The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

Frankly...

I don't give a damn!

Most fans seems to hate it, is one the lowest, if not the lowest, rated Discworld books

I am not most fans and I see it as part of his later works where he is becoming much more satirist than fantasist and has the skills to do it well.

I found 'Thud' difficult on first reading too, but a second reading made me add it to the favourites list. He's not a fast read any more, he requires thoughtful reading.

Perks said:

So, someone lent me the book, Thud.

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I just picked that up too, its my first Pratchett novel as well.

Hogfather
Reaper Man
Night Watch
Monstrous Regiment

^^^^^^^^^^^^ My favorites

What? No Mort? it was the first Discworld novel I read! and I liked more than Reaper Man. All the Death novels are great

Unseen Academicals

Anyone else got the latest Discworld novel yet?
I'm about three quarters of the way through, and I gotta tell you, I'm pretty disappointed.
Doesn't read like a Pratchett novel; feels very forced. One of my favourite things about TP's books is the depth of the characters, and the way they react exactly as...well, as they would according to their character. The characters in this book feel like they're being shoehorned into the plot somehow. Plus, there's a lot of info-dumpy speeches from various characters, the odd 'As you know, Bob', and a lot of untidy run-on sentences.
I can't help wonder how much of this has been influenced by his illness. Hope the next one is better.

Just started it this morning. I'm loving it! A few pages in I was thinking to myself, the dude's still got it. I mean come on, look at this bit, describing someone's bed:

Usually there is, on the pillow, a very elderly teddy bear called Mr. Wobble.

Traditionally, in the lexicon of pathos, such a bear should have only one eye, but as the result of a childhood error in Glinda's sewing, he has three, and is more enlightened than the average bear.

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There are like five jokes there, crammed into two sentences. Also, he has made a Hinduism/Yogi Bear joke in a book set in a universe which has neither Hindus nor Yogi Bear, and without even going for the obvious "yogi" pun, which is an extremely difficult feat. No, he's still got it.

Kitty Pryde said:

Just started it this morning. I'm loving it! A few pages in I was thinking to myself, the dude's still got it. I mean come on, look at this bit, describing someone's bed:


There are like five jokes there, crammed into two sentences. Also, he has made a Hinduism/Yogi Bear joke in a book set in a universe which has neither Hindus nor Yogi Bear, and without even going for the obvious "yogi" pun, which is an extremely difficult feat. No, he's still got it.

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The thing I've always liked best about Pratchett's work is not the jokes, but the depth and strength of his characters. None of the characters in this book struck me as anything more than 2d cardboard cutouts. Even the ones I've enjoyed in previous books, like Ricdully and Stibbons, felt like they'd been shoe-horned into behaviours that weren't their own, but were needed to advance the plot.

Much as it pains me, I have to agree that Ridcully, in particular, doesn't seem the same as he did in earlier books. I'll agree that the humor is still there, but the characters I've known and loved through all of his previous work don't quite "feel" right in UA.

I just finished it this week. It totally worked for me. Ponder is always Ponder...the other wizards always seem to have a sort of communal personality to me. I thought the new characters were all pretty well-written. Especially Nutt. I love him

I think it's pretty good. And I liked Nutt.

However, the "German" book titles which were quoted by Nutt did hurt my eyes. Pratchett should have changed the language more, so it wouldn't have been recognizable German any more, or he should have done it right.

It's not that hard to find a native speaker, isn't it?