Terry Pratchett
September 20th 2006 11:43
Funny, intelligent, philosophical. They’re good words, and to describe this man, extremely appropriate. In my case, I came to Pratchett in my late high-school years. I got handed a copy of The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic and though the writing style was very silly (considering one of the main characters is a barbarian hero who is more than ninety) it was a kind of silly humour that I would liken to Monty Python. Which I didn’t expect (just like the Spanish Inquisition).
I continued to buy them, and they continued to get better. There are authors who write a few nice books and then start to gradually devolve further and further in their genre until they lose the spark of originality that made you want to read them in the first place. In the case of this man, he only gets better and better. His writing style, his sense of humour and his characters have all developed, and have all developed for the better. They also develop along different lines, with several major threads all concerning different characters and usually different themes. The Sam Vimes thread is brilliant, and is a close second to my favourite thread, the Death thread. For someone that spends his time ushering souls to the next world, Death certainly has an interesting life (in fact he has many interesting lives, they used to belong to everyone else).
What is also quite notable about his books is the amount of research that goes into them. My favourite example is Small Gods, where the main character Brutha is very much based on St Thomas Aquinas. Throughout the book there are little jokes here and there that reveal quite an indepth understanding of the subject matter.
In short, if you like a good laugh, buy his books. If you like a good think, buy his books. If you like well written fantasy novels, with interesting characters, read the Vimes thread.
I continued to buy them, and they continued to get better. There are authors who write a few nice books and then start to gradually devolve further and further in their genre until they lose the spark of originality that made you want to read them in the first place. In the case of this man, he only gets better and better. His writing style, his sense of humour and his characters have all developed, and have all developed for the better. They also develop along different lines, with several major threads all concerning different characters and usually different themes. The Sam Vimes thread is brilliant, and is a close second to my favourite thread, the Death thread. For someone that spends his time ushering souls to the next world, Death certainly has an interesting life (in fact he has many interesting lives, they used to belong to everyone else).
What is also quite notable about his books is the amount of research that goes into them. My favourite example is Small Gods, where the main character Brutha is very much based on St Thomas Aquinas. Throughout the book there are little jokes here and there that reveal quite an indepth understanding of the subject matter.
In short, if you like a good laugh, buy his books. If you like a good think, buy his books. If you like well written fantasy novels, with interesting characters, read the Vimes thread.
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Comment by The Daily Sonnet
The Daily Sonnet
Lots of Sonnets
Comment by Aliterati
I wasn't a huge fan of Good Omens, but my fave Pratchetts are things like the Death series, the Vimes series and the Weatherwax series, his young adult series and all the other novels that come in in random intervals.
I guess I should have said I love all his work.
Dang it.
Comment by Australis
The Scriptwriting Blog
Personal Blog - A Writer's Life
Whjile we wait desperately for the next one (which should hopefully be a Moist van Lipwig story called Making Money), I'd like to recommend a fanfic site called Tales From The Discworld, there's some good stuff there, though it does seem to be closed right now. Keep an eye open for it.
Comment by JoshZ
I think I need to keep my eyes ALOT more open, I didn't know about that one. Looking forward to it though, Moist was a very cool character.
And I agree, Monstrous was different, but I am happier that Pratchett grows and writes things I don't find as amazing as everything else he writes, because that helps him write the things that I do find amazing.
Hmmmmmm, not sure if I would say Night Watch was the best, Lords And Ladies, Feet of Clay, these wqere BRILLIANT.