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Carpe Jugulum

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Yuppie Vampires, and Angry Witches 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The reviews here are quite varied on this book, they are all obviously written by Pratchett fans however one of the problems with being a Pratchett fan is that he has SO many novels that you are bound to find a few that aren't your taste. I personally loved this book. My favorite of Pratchett's creations include the Witches and the Guards series.

An attempt at a short summary:
The King of Lancre and his new wife the former Witch Margrat have their first child, and are holding the Christening ceremony. In The King's usual attempt to be "Modern" he invites the Magpyrs, a family of Vampires from Uberwald. Vampires of course cannot go where not invited, so they capitalize on the invitation to take over the entire country of Lancre. The Vampire clan however, is obsessed with becoming "Modern" and is quite Yuppyish. They have made themselves immune to garlic, sunlight, religious symbols, and just about everything else that normally works against Vampires. Meanwhile Granny Weatherwax's invitation to the Christening was stolen, so in a typical Granny fashion, she is off in a huff. The soppy priest of Om that comes to do the Christening becomes quite the major character, and the "Wee Free Men" make their first appearance. Add in Igor, the Vampire's henchman who wishes things would go back to the way they are, and the Falconer who spends most of the tale hunting down a Phoenix and you're in for a non-stop good time. Nanny Ogg and Agnes/Perditia Nitt are put into the position of attempting to rescue the kingdom from the Vampires without Granny.

The witches are all their standard unique selves, Granny stubborn as a mule but with a heart of gold, Nanny with her wild ways and lewd comments, Margrat with her new aged ideas but strong backbone when needed, and the newest of the coven - Agnes Nitt a very big girl with a thin girl trapped inside her. Agnes becomes a major character in this book and really develops her unique personalities. The Priest of Om also becomes quite an interesting character with his on again off again faith crisis. The Wee Free Men are entertaining, but hard to read, Igor is an absolute trip.

Some will say that this is a re-write of "Lords and Ladies" I personally didn't find it so. Sure bad guys arrive and threaten Lancre, and the Witches step up to do battle in their round-about humorous ways. But then again what fantasy/sci-fi/action or horror doesn't have bad guys showing up and good guys trying to stop them? Of Pratchett's novels I found this one to be much darker than the others because the Vampires are quite sinister for one of his villains. Still I found this to be an amazingly humorous tale. The bickering between the witches, the family fights between the vampires, Igor's wanting to make everything dusty and covered in spider webs and longing for the old-school days of his master, the Falconer's obsession with trying to catch a bird he's never seen, the Wee Free Men stealing anything they can get their hands on, and even Greebo.

The pace of the book is unbelievably quick, numerous characters come and go and you'll find yourself wondering how all of this will tie in together. But you can't put it down. I can attest to that first hand, I read way past my bedtime to finish the book because the action never stopped long enough for me to stick in a bookmark. The humor wasn't as non-stop as in some of his other books, but the funny parts were hysterical. I found that this book had far more meaning to it than many of the others.

If you are first time Pratchett reader, I would not recommend this book as a starting place because some of the history of the witches is almost required to get full enjoyment out of this story. I can't imagine that a first time reader would understand the concept of "Borrowing" from this book or get the humor of the "I ain't dead" sign. This is one of my favorite of Pratchett's novels so far.

Editorial Review:

In these wildly eccentric adventures, Britain's best-selling living novelist mines a rich seam of comic fantasy that takes us to the Edge -- and beyond.

Thud!

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not great... 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Terry Practhett is one of my all time favourite writers, I've bought every book he's written since Mort and usually make sure to get them in hardcover. However I'm just not that impressed with Thud (or Going Postal for that matter). Over his last several books Pratchett seems to have dropped his previous tendency to rotate characters and scenarios, and bar Thief of Time and Monstrous Regiment, hasn't set a book beyond the borders of Ankh Morkpork in almost a decade.

This would be all very good and well if Pratchett hadn't decided to invest his personal philosophy in the situations his characters encounter in Ankh Morpork. More often than not I have felt like Pratchett's work is attempting to push a philsophical, ethical position and amounts to an amusing attempt to proselytize. As a result, humour takes a back seat to Pratchett's attempts to make points about the real world using the Discworld. After a while this becomes as annoying and patronising, and has the effect of blunting the edge of Pratchett's usually keen wit.

Personally I feel Pratchett hit his peak between Wyrd Sisters and Carpe Jugulum. The earlier work is like silly intellectual scattershot, and the more recent stuff is, quite frankly, rather flat. Perhaps if Pratchett wasn't being forced to knock out two books a year he could return to his previous levels of inspiration. Of course the very fact that I can only rate Pratchett against his own work is a testament to his genius, it's just I feel rather sad that I no longer feel the instant urge to buy a Discworld novel when I see it on the new arrivals shelf of my local bookstore.

Editorial Review:

Koom Valley! That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was far away. It was a long time ago. But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him. Oh ...and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do.

Interesting Times (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 82 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Disc Dis-Oriented 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Rincewind the non-magical wizard is a stock character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Rincewind (one knows he is a wizard because it says so on his pointy hat) specializes in cowardice and running away. He is the complete anti-hero, the ultimate pawn of Fate and whatever god is having a bad day in Discworld's home of the gods, Dun Manifestin. Any book with Rincewind in it is sure to be fine satire.

Rincewind began his career in a double novel story THE COLOR OF MAGIC and THE LIGHT FANTASTIC at the end of which he is presented with the Luggage. I always picture the Luggage as an old fashioned steamer trunk with a lot of little feet along the bottom edge. The Luggage is vicious. Anyone who has ever wrestled with a suitcase will understand.

In INTERESTING TIMES, Rincewind is summoned to the Discworld's equivalent to the Orient. Terry Pratchett seems to have consumed a whole series of "samurai" novels combined with a course on Chinese history and regurgitated it back up as this very funny tale of how the five noble families of the Counterweight Continent contend for the Empire: the Hongs, the Sungs, the Tangs, the McSweeneys and the Fangs.

Yes, you heard me right. The McSweeneys. In this fine satiric fantasy the reader can learn about the Art of War and also how Luggage gets made. This is wicked fun for literate readers!

Editorial Review:

"May you live in interesting times." -- Ancient Curse

Another outrageously clever installment in the Discworld files, Interesting Times reminds the world why Terry Pratchett is considered the best fantasy and humor writer in the English speaking world.

When a carrier albatross arrives from the Counterweight Continent with an Urgent Request for a "Great Wizard," Rincewind is "volunteered." Along his absurdly delicious travels, he meets a colorful band of characters only Terry Pratchett could compile. Their mission is to either defend or destroy the Forbidden City of Hunghung. The instructions are not entirely clear.

In this international bestseller, the funniest writer in fantasy strikes again with a rollicking tale of murder and mayhem in Discworld.

"The funniest parodist working in the field today, period." -- The New York Review of Science Fiction

Jingo

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Bingeley-bingeley beep! 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Among Discworld fans, it's a well-known rule that you musn't read his stuff on the bus. People tend to regard as strange those among their fellow passengers who giggle as they read. Giggling is always a hazard with Pratchett, as is interrupting other people's activities and forcing them to listen to you reading a passage out loud. This one features Commander Sam Vimes and Vetinari the Patrician, two of my favorite recurring characters, as they try to deal (each in his characteristic way) with a territorial dispute that wants to become a war. Klatch, only a short distance across the sea, is a sandy country full of turban-wearing camel-riders who also invented astronomy and vindaloo, which gives the author lots of opportunities to show up rampant nationalism for the insanity it is. (I suspect he was thinking of the First Gulf War here, as well as British attitudes toward immigrant Pakistanis, but there is also considerable relevance to the present war in Iraq.) Vimes vehemently resists being a military man (cops are NOT the same as soldiers) but finds himself involved anyway. And Vetinari has no use for the social and economic waste of war. Plus, there's the political sub-plot, and Corp. Nobbs's search for a lady friend of his own, plus the questionable ability of Leonard of Quirm (inventor and artist extraordinaire) to deal with the so-called Real World. Pratchett is a genius of comedy -- in the sense of the Human Comedy.

Editorial Review:

In these wildly eccentric adventures, Britain's best-selling living novelist mines a rich seam of comic fantasy that takes us to the Edge -- and beyond.

The Last Continent

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Disappointed 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I fail to see the point of reviewing Discoworld book, especially one that comes this late in the series. By now, you are a hardcore fan, or you just didn't like Pratchett's style.

For my part, I can say that I adored Discworld from the moment that I have read Color of Magic, though it is not my favorite book in the series. Then again, I never grew fond of Rincewind, much more to my liking were numerous side characters that were so jovial and so life-like that you just had to love them.
So that being said I'll just fly shortly over this book.

Last Continent is divided in two parts. The very poor one, staring Rincewind and Luggage finding themselves on a strange continent that resembles Australia, is variation on a theme already exploited in Witches Abroad in a way that surpasses this one immensely. Second part (as often is the case in Discworld, these two parts do not follow one another, rather they make "intercourse") stars Unseen University staff including Archchancellor, Dean, Librarian, Ponder Stibbon, some other that I cannot remember right now, and most importantly Mrs Whitlow, cleaning lady.

This second part keeps entire novel entertaining enough and on a very high satiric level combined with sharp intelligence, something that Pratchett's very good at. And all began when wizards tried to restore Librarian back to it's normal shape...You can possibly visualise what kind of trouble this caused.

But as I have said, if you don't know already who are the characters that I mentiond here, you should probably avoid this book and if you are interested in Discworld you should consider starting from the beginning of the series. For the rest of you out there, this is, though for moments hillarious, rather dull, long, and less than average Discworld book.

Editorial Review:

In these wildly eccentric adventures, Britain's best-selling living novelist mines a rich seam of comic fantasy that takes us to the Edge -- and beyond.

The Bromeliad Trilogy: Truckers, Diggers, and Wings

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Delightfully charming 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

A witty fairy tale with plenty of action and wit, written for children but thoroughly absorbing for adults. Be careful: it skewers organized religion.

Editorial Review:

In a world whose seasons are defined by Christmas sales and Spring Fashions, hundreds of tiny nomes live in the corners and crannies of a human-run department store. They have made their homes beneath the floorboards for generations and no longer remember -- or even believe in -- life beyond the Store walls.

Until the day a small band of nomes arrives at the Store from the Outside. Led by a young nome named Masklin, the Outsiders carry a mysterious black box (called the Thing), and they deliver devastating news: In twenty-one days, the Store will be destroyed.

Now all the nomes must learn to work together, and they must learn to think -- and to think BIG.

Part satire, part parable, and part adventure story par excellence, master storyteller Terry Pratchett’s engaging trilogy traces the nomes’ flight and search for safety, a search that leads them to discover their own astonishing origins and takes them beyond their wildest dreams.

The Fifth Elephant (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Everyone knows that the world is flat, and supported on the backs of four elephants. But weren't there supposed to be five? Indeed there were. So where is it?...

When duty calls. Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork constabulary answers. Even when he doesn't want to. He's been "invited" to attend a royal function as both detective and diplomat. The one role he relishes; the other requires, well, ruby tights. Of course where cops (even those clad in tights) go, alas, crime follows. An attempted assassination and a theft soon lead to a desperate chase from the low halls of Discworld royalty to the legendary fat mines of Uberwald, where lard is found in underground seams along with tusks and teeth and other precious ivory artifacts. It's up to the dauntless Vimes -- bothered as usual by a familiar cast of Discworld inhabitants (you know, trolls, dwarfs, werewolves, vampires and such) -- to solve the puzzle of the missing pachyderm. Which of course he does. After all, solving mysteries is his job.

Only You Can Save Mankind (The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Or can he? 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Johnny Maxwell, an ordinary boy who has to deal with a possible divorce of his parents, is thrust into an adventure where he has to save an alien race. Not only does he have to deal with the divorce, but he also has to save the aliens while he is sick. Johnny's friend Wobbler, a computer hacker, gives Johnny a copy of the game, "Only you can Save Mankind," a game where you are the last person left to kill of the alien Scree Wee fleets. After nearly beating one of the hardest levels, a message appears on the screen, apparently sent by the attacking aliens. They surrender and ask for safe conduct. Johnny agrees having no idea what he is getting into.

This book is a very interesting with apt humor and it nicely explains Johnny's school life and his likes and dislikes. I also think that Wobbler is represented well. Another thing this book does is show what kids really do instead of what their parents think they do. Terry Pratchett does a good job with this aspect and handles how Johnny matures in the end of the book and does what he has to, not what is easy.

Editorial Review:

It's just a game . . . isn't it?

The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind.

Suddenly, a message appears:
We wish to talk. We surrender.

But the aliens aren't supposed to surrender—they're supposed to die!

Where's My Cow?

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

For children, or not for children? 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

That is probably the question you are asking yourself if you are considering this book. The question you should be asking is "do you love diskworld?" This is sort of a storybook in the childrens' style, but isn't really fun for a child to be read to. This book has the same audience as all of Terry's other Diskworld books. But if you have children it will be even better.

Discworld fans, untie! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My daughters introduced me to the wonderful world of Terry Pratchett, and I've bought a copy of this for each of them by way of thanks. I have no idea if it would mean anything to a person who doesn't know Discworld, but for me it's just lovely.

Great book for all ages 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Terry Pratchett -- ably assisted by artist Melvyn Grant -- has written another great book. This one can be enjoyed even if you're not familiar with the Discworld series.

Not quite the book I thought it was 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I kind of thought this book would be more like the fictional book "Where's my Cow?" described in "Nightwatch", instead it is a mix of that and the book Sam Vimes thought it should be.

The difference is that the first would be enjoyed by the child, the other would be more enjoyed by a fan of Terry pratchett who is reading to a child.

Editorial Review:

This is a book about reading a book, which turns into a different book. But it all ends happily!

The Illustrated Wee Free Men (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great Fun. With Pictures. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Terry Pratchett's "Wee Free Men" in its original form has already been a wonderful appendix to the main Discworld book series, "Wee Free Men" being the first of the books written about Tiffany Aching, a young witch in-training and friend to the pictsies (think of drunken, thieving, fighting pixies with Scots accents; but never never never refer to them as "pixies" -- it would be safer to call the Librarian a "monkey"). As with all the best books written for a "young people" audience, the book is immensely enjoyable by an intelligent adult. Even in its original, text-only version it was a great pleasure, and now that enjoyment is enhanced thanks to the vivid, evocative illustrations in this new edition. I suppose it is impossible for an illustrator to exactly match the visual impressions already held by a reader, but Stephen Player does a good job at capturing the spirit of the thing. In several cases, the illustrations are cleverly integrated into the text, not presented merely as decorations.

If a reader is new to Discworld, this would be a good introduction (some of the later Discworld novels in the main series benefit from a previous familiariy with that peculiar world, although it does not delve into elephants on the back of a giant, space-swimming turtles; but a couple of popular characters from the main Discworld novels are on hand). And for long-time Discworld fans, it is simply a delight.

Editorial Review:

There's trouble on the Aching farm: monsters in the river, headless horsemen in the lane—and Tiffany Aching's little brother has been stolen by the Queen of Fairies. Getting him back will require all of Tiffany's strength and determination (as well as a sturdy skillet) and the help of the rowdy clan of fightin', stealin' tiny blue-skinned pictsies known as the Wee Free Men!

Master storyteller and gifted comic Terry Pratchett is at his best in the adventures of Tiffany Aching and her tiny blue allies. Their first irresistible story comes to life in this lavishly illustrated edition, perfect for fans old and new.