Koom Valley is finally discovered.
Next I read the books involving the "Death" characters:
9. Mort - 9.5/10. This book came in 65th in a survey by BBC trying to find England's favorite book ever. Highest rating of any Discworld books, landing it just below A Tale of Two Cities and the Thorn Birds. Anyway, Discworld is home to a personification of death (a lot like Death in On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony--but with a lot more humor). In this book, Death decides to take a vacation, and so hires an apprentice, named Mort. Things go terribly wrong, of course, when Mort saves the life of a princess who was supposed to die. But things work out in the end, of course. Mort only appears in this one novel, but he is the father of Susan, a major character in three of the next four Discworld novels listed below.
10. Reaper Man - 6/10. Pretty "Meh" to me. This book does explain how the "Death of Rats" came to be (a character that is in many future books), and had several humorous parts, but overall didn't impress me much. There's a nice John Henry-type scene where Death tries to outreap a combine harvester, though.
11. Soul Music - 9.5/10. Deals with the birth of Rock & Roll (aka "Music with Rocks in It"). Features a rock group with a human, a dwarf, and a troll (the troll plays the rocks). But Susan (granddaughter of Death) is the real star of the show. She basically has to cover for Death while he takes a vacation, a lot like Mort did previously.
12. Hogfather - 9/10. (I read the book, and we also watched the Hogfather BBC made-for-TV movie.) The Hogfather is Discworld's Santa Claus. His sled is pulled by hogs, though, not reindeer. And I don't get the impression that he's too jolly. Gives away presents once a year, though. In this book, a group of alien beings (the "Auditors") hire an assassin to kill the Hogfather, which would basically cause all the people on the Discworld to die. I'll do a little plot spoiler here, because the assassination method is clever--the assassin raids the Tooth Fairy residence to find all the teeth of kids. Then he recruits a wizard to perform magic using those teeth, to force all of the kids to stop believing. Susan has to save the day again. And Death makes a memorable stand-in for the Hogfather. The department store scene in particular is memorable.
13. Thief of Time - 9/10. The Auditors are at it again, this time trying to eliminate Discworld by having a clock-maker build a clock so precise it can measure the fundamental tick of the universe (and thus freeze time). Susan has to come to the rescue yet again, this time with the help of the "Time Monks". I really liked the character "Lu-Tze", called "The Sweeper" because he, well, sweeps. The most famous time monk of them all doubles as the janitor.
Then there were a few misc. books left over:
14. Going Postal - 9.5/10. I actually listened to first half of this book on CD in the car, on the way back from Utah. Then I read the second half after we were back in Wisconsin. This is about the establishment of a working post office, to compete with the "clacks" (basically a telegraph). The main character is Moist von Lipwig, who is a con-artist that gets recruited by Lord Vetinari to run the place. It's either do that, or be put to death for his thievery (the last few postal chiefs have perished suspiciously, which had Moist known that would have made his choice a bit more difficult). Moist has a lot of style, and even a fair amount of substance by the end of the book.
15. The Last Continent - 5/10. I erroneously read this one before Interesting Times; it should have come after. I'm not sure if it was because I read it while deathly ill with the flu, but I was not impressed at all. This was a Rincewind book (Rincewind being the wizard--a bad one--who was in the very first couple of Discworld novels). The main point of the book seemed to be to parody Australia. Would have made an OK side story, but didn't make for an interesting main story.
16. Interesting Times - 10/10. Another Rincewind book, but this one was very well done. This book is set in the "Counterweight Continent", a parody of China/Japan--but he gets it right this time in that the setting is a setting and not the major plot of the story. The main plot involves Cohen the Barbarian's attempt to take over the country with his "Horde" of ~6 followers. Very, very, old followers. But you don't get to be a very old barbarian without being a very *good* barbarian. Rincewind, despite trying to run away at every opportunity (that's just the way he is), gets mixed up with the Horde, and helps mix things up even further.
Wow, 15 books since May 1st. And that's not counting the non-Pratchett books I read (two before I started the Pratchett kick, and two after; reviews will be posted at a later date). Guess that makes 19 books in 9 weeks! 3.3 days/book. :-)
As I like to say, "He who dies with the most books, wins!" Thanks for the presents, Pauline!
I first read all of the books involving the "City Watch" characters. They are probably my favorites of all.
1. Guards, Guards! - OK. I didn't re-read this one, since I had just read it a few months ago. But it's the first one you should start with if you are interested in following my footsteps. See the review here.
2. Men At Arms - 9/10. Sequel to Guards, Guards! This was an excellent book about the Night Watch of Ankh-Morpork, largest city in the Discworld. An assassin toting a "gonne" [gun] is on the loose, and must be stopped by the city watch (aka the police force).
3. Feet of Clay - 8/10. In this book, the guards must catch a murderer. The plot is very much connected to golems, magical creatures made of clay--hence the title. I won't say much more about that, to avoid spoiling the plot. Lots of good stuff here, though, with Captain Carrot, Commander Vimes, and the rest of the gang. This may have been the book in which Carrot's werewolf girlfriend Angua gets introduced, and it is the book in which female dwarf (yes they exist!) Cheery Littlebottom joins the squad as a forensic scientist.
4. Jingo - 8.5/10. In this book, Ankh-Morpork goes to war (or nearly so) with Klatch (an Arabian-like country) over a strategically placed island which appears suddenly in the sea. The guards join the army, and try to stop the war before it starts.
5. The Fifth Elephant - 10/10. This is one that we already owned; I re-read it. One of my favorite discworld books, it takes place primarily in Uberwald, native home of dwarfs, werewolfs, and vampires. Trolls too, probably, but they don't come up in this book. The books title comes from the four enormous elephants upon which Discworld rests (the elephants themselves are resting on the great turtle A'Tuin). The *fifth* elephant is one that careened away at some point in the distant past, orbited back around, and slammed into the disc in the region of Uberwald (again in the distant past). Consequently Uberwald is famous for its fat mines. Best lard anywhere, as they say. Anyway, this is another mystery novel, where Vimes is called upon to solve the mystery of a stolen dwarf relic. Runs into some nasty werewolves along the way (Angua's relatives).
6. The Truth - 9/10. The main character in this book was someone we hadn't met before, William de Worde, but it had some City Watch stuff in it so I read it next. This is about starting a newspaper with the first movable type printing press. It's also a bit of a mystery story, where Mr. de Worde through the power of investigatory journalism helps clear the Patrician (Vetinari, the ruler of Ankh-Morpork) of murder charges.
7. Night Watch - 10/10. This was a fabulous book, one of my very favorite Discworld novels if not my favorite one. Vimes is the main character; he accidentally gets sent back in time while chasing a crook. The crook he was chasing murders Vimes' old mentor on the police force, so Vimes himself has to step in and play the part so that history doesn't unravel. This is all set against the framework of a Les Miserables-type revolution with people barricading the streets, and the like.
8. Thud! - 9.5/10. Another really good one. Here Vimes and the rest of the guards have to stop a war between dwarfs and trolls (who have been fighting each other for ages). They even end up traveling to Koom Valley, site of upteen dwarf-troll wars, where the truth of Koom Valley is finally discovered.
Next I read the books involving the "Death" characters:
9. Mort - 9.5/10. This book came in 65th in a survey by BBC trying to find England's favorite book ever. Highest rating of any Discworld books, landing it just below A Tale of Two Cities and the Thorn Birds. Anyway, Discworld is home to a personification of death (a lot like Death in On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony--but with a lot more humor). In this book, Death decides to take a vacation, and so hires an apprentice, named Mort. Things go terribly wrong, of course, when Mort saves the life of a princess who was supposed to die. But things work out in the end, of course. Mort only appears in this one novel, but he is the father of Susan, a major character in three of the next four Discworld novels listed below.
10. Reaper Man - 6/10. Pretty "Meh" to me. This book does explain how the "Death of Rats" came to be (a character that is in many future books), and had several humorous parts, but overall didn't impress me much. There's a nice John Henry-type scene where Death tries to outreap a combine harvester, though.
11. Soul Music - 9.5/10. Deals with the birth of Rock & Roll (aka "Music with Rocks in It"). Features a rock group with a human, a dwarf, and a troll (the troll plays the rocks). But Susan (granddaughter of Death) is the real star of the show. She basically has to cover for Death while he takes a vacation, a lot like Mort did previously.
12. Hogfather - 9/10. (I read the book, and we also watched the Hogfather BBC made-for-TV movie.) The Hogfather is Discworld's Santa Claus. His sled is pulled by hogs, though, not reindeer. And I don't get the impression that he's too jolly. Gives away presents once a year, though. In this book, a group of alien beings (the "Auditors") hire an assassin to kill the Hogfather, which would basically cause all the people on the Discworld to die. I'll do a little plot spoiler here, because the assassination method is clever--the assassin raids the Tooth Fairy residence to find all the teeth of kids. Then he recruits a wizard to perform magic using those teeth, to force all of the kids to stop believing. Susan has to save the day again. And Death makes a memorable stand-in for the Hogfather. The department store scene in particular is memorable.
13. Thief of Time - 9/10. The Auditors are at it again, this time trying to eliminate Discworld by having a clock-maker build a clock so precise it can measure the fundamental tick of the universe (and thus freeze time). Susan has to come to the rescue yet again, this time with the help of the "Time Monks". I really liked the character "Lu-Tze", called "The Sweeper" because he, well, sweeps. The most famous time monk of them all doubles as the janitor.
Then there were a few misc. books left over:
14. Going Postal - 9.5/10. I actually listened to first half of this book on CD in the car, on the way back from Utah. Then I read the second half after we were back in Wisconsin. This is about the establishment of a working post office, to compete with the "clacks" (basically a telegraph). The main character is Moist von Lipwig, who is a con-artist that gets recruited by Lord Vetinari to run the place. It's either do that, or be put to death for his thievery (the last few postal chiefs have perished suspiciously, which had Moist known that would have made his choice a bit more difficult). Moist has a lot of style, and even a fair amount of substance by the end of the book.
15. The Last Continent - 5/10. I erroneously read this one before Interesting Times; it should have come after. I'm not sure if it was because I read it while deathly ill with the flu, but I was not impressed at all. This was a Rincewind book (Rincewind being the wizard--a bad one--who was in the very first couple of Discworld novels). The main point of the book seemed to be to parody Australia. Would have made an OK side story, but didn't make for an interesting main story.
16. Interesting Times - 10/10. Another Rincewind book, but this one was very well done. This book is set in the "Counterweight Continent", a parody of China/Japan--but he gets it right this time in that the setting is a setting and not the major plot of the story. The main plot involves Cohen the Barbarian's attempt to take over the country with his "Horde" of ~6 followers. Very, very, old followers. But you don't get to be a very old barbarian without being a very *good* barbarian. Rincewind, despite trying to run away at every opportunity (that's just the way he is), gets mixed up with the Horde, and helps mix things up even further.
Wow, 15 books since May 1st. And that's not counting the non-Pratchett books I read (two before I started the Pratchett kick, and two after; reviews will be posted at a later date). Guess that makes 19 books in 9 weeks! 3.3 days/book. :-)
As I like to say, "He who dies with the most books, wins!" Thanks for the presents, Pauline!
# posted by John Colton @ 7:58 PM 
