The Discworld Thread

Apparently it will involve Sam Vimes and chickens.

Wasn't it about Vimes going on vacation, and finding a case to work anyway?

Vimes goes on a holiday to Sybil's family country house. And then things happen.

I will admit, it'll be entertaining to see the Discworld version of city cop in the country.

Don't forget all the corpses! You cannot have a Watch book without a couple of gritty murders!

edited 3rd Sep '11 12:10:13 AM by Nightwire

I suppose corpses and murders can be categorised under "things which happen".

I want to read the series, but it's not available here. You know, from what I hear about the book in this site, I really can't tell exactly what this series is about. I heard something about L-Space and the orangutan librarian and very quirky death, but that's about it.

It's actually a very weird series. See, they are actually like a five or six different series, set in the same verse, with a couple of one shots thrown into the mix. I HIGHLY recommend you read them all, but if you want, you can only read books of a certain series and that would suffice.

It's a fantasy story explicitly stated to run on narrative tropes. It has a huge cast, but not all at once, so it works out pretty well. Also it manages to fit a surprising amount of actually awesome moments into a self-aware and humourous story full of relatively subtle references to science and pop culture.

It's good, but I as to getting hold of it where you are I guess you might have to import it or use... other means.

If you want to start it be aware that The Colour of Magic is probably one of the weakest books. I'd advise starting with say, Men At Arms, Mort or Wyrd Sisters, and following on the books that follow characters you like (as has been said, it's like there's several stories running at once).

edited 8th Sep '11 7:45:33 AM by UltimatelySubjective

Every time I've tried reading one of the witch books, it's turned out very boring for me, though I liked Wintersmith.

Wintersmith wasn't bad, though I'm not a huge fan of the Tiffany Aching series. In my opinion, Lord and Ladies and Witches Abroad are the best Witches books.

I like the Adult Witch stories, but Tiffany, meh.

I couldn't stand Witches Abroad. I got maybe 40% through and couldn't take any more.

I think Witches Abroad is a pretty weak book too, but it's still pretty enjoyable. The Lancre Witches books are all awesome. Terry Pratchett certainly knows how to write good female characters.

The main problem with Witches Abroad is that the first half, an episodic romp through well-known fantasy stories now starring Nanny and Granny, has little relevance to the second half, which uses a New Orleans-style Cinderella story to examine the power of belief. The latter is some of my favorite Witches material, but the story really meanders on its way there.

Witches Abroad was the first Discworld book I read, and I loved it. Still do. Granted, I didn't know what to expect at the time (other than a darn funny read, having read some other Pratchett books before), so I probably wasn't bothered by the loose plotting.

The Tiffany books are pretty good, but... for some reason, a lot of them never reached the same peak of awesomeness as the adult books for me. (That can't just be because they're for teens, because I think The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is brilliant.) Wintersmith is probably my favourite of them.

edited 9th Sep '11 1:49:34 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

Then you missed the good part of it. The story takes it's time getting there, but it does get there.

Hm. Maybe I'll try it again later.

I agree, Amazing Maurice is better than Tiffany. IIRC the heroine is Malicia? She has joy and fun and victory, so we Readers have fun and joy and victory.

Tiffany has too much duty, only the feegles get Victory.

Nation, Mau had been traumatized, he was an emotional blank. I sympathize with his pain, but his character is designed that I cannot empathize. I love Daphne, the Brothers and the King. I rejoiced when Paper vine Woman started recovering from her trauma. Mau is an emotional blank and Tiffany is heading in that direction.

Malicia is one of my favourite Discworld characters. Most fans barely even mention her. (That said, I rarely see fans talking about The Amazing Maurice as a whole.)

I have spotted an error which cannot be explained away with Quantum.

I shall wear Midnight p 35, Dad calls Tiffany "jiggit... the pet name only the family knew". But We Free Men says "jiggit" = "lambkin" a perfectly cromulent pet-name especially in sheep-country.

It could still be explained away if Granny Aching came from a distant village with a different dialect. But p 76, the Baron fancied Granny before she married Grandpa.

Haven't read it in a while, but I got the idea that other farmers know what "jiggit" means, but only Tiffany's family use it as a pet name for Tiffany.

Anyway, doesn't "jiggit" mean "twenty" in the sheep-counting numbers? Granny Aching named her that because Tiffany was her twentieth grandchild.

It is explained in The Wee Free Man that "jiggit'' means "twenty". Read it again.

My bad.

I recently read Night Watch because it's been released in French in pocket size, and I understood something: Carrot wasn't being "overly literal" when he told the recruits the Hello, [Insert Name Here] version of the Watch's Oath: He just told it as it had been told to him before, since it was apparently a tradition ever since before John Keel's arrival.

edited 20th Sep '11 6:42:20 AM by Medinoc

Recently finished up Monstrous Regiment. Definitely a top-tier book in the series, I'd say.