Pyramids
By: Terry Pratchett
I took a little break from my Discworld reading travels at the beginning of the year. Maybe it was fatigue but Good Omens put me in the mood to jump back in. In the future I probably won’t follow the one a month schedule that I had been doing.
Discworld is great fun but it’s probably best when you’re feeling in the mood for the crazy…
Wyrd Sisters
By: Terry Pratchett
Grade: A+
“When you break the rules, break ’em good and hard.”
Welcome back Granny Weatherwax! The sixth book in the Discworld series brings in three great female characters, several Shakespeare illusions, playing with time and is all about the power of words and stories to shape and change our realities. All things that I love so I can safely say Wyrd Sisters is my favorite.
Sourcery Discworld #5
By: Terry Pratchett
So we’ve come to book five of the Discworld read along and the war between Wizardry and Sourcery that threatens the very fate of Discworld itself.
Mort
By: Terry Pratchett
Grade: A
Let’s take another journey into the mind of Terry Pratchett and the colorful fun Discworld! This time dealing with the serious topic (except its Discworld so don’t worry!) of Death.
Equal Rites
By: Terry Pratchett
Grade: A
A dying wizard passes along his magic staff to the chosen eighth son of an eighth son. Only whoops- someone really should have checked on that first cause the son number eight happens to be a daughter and well, girls can’t become wizards!
Which after reading about the (not so) braintrusts of the wizarding world in the first two books you’d think gender shouldn’t be an issue.
The Light Fantastic
By: Terry Pratchett
Grade: B+
Rincewind continues to have one of those days in which nothing quiet goes right. Twoflower and his awesome killer luggage continue to explore Discworld which is seemingly hurtling toward a red cataclysm in the sky and none of our so-called wizards can stop it.
Well, except for the one whose looking to increase his own power.
After reading Discworld I wanted to read more of Terry Pratchett so I picked up A Slip of the Keyboard. If I said he was a good natural storyteller people who’d read him before would probably reach through the screen and slap me. No kidding, is what they’d probably yell at me. So all I’ll say is that he reminds me of listening to a friend tell a story. I realize that for other people the parts I loved- writing, how he writes, how he researches and steals from reality and even book tours might not be for everyone. It’s something I want to do one day hence the extreme interest.
It’s quite fun to read his stories and I especially loved about how he started reading as a kid and more importantly how he started to enjoy it. He doesn’t think much of traditional schools to this and I tend to agree with him there. Students, kids should be encouraged to read for love but there again that’s a personal thing. Ever since I was young I’ve always had a book or had one in progress but you put a syllabus and a schedule in front of me and there’s just some flashing no sign that makes me want to not read any of the books on the list.
The last part of the book is the issues that are dear to his heart. Including an essay called, “The Orangutans are Dying,” which made me cry. He also talks quite openly about his diagnosis with Alzheimer’s and frightening specifics about how someone with his version of the disease will deteriorate. Some of the best writing at the end is his work with right to die movements.
I will say that whether you agree with him or not I never felt as though I was being bludgeoned over the head with his views. He passionately makes his case and leaves it to the reader. My views on that are more in line with his anyway but I definitely walked away with a deeper understanding of something I hope I never have to experience first-hand.
Recommend: Yes.
I have to admit that I hadn’t even heard of the Discworld Series before I started looking up books to read by Terry Pratchett. Kind of sad state of affairs. I feel like I should give back my fantasy fan card. But when I did start reading the summaries I knew these books would be a great place to get a taste of an author I hadn’t read a lot of in the past.
There are a lot first of all. For once in my life I decided to start with book one, The Color of Magic. Only halfway into that book did I read other fans and indeed Mister Pratchett himself state that it’s probably not the best place to start. Which turned out to be a good thing because I wound up really wanting to read, Equal Rites, otherwise known as book three.
The Color of Magic introduces us to the world through a two-bit wannabe wizard called Rincewind who’s charged to protect naïve tourist Twoflower and Twoflower’s magic luggage. Can I just add that luggage that will find you anywhere even in a magic land is an invention that should happen soon?
The book is a lot of fun but it’s more of a geographical introduction to the world. They pop from one place to another for adventures. You meet a ton of people and get a ton of the workings of the place thrown at you which did make it difficult. I couldn’t keep half the names straight and then I just stopped trying. It did get easier toward the end but I definitely felt like I was being whipped around from place to place without much meaning.
Equal Rites is better, smoother and straighter storytelling. Local witch Granny Weatherwax is delivering the eighth son of an eighth son when a dying wizard shows up to gift that kid his power. That kid turns out to be a girl which is a problem because no girls are wizards in this world! So Granny and Esk wind up traveling to the Unseen University to convince them to change that rule before the magic overtakes her.
Esk was a cute heroine. I liked both her curiosity and her can do spirit. She’s like a younger version of Hermione Granger. She’s also smart, brave and kind. Granny Weatherwax did get on my nerves a little toward the end. Right now I’m really loving empowered girls, female heroines and a little bit of fun social commentary. Although despite the smoother story-telling it did feel like I was being hit over the head by the humor in some places.
Recommend: I would recommend. I don’t think you need to read them in any particular order. Discworld is pretty big and I plan to pop in again as there should really be something for anyone in series.
