Discworld Books - Page 4

Interesting Times (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Guilty Pleasure 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is the second book I've read featuring Rincewind (the other being "The Last Hero"). Admittedly, I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect a formula here: Rincewind is always in the wrong place at the wrong time, does everything wrong yet comes out ahead (thanks to outside help) despite himself. Something like that would get old REAL FAST, but fortunately, not all Discworld books are based on that pattern. Plus, I'm early enough in my reading that I haven't surpassed my threshhold for "Rincewind-Ex-Machina."

I called this book a "guilty pleasure" and stick by it. I suspect if a different author had written something like this (without the rich flavor of Discworld to spice it up) I would have been a bit harsher in my review. However, it's Pratchett, who is always a pleasure to read: insightful AND funny. If you like the series as a whole, you'll most likely enjoy "Interesting Times."

Editorial Review:

Marvelous Discworld, which revolves on the backs of four great elephants and a big turtle, spins into Interesting Times, the 17th outing in Terry Pratchett's rollicking fantasy series. The gods are playing games again, and this time the mysterious Lady opposes Fate in a match of "Destinies of Nations Hanging by a Thread." --Blaise Selby

Small Gods: A Novel of Discworld

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 133 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Turtle Moves 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

"Small Gods" is the thirteenth book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and was first published in 1992.

Omnia lies on the Klatchian coast, between the Klatchian desert and Howondaland's jungles. The country is run by religious fundamentalists, with the Cenobiarch officially in charge of both the church and the state. However, the real power lies with Vorbis, head of the Quisition - who most people expect to be anointed the Eighth Prophet. (It's been 200 years since the Declaration of the Prophet Abbys, which means that the time of the Eighth Prophet was at hand - Om tends to have very punctual prophets). Vorbis terrifies most people he meets, which is hardly surprising given his job title and his physical appearance probably helps - shaven all over and eyes of the deepest black.

The Omnians have very firm beliefs - that Om is the only god and that the Discworld is round, for example. Anyone who says differently, however, is branded a heretic and booked in for an appointment with the Quisition. Unfortunately the Omnians are entirely wrong - there are plenty of gods on the Discworld, with many of the more important deities living at Dunmanifestin. Furthermore, the Discworld is flat and is supported on the backs of four great elephants - which, in turn, are carried by the great turtle A'Tuin. Vorbis, however, isn't too happy that many people in Omnia have started to believe these heretical lies - with Ephebe being blamed as the source of the wicked rumours in question. Their righteous anger has been compounded by an attack on Brother Murduck, who was visiting Ephebe, and the burning of the Omnian fleet. (Those who live in Ephebe, however, considered that an act of pre-emptive defence, following Om's invasion and occupation of Betrek and Ushistan).

Things are going to get any better for Vorbis either - as it turns out, Om's eighth prophet is Brutha. On paper, he seems to be a strange choice : Brutha, after all, is only a novice who works in a vegetable garden. (However, given that Lu-Tze - the noted History Monk - is looking after him, it's no surprise Furthermore, he can't read, write or sing - although, thanks to his amazing memory, he knows the Septateuch by heart. Neither is Om's return as glorious as his flock would have expected. Instead of arriving as an eagle, a lion or a bull, as is traditional, he arrives as a tortoise. He can't manage anything better due to their lack of belief in him - people believe in the church, its rules and especially the Quisition...but as far as real, honest, genuine belief in Om goes, Brutha is just about the height of it. Unsurprisingly, it's only a matter of time before Brutha and Vorbis meet. In fact, Vorbis decides to bring Brutha along on a very important (and officially peaceful) mission to Ephebe. Brutha, in turns, secretly brings Om...

As usual, a very enjoyable book from Pratchett - and being one of his `standalone' novels, it's a good place to begin if you haven't read any other of the Discworld books. (For those who have read a couple of the Ankh-Morpork books, the appearance of a character called Cut-Me-Own-Hand-Off Dblah will probably raise a smile though). Om and Brutha prove to be very likeable characters, and they have a very good effect on each other. Om grasps the concept of fairness, rather than smiting just because he feels like it. Brutha, on the other hand, stops blindly accepting what has been written - largely because, when he quotes scripture, Om replies hasn't got a clue what he's talking about. (As it turns out, Om didn't dictate the holy books...Ossory managed to come up with one hundred and ninety three chapters when Om appeared as a pillar of fire and said "hey, see what I can do !"). Definitely recommended.

Editorial Review:

Discworld is an extragavanza--among much else, it has billions of gods. "They swarm as thick as herring roe," writes Terry Pratchett in Small Gods, the 13th book in the series. Where there are gods galore, there are priests, high and low, and... there are novices. Brutha is a novice with little chance to become a priest--thinking does not come easily to him, although believing does. But it is to Brutha that the great god Om manifests, in the lowly form of a tortoise. --Blaise Selby

The Truth (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 96 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Truth, Pratchett's 25th Discworld novel, skewers the newspaper business. When printing comes to Ankh-Morpork, it "drag(s) the city kicking and screaming into the Century of the Fruitbat." Well, actually, out of the Century of the Fruitbat. As the Bursar remarks, if the era's almost over, it's high time they embraced its challenges.

William de Worde, well-meaning younger son of reactionary nobility, has been providing a monthly newsletter to the elite using engraving. Then he is struck (and seriously bruised) by the power of the press. The dwarves responsible convince William to expand his letter and the Ankh-Morpork Times is born. Soon William has a staff, including Sacharissa Cripslock, a genteel young lady with a knack for headline writing, and photographer Otto Chriek. Otto's vampirism causes difficulties: flash pictures cause him to crumble to dust and need reconstitution, and he must battle his desire for blood, particularly Sacharissa's. When Lord Vetinari is accused of attempted murder, the City Watch investigates the peculiar circumstances, but William wants to know what really happened. The odds for his survival drop as his questions multiply.

The Truth is satirical, British, and full of sly jokes. Although this cake doesn't rise quite as high as it did in previous volumes, even ordinary Pratchett is pretty darn good, and those who haven't read a Discworld novel before can start here and go on to that incredible backlist. --Nona Vero

Discworld (HC) (Discworld)

John Ford

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Never played and still enjoyed. 4 out of 5 stars.
37 of 37 people found this review helpful.

The Discworld RPG is a great read even if you don't play GURPS. It's not bad even if you hate RPGs. The book is bursting with source material and backgrounds - it's not uncommon for personality descriptions to take a full column. If you're a gamer, it's nice to have the actual writeups. If you're not a gamer, the art and small storylines through the book are still entertaining. Of particular interest to me was the magic section - not so much for how it's used in the game but for the Disc's philosophy of how it works. Also, without this book, I never would have known that all native-born Ankh-Morporkians are born with Disease Resistance. And a shiv...

Excellent and Self-Contained (mostly) FRPG rule-set. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have the original paperback version of this book. It is an adaptation of Steve Jackson's Generic Universal Role-Playing Game System (GURPS) to Terry Pratchett's Discworld as a Role-Playing environment. A pretty good "GURPS Lite" extract of the basic GURPS rules is included as an appendix (32 pages) at the end of the book, so you technically don't need anything other than pen(cil)s, paper, and ordinary six-sided dice to run and play a Discworld-based Fantasy Role-Playing Game (FRPG).

For a Discworld fan who doesn't want to play role-playing games, this book may still be of interest: it includes informative capsule summaries of most of the major characters in the Discworld novels, and Pratchett-approved insights into the metaphysics of the Discworld universe. It also contains many monochrome drawing by illustrator Paul Kidby.

For a Discworld fan who has never tried role-playing games, but is interested (and has a reasonable number [2 to 6] of similarly-interested freinds), this is an excellent choice. For a hard-core FRPG player, they probably already know about (and have) lots of GURPS stuff - the relavent parts can easily be used with and in a Discworld GURPS game.

While this was explicitly intended to be (and is) an "all-you-need" gamebook, there is now a "supplement" as well: GURPS Discworld Also (a backhanded pun on "Too" instead of "Two"), that is basically more of the same - more Discworld-specific character-information, rules, etc. The supplement is not needed, but is nice to have...

Reaper Man (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 97 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Gonna die? Can't die? Don't let it get you down 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Reaper Man is the 2nd Death story (after Mort), 10th novel overall, and one of the strongest so far in the Discworld series. Pratchett's unique talents are in full force with Death, an amazingly funny, amusing guy. Reaper Man gets off to a hilarious start with a new set of goofballs, agents of the god Azreal, informing Death that his turn is up. Apparently no matter the (near god-like) occupation or (multi-millennial) tenure, one can be fired and replaced. Such news is not simply a downer for Death; oh no, this unhappy event literally signals his death. For him to die, however, he has to first become alive. He wanders into a corn field and settles down for a day or few as a helping hand for a widow. Life, he finds, is more than he'd imagined. Doesn't take him long to decide that he isn't going to take death lying down.

While Death's learning a few of life's lessons, Discworld is suffering the consequences of his retirement. If a 130 year old wizard--such as the cranky old geezer Windle Poons--kicks off, and Death is not around to move him on, what happens? Zombiehood, that's what (turns out Windle isn't gonna take not dying lying down either). Discworld starts to fill up with extra life (or untended death, which is pretty much the same thing), and the results are a hoot. Some of the later half of Poons' story gets a bit disjointed and silly, but the surrounding cast, from the bumbling wizards to the mildly protesting undead, are well-fleshed out (in spirit, anyway) and laugh-out-loud funny.

The parallel story of Death stays focused and always engaging and funny. And Pratchett goes further with Reaper Man: the conclusion has real substance, providing serious insights with regard to human life and death. Reaper Man is very, very good. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

In the eleventh Discworld novel, Death is missing – presumed . . . er . . . gone.

Which leads to the kind of chaos you always get when an important public service is withdrawn.
Meanwhile, on a little farm far, far away, a tall dark stranger is turning out to be really good with a scythe. There’s a harvest to be gathered in.

Lords and Ladies: A Novel of Discworld

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 71 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The total is greater than the sum of the parts 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As with any Discworld book, Lords and Ladies is most enjoyable if you already have some grounding in the Discworld series. L&L also assumes some knowledge of its predecessor, "Traveling Abroad." I hadn't read that one, but Pratchett was nice enough to include a little synopsis at the beginning. Finally, L&L is probably best if the reader is familiar with Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

No single aspect of this book stands out as "outstanding": the plot is "good," the subplots are "good," the characters are "good," the humor is "good," etc. But like the title of this review says, "the total is greater than the sum of the parts" making the overall effect quite worthwihile and enjoyable. All in all, a solid effort.

If you're a Pratchett fan, definately give it a go. If you're new to Discworld, it's still enjoyable, though you'll (correctly) get the sense that there are a LOT of references and inside jokes going on you're not privy to; still, it'll probably pique your interest enough to check out more in the series.

Editorial Review:

In the latest of the Diskworld series, irresistibly cute but vicious elves infest the kingdom of Lancre, leaving everyone but the witches, led by Granny Weatherwax, to handle the deadly brutes.

Witches Abroad (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Stories Within Stories 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Interesting idea about the evil queen running stories. Of course the good witch wins in the end. Not Pratchett's very best but certainly worth reading if you like Disc World!

If You Like the Discworld Witches You'll Love It 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The discworld stories dealing with witches are not among my favorites but I still liked this one. It is an average Prachett story, which is high praise. The youngest witch Magrat Garlick becomes a fairy godmother and along with two other witches goes to help her new ward. It drags toward the end, the trip to discworld's New Orlean is the best part. But you can't go wrong with the series and you'll like this one although there are many better examples of Prachett's work.

Granny is the best! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Very, very funny and entertaining! I love Granny Weatherwax! Terry, you are a master storyteller!

Love These Witches! 5 out of 5 stars.
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Terry Pratchett is gifted. His humorous turn of phrase and outrageous characters are always a treat, but I love the witches most of all. When Granny and Nanny get together its always an adventure. In Witches Abroad they leave their own little part of the world to look for a fairy godmother gone wrong. I laughed out loud in public places when reading this book, and I've read it more than a few times.

Terry Pratchett is gifted. Give yourself a gift and read his books.

Editorial Review:

Discworld's own version of the three witches--Magrat Garlick, Granny Weatherwax, and Nanny Ogg--grab their broomstricks and journey to Genua to save Princess Emberella from a fairy tale ending-happy fairy godmother.

Rincewind the Wizzard

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A fun omnibus 3 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This book contains four early Pratchett Discworld novels: The Color of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, and Eric. All four volumes follow the adventures of the less-than-competent wizard, Rincewind. Pratchett's satire in these volumes is mostly directed at the sword-and-sorcery genre. Frankly, a little bit of that is fun, but four books is a bit much. The stories aren't particularly different from one another, either. I much prefer Pratchett's later works, particularly The Truth and Guards!Guards! which satirize modern society more than they do a rather arcane literary genre.

An Excellant Collection from an Excellant Author 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This collection of early Pratchett novels contains some of the funniest stuff in the series. Here's a rundown of the books; The Color of Magic, not much in terms of story, but entertaining enough to make up for it. The Light Fantastic, as entertaining as the first book but with a much better storyline. Sourcery, one of the best books of the Discworld series. Eric, the weakest volume of the collection, but still entertaining. All in all a very good collection, and one I highly recommend.

Editorial Review:

In the squalid, crime infested city of Ankh-Morpork - bifurcated seaport capital and oldest city of Discworld - one lives either by the sword or in the shadows...

Mort (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 120 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Discworld virgins, start here! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

To people who have never read a Discworld novel, I always recommend they skip the first three novels (The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Equal Rites)and start with Mort. Pratchett writes the Discworld novels as a series of threads with a small collection of one-off novels. The novels are not written in chronological order. He may do a sequel to one novel and then some time later do a sequel to an earlier novel.

Mort starts what I call the Death thread and my daughter calls the Susan thread, Susan (Death's Granddaughter) being her favorite character. It continues with Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time. Although the events of these novels interact with the events in his other Discworld novels, (Thief of Time, for instance sets up the events in Night Watch) it is not necessary to have read the others to enjoy these. Nor (I stress this) is it necessary, or even desirable, to read the novels in published order.

Why skip the first three published novels? In my opinion, Pratchett started out writing mediocre parody of other fantasy authors, (Fritz Leiber, Anne McCaffrey, Robert E. Howard, among others) but then, something really clicked with Mort - starting out as a parody of Death Takes a Holiday, it takes an abrupt turn and becomes something truly original and compelling -- funny, sad, silly, and truly suspenseful. The Discworld novels after Mort, with only a couple exceptions, got better and better until Pratchett reached his peak with Night Watch, a novel which transcends fantasy and becomes Literature.

If you must know what happens in the first two novels, see the movie The Colour of Magic released early 2008 on British television, which covers both books. The movie is better than the books. :-)

Mort -- Highly recommended, and the start of a journey you will enjoy immensely.

Editorial Review:

Terry Pratchett's profoundly irreverent novels are consistent number one bestseller in England, where they have catapulted him into the highest echelons of parody next to Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.

In this Discworld installment, Death comes to Mort with an offer he can't refuse -- especially since being, well, dead isn't compulsory.As Death's apprentice, he'll have free board and lodging, use of the company horse, and he won't need time off for family funerals. The position is everything Mort thought he'd ever wanted, until he discovers that this perfect job can be a killer on his love life.

A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld)

Terry Pratchett

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Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Heroine: Tiffany Aching, incipient witch and cheese maker extraordinaire. Once saved world from Queen of the Elves. Is about to discover that battling evil monarchs is child's play compared to mortal combat with a Hiver (see below). At eleven years old, is boldest heroine ever to have confronted the Forces of Darkness while armed with a frying pan.

The Threat: A Hiver, insidious disembodied presence drawn to powerful magic. highly dangerous, frequently lethal. Cannot be stopped with iron or fire. Its target: Tiffany Aching (see above).

The Nac Mac Feegle: A.k.a. the Wee Free Men. Height: six inches. Color: blue. Famed for drinking, stealing, and fighting. Will attack anything larger than themselves. Members include: Rob Anybody, Daft Wullie, and Awfully Wee Billy Bigchin. Allies to Tiffany Aching (see above).

The Book: Hilarious, breathtaking, spine-tingling sequel to the acclaimed Wee Free Men.

The Author: Terry Pratchett, celebrated creator of the internationally best-selling Discworld series. Carnegie Medalist and writer extraordinaire.