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I finished reading The Last Hero today. Thatís the latest Terry Pratchett book, by the way. And it was brilliant. Whats that I hear you say? You havenít heard of Terry Pratchett? I must educate you then.
Terry Pratchett is an amazing author who writes fantasy books with a twist. They are mostly about his own created little world called the Discworld. This world is on the back of four elephants, which stand on the back of a huge turtle, called Great Atuin, which swims through space. Strange, eh? Well, not as strange as the fact that he seems very smug with the fact that no one knows the sex of this turtle. These books all take place on this flat world, in a strange quasi-Middle Earth type of place. It has cynicism, cunning references to the ëreal worldí and true fantasy adventure. The books have focal points ñ the huge city of Ankh-Morpork, the mountain country of Lancre, the desert country of Klatch, and so on. To add to this, he has mini-series within the main series :
ëThe City Guardsí
Books: Guards, Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant.
This is the main series. The men from the books pop up in otheres, but the above are the main ones. They concern the Watch of Ankh-Morpork, with the main characters of Sam Vimes, Fred Colon, Nobby, Carrot, Angua, and Detritus. They have progressed from a two-bit feeble excuse to a massive force. In great humour, of course. They include humans, a human thinking heís a dwarf, a human who is seen as a dwarf, a werewolf, a troll, a zombie, a gnome and a golem. Itís just an excuse for some really funny lines, but basically thereís always some sort of cunning crimes, and the Vimes crew goes around solving it. Occasionally, the rule of Ankh ñ Lord Vetinari ñ pops up and offers some sarcastic comment that solves the whole case through Vimes getting annoying and doing something drastic. Great fun. My favourite.
ëRincewindís Adventuresí
Books : Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent
Rincewindís quality. Heís a reject wizard who just wanders into trouble, then into some more trouble, rounding it off with a bit of trouble. He spells wizard ñ WIZZARD. Heís a great pessimist. He also seems to have picked up the Luggage, an animated box on hundreds of legs that eats people and cleans underwear. All the fun of the fair.
ëThe Witchesí.
Books: Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum
This is a little posse of witches that is not lead by Granny Weatherwax. It includes Nanny Ogg, Queen Magrat and, recently, Agnes Nitt. They defend a little country called Lancre from elves, vampires, evil kings that donít resemble Macbeth, and assorted other things. When this bores them, they wander off to other places and interfere until they solve something. I love it.
ë Deathís Grand-daughterí
Books: Soul Music, the Hogfather, Thief of Time
This is the smallest series, but it contains the most cynical character on the Disc ñ Susan Sto Helit ñ Deathís grand-daughter. Death, you know, the guy with the scythe and lack of flesh. He adopted a daughter, married her off, and then their daughter has strange power. Apparently, there is more than one kind of genetics. A kind that lets someone walk through doors and stop time. Her best book is, without doubt, Thief of Time. I reckon itís the best book so far.
Anyway, those are the main stories, but there are also a wealth of recurring characters e.g. Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Cohen the Barbarian, Leonard da Quirm, Blind Io, Death of Rats and so on.
Itís really a melee of fantasy traditions, with Pratchettís distinctive twist of humour. Itís probably the funniest series of fantasy novels ever. Apart from those mentioned there are:
Mort, Pyramids, Moving Pictures, Equal Rites (the worst one), Reaper Man, Small Gods, The Truth and the latest ñ The Last Hero.
So there you have it. I love these books. Despite TV, the Internet, consoles, and so on, I still read a lot, and I consider it a great use of my time. These books are brilliant. If you shelve Equal Rites, then the Discworld series always entertains me. Iíll never tire of them. I recommend you get one from your library, if you havenít read them. Theyíre worth it. So, enjoy.
Terry Pratchett is an amazing author who writes fantasy books with a twist. They are mostly about his own created little world called the Discworld. This world is on the back of four elephants, which stand on the back of a huge turtle, called Great Atuin, which swims through space. Strange, eh? Well, not as strange as the fact that he seems very smug with the fact that no one knows the sex of this turtle. These books all take place on this flat world, in a strange quasi-Middle Earth type of place. It has cynicism, cunning references to the ëreal worldí and true fantasy adventure. The books have focal points ñ the huge city of Ankh-Morpork, the mountain country of Lancre, the desert country of Klatch, and so on. To add to this, he has mini-series within the main series :
ëThe City Guardsí
Books: Guards, Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant.
This is the main series. The men from the books pop up in otheres, but the above are the main ones. They concern the Watch of Ankh-Morpork, with the main characters of Sam Vimes, Fred Colon, Nobby, Carrot, Angua, and Detritus. They have progressed from a two-bit feeble excuse to a massive force. In great humour, of course. They include humans, a human thinking heís a dwarf, a human who is seen as a dwarf, a werewolf, a troll, a zombie, a gnome and a golem. Itís just an excuse for some really funny lines, but basically thereís always some sort of cunning crimes, and the Vimes crew goes around solving it. Occasionally, the rule of Ankh ñ Lord Vetinari ñ pops up and offers some sarcastic comment that solves the whole case through Vimes getting annoying and doing something drastic. Great fun. My favourite.
ëRincewindís Adventuresí
Books : Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent
Rincewindís quality. Heís a reject wizard who just wanders into trouble, then into some more trouble, rounding it off with a bit of trouble. He spells wizard ñ WIZZARD. Heís a great pessimist. He also seems to have picked up the Luggage, an animated box on hundreds of legs that eats people and cleans underwear. All the fun of the fair.
ëThe Witchesí.
Books: Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum
This is a little posse of witches that is not lead by Granny Weatherwax. It includes Nanny Ogg, Queen Magrat and, recently, Agnes Nitt. They defend a little country called Lancre from elves, vampires, evil kings that donít resemble Macbeth, and assorted other things. When this bores them, they wander off to other places and interfere until they solve something. I love it.
ë Deathís Grand-daughterí
Books: Soul Music, the Hogfather, Thief of Time
This is the smallest series, but it contains the most cynical character on the Disc ñ Susan Sto Helit ñ Deathís grand-daughter. Death, you know, the guy with the scythe and lack of flesh. He adopted a daughter, married her off, and then their daughter has strange power. Apparently, there is more than one kind of genetics. A kind that lets someone walk through doors and stop time. Her best book is, without doubt, Thief of Time. I reckon itís the best book so far.
Anyway, those are the main stories, but there are also a wealth of recurring characters e.g. Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Cohen the Barbarian, Leonard da Quirm, Blind Io, Death of Rats and so on.
Itís really a melee of fantasy traditions, with Pratchettís distinctive twist of humour. Itís probably the funniest series of fantasy novels ever. Apart from those mentioned there are:
Mort, Pyramids, Moving Pictures, Equal Rites (the worst one), Reaper Man, Small Gods, The Truth and the latest ñ The Last Hero.
So there you have it. I love these books. Despite TV, the Internet, consoles, and so on, I still read a lot, and I consider it a great use of my time. These books are brilliant. If you shelve Equal Rites, then the Discworld series always entertains me. Iíll never tire of them. I recommend you get one from your library, if you havenít read them. Theyíre worth it. So, enjoy.
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pb wrote:
> What did you think of the two Discworld movies, Soul Music and Weird Sisters?
> It was strange actually watching the characters and hear them speak, completely
> different to what I imagined them to be in my head!
They're out on DVD now,
> only noticed that in the shops the other day.
i found them pretty poor, not because of the difference between the characters as I saw them and how they were, but because a poor level of detail went into the animation, and it looked amateurish.
> What did you think of the two Discworld movies, Soul Music and Weird Sisters?
> It was strange actually watching the characters and hear them speak, completely
> different to what I imagined them to be in my head!
They're out on DVD now,
> only noticed that in the shops the other day.
i found them pretty poor, not because of the difference between the characters as I saw them and how they were, but because a poor level of detail went into the animation, and it looked amateurish.
pb wrote:
> What did you think of the two Discworld movies, Soul Music and Weird Sisters?
> It was strange actually watching the characters and hear them speak, completely
> different to what I imagined them to be in my head!
They're out on DVD now,
> only noticed that in the shops the other day.
I saw about five minuntes of a cartoon based on, I think, Wierd Sisters, a good number of years back now, which was immensly unfunny...
I think the problem was, apart from the bad characterisation, animation and voice acting, that a LOT of Pratchets humor is textual word play, things that are very hard, and sometimes impossible to pull off in a TV/Movie medium?
> What did you think of the two Discworld movies, Soul Music and Weird Sisters?
> It was strange actually watching the characters and hear them speak, completely
> different to what I imagined them to be in my head!
They're out on DVD now,
> only noticed that in the shops the other day.
I saw about five minuntes of a cartoon based on, I think, Wierd Sisters, a good number of years back now, which was immensly unfunny...
I think the problem was, apart from the bad characterisation, animation and voice acting, that a LOT of Pratchets humor is textual word play, things that are very hard, and sometimes impossible to pull off in a TV/Movie medium?
What did you think of the two Discworld movies, Soul Music and Weird Sisters? It was strange actually watching the characters and hear them speak, completely different to what I imagined them to be in my head!
They're out on DVD now, only noticed that in the shops the other day.
They're out on DVD now, only noticed that in the shops the other day.
sideshow buzz wrote:
> Just purchased Jingo and Carpe Jugglum today. Only half way through Soul Music
> at the moment though.
I wasn't massively impressed with Jingo, but Carpe Juguulum is a masterpeice.
> Just purchased Jingo and Carpe Jugglum today. Only half way through Soul Music
> at the moment though.
I wasn't massively impressed with Jingo, but Carpe Juguulum is a masterpeice.
Just purchased Jingo and Carpe Jugglum today. Only half way through Soul Music at the moment though.
Ta very much mate.
well done on the fad win
just got the fifth elephant for my birthday, I will have to wait untill I finish soul music before I start that one.
Hmm. I didn't think much of Soul Music. I reckong the books are getting better and better. For example The Thief of Time is probably the best Discworld novel so far. And Josh Kirby's artwork is class, but the guy who illustrated The Last Hero - Paul Kidby - is much better. I'd prefer him to be doing the covers.
They say don't judge a book by its cover, but the covers in england are much better than the ones for his books in the U.S. On the back cover instead of the brief message to tell you roughly what the book is about, it just says "Terry Pratchet the international best selling author of the Discworld series, he lives in England."
So I bought Soul Music, each book costs around 5 pounds here.
So I bought Soul Music, each book costs around 5 pounds here.
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