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> And it only gets sillier from there. That’s exactly where it fails for me: it is too cute, like a longer than necessary joke. It’s just not my cup of tea to
by rdtsc 2y ago
> And it only gets sillier from there.
That’s exactly where it fails for me: it is too cute, like a longer than necessary joke.
It’s just not my cup of tea to read and think “oh yeah, I see they inverted the thing, very cute, they even have the elephants and the turtles”. It’s ok but maybe for a short essay or a comic book only.
- dcminter 2y agoThis sounds like you might have read only the early novels which, yes, were mainly silly. Try Night Watch perhaps? There's a bit of background silliness - residual from all the world building that's gone on before - but to me it's one of his most thoughtful novels. It's perfectly ok for them not to be your cuppa of course; my Mum and I loved them but my Dad never got into them despite trying quite a few times. Funny because generally our tastes intersected quite thoroughly.
- lelanthran 2y agoNight watch is probably my favourite, but for me Jingo is the one with the most depth.
- stevekemp 2y agoI can see why you'd choose it, but if picking a standalone "Small Gods" is the one I'd always choose. (To be honest I'm lying, the standalone book I prefer myself is Pyramids, but the one I'd recommend to others is Small Gods.)
- travisgriggs 2y agoThief of Time is my fav of the standalones. Always wish there had been more of that. If you like Death, Hogfather is my first recommendation.
- dcminter 2y ago"The trouble with you, Ibid, is that you think you're the biggest bloody authority on everything" :D So many good gags in that one. I love the cinematic flashback scenes while Pteppic is falling off the wall. Plus it's where the "Pterry" nickname comes from of course.
- rdtsc 2y agoThank you for the suggestion. I might even have it in my library, someone gifted it to me.
- zem 2y agobe warned that night watch is perhaps the least standalone of the discworld books, though. to my mind it is unquestionably the pinnacle of an already brilliant series, but it builds upon the earlier watch books.
- Cosi1125 2y agoNight Watch is really dark. Also, The Monstrous Regiment. But the books I love the most are the ones with an "Alistair MacLean vibe" to them: Thud! (MacLean's Fear is the Key) and The Truth (Discworld version of All the President's Men?).
- dcminter 2y agoThe Truth definitely spends some time parodying ATPM (a film I adore) and is one of my favourite PTerry novels. I re-read it last week as it happens.
- allturtles 2y agoYes, I have tried to enjoy Pratchett and have the same feeling. I read Guards, Guards! and found it amusing for about 50 pages, then it became tedious, hitting the same notes over and over. I would have enjoyed a short story about Carrot, I think.
- hyperman1 2y agoThere is a split in discworld around 'Mort'. The first 2 books are at their core a critique on all the tolkien clone books repeating these same old boring cliches. The 3rd is a critique around the lack of gender equiety in fantasy. The 4th book, Mort, is Terry dealing with the fact that he has a successfull series running, so he might as well start writing his own stories. He's not primarily reactionary at this point. This is for me the first 'real' discworld book. In fact, I find the first 3 books a string of stand alone gags if you don't see them as critiques of the genre. Funny but shallow. Small Gods has real depth, but the author still stands at the sidelines. The Truth or Nightwatch are even deeper, and I suspect they are both autobiographic and cathartic on some level.