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Maybe it's too obvious but Vetinari could just legitimize the Trollish Mafia by making them tax collectors.
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Mar 20, 2013 10:15
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precision posted:Maybe it's too obvious but Vetinari could just legitimize the Trollish Mafia by making them tax collectors.
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Mar 20, 2013 12:10
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FactsAreUseless posted:Isn't this basically what Winder did back in Night Watch, minus the "trollish" bit? Fair point, but the image of trolls as IRS Agents is too funny in my head to ignore. "I got audited. I were in the hospital for weeks."
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Mar 20, 2013 17:57
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Somehow I don't see Chrysoprase giving up his lucrative endeavours for a government job.
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Mar 20, 2013 20:01
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thebardyspoon posted:Jackrum wasn't a cockney possibly overly familiar butler, [...] You may want to spoiler or reformulate that, for those who haven't read the book yet.
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Mar 20, 2013 20:05
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Entropic posted:Somehow I don't see Chrysoprase giving up his lucrative endeavours for a government job. Then again look at how much the IRL mafia has grafted from gov contracts
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Mar 20, 2013 20:17
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Entropic posted:Somehow I don't see Chrysoprase giving up his lucrative endeavours for a government job. The problem with being in organized crime is that not everyone is a criminal, so not everyone is a customer. But everyone pays taxes (or they're a criminal.) The Breccia already has the necessary skillset.
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Mar 21, 2013 07:07
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Zopotantor posted:You may want to spoiler or reformulate that, for those who haven't read the book yet. Are we really spoilering books that were released in 2003? In case we are, the title of the book gives the entire "twist" away anyway.
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Mar 22, 2013 02:39
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AlphaDog posted:Are we really spoilering books that were released in 2003? If you're a 16th century history buff, maybe. Most people would read it as refering to the vampire, the Igor and the troll in the unit.
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Mar 22, 2013 09:40
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I changed it anyway, I figured we were pretty liberal with end of book stuff in general but it took me like half a second and might not ruin the book for someone so it's no big deal.
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Mar 22, 2013 12:02
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Oh man Reaper Man / Moving Pictures / Witches Abroad is a rough sequence of books to get through. Up next is Small Gods and I seem to remember reading that as a kid and liking it, so hopefully that isn't just rose coloured glasses. Pyramids is one of my favourites so far so maybe I just like the standalone books the most.
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Mar 23, 2013 13:51
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Small Gods is widely considered to be the best of all the stand-alone books and in the top 5 overall. I don't know what your problem with RM/MP/WA was, as the first and the last are really good. Also, Moving Pictures wasn't published between them so you've mixed up your order a little there.
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Mar 23, 2013 14:00
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I've always thought that if any of Pratchett's books enter the "canon", it'll be Small Gods.
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Mar 23, 2013 14:08
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stratdax posted:Oh man Reaper Man / Moving Pictures / Witches Abroad is a rough sequence of books to get through. Up next is Small Gods and I seem to remember reading that as a kid and liking it, so hopefully that isn't just rose coloured glasses. Pyramids is one of my favourites so far so maybe I just like the standalone books the most. Pratchett is at his worst when doing blatant parody. When he does it subtly, it's far, far, more intelligent and satisfying for the reader. Literally making movie and country stereotype references is only funny if you like the references. Otherwise it's a slog. That being said, Reaper Man, for all its flaws, is actually a pretty important book to the Discworld canon. It sets up: -The "rules" of the undead population which become pretty important in later books. -The Amazing Maurice and his educated Rodents. -The Dark Morris dance -The auditors Those lead to 4 different, better books, down the line. If it just didn't have the Parasite Shopping Mall concept, it'd be a drat fine book.
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Mar 23, 2013 14:31
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Reaper Man is great, and easily my favorite Death book. Everything is fine up until the drat mall.
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Mar 23, 2013 15:29
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stratdax posted:Oh man Reaper Man / Moving Pictures / Witches Abroad is a rough sequence of books to get through. Up next is Small Gods and I seem to remember reading that as a kid and liking it, so hopefully that isn't just rose coloured glasses. Pyramids is one of my favourites so far so maybe I just like the standalone books the most. I will always love Witches Abroad for being the book that got me hooked on Pratchett. Before that, I had heard of the Discworld series but dismissed it as yet another series of extruded fantasy product; I was delighted to discover how wrong that was. Also, this book has my all-time favorite footnote.
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Mar 23, 2013 20:01
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VanSandman posted:Reaper Man is great, and easily my favorite Death book. In hindsight, the mall really does come out of left field. But everything about Death's life as Bill Door justifies reading the book.
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Mar 23, 2013 23:58
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Jedit posted:Small Gods is widely considered to be the best of all the stand-alone books and in the top 5 overall. Yeah you're right, I mixed up the order when I posted. I read Moving Pictures first. Which I hope we all agree was pretty terrible? Mister Roboto posted:-The Dark Morris dance I don't remember what the Dark Morris dance is. Could you remind me? I didn't like the auditors, Azrael, or basically anything about we learned how death works in Discworld. I guess I just don't like the concept rather than the execution (except for the mall, that was executed poorly as well). Witches Abroad: Watch three ladies bumble their way around France and Italy. I was misleading when I posted, I haven't finished yet so maybe I will like it later, but so far all I can think of is "yes I get it move on please". A tyrannical overlord who forces people to live in a storybook way is a pretty super-villain thing to do though, so that's good. Sounds like something the Joker would do. I'm not trying to be antagonistic. I guess the great thing about Discworld is you can just skip whatever storylines you don't like!
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Mar 24, 2013 05:17
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stratdax posted:I don't remember what the Dark Morris dance is. Could you remind me? It's only mentioned in Reaper Man; it plays a bigger role in Wintersmith way later.
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Mar 24, 2013 05:21
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stratdax posted:Yeah you're right, I mixed up the order when I posted. I read Moving Pictures first. Which I hope we all agree was pretty terrible? I quite like MP for all the movie in-jokes. The more you know about the studio system and cinema in general, the more there is to see. It also introduces a large number of recurring characters including most of the UU Faculty.
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Mar 24, 2013 11:20
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I share the same thoughts about Moving Pictures. He might not be able to do the parody stuff well but we get some pretty amusing characters and concepts from them.
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Mar 24, 2013 14:23
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The last third of Witches Abroad justifies the entire rest of the book. It definitely starts slowly, but it ends strong.
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Mar 24, 2013 16:42
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Jedit posted:I quite like MP for all the movie in-jokes. The more you know about the studio system and cinema in general, the more there is to see. It also introduces a large number of recurring characters including most of the UU Faculty. Not to mention Gaspode the Wonder Dog! That alone makes Moving Pictures worthwhile.
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Mar 24, 2013 16:57
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Entropic posted:Not to mention Gaspode the Wonder Dog! That alone makes Moving Pictures worthwhile. That is the only worthwhile thing in the book, yes.
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Mar 25, 2013 13:35
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I personally like Moving Pictures but can't stand Pyramids. I mean how can you hate the book that introduced Archchancellor Ridcully as well as Gaspode? "He looks like my uncle Osric" or C.M.O.T. Dibbler wheeling and dealing, reaching the heights of success only for it all to be torn away before he got his thousand elephants. There's a lot of good stuff in there, just bogged down a bit by the Dungeon Dimensions plot. Vengeance of Pandas fucked around with this message at 13:50 on Mar 25, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 13:47
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I know I'm a sap but drat...quote:What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man? Gets me emotional every time. Not to mention everything else about Bill Door and Miss Flitworth. I just pretend the mall plot doesn't exist.
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Mar 25, 2013 16:28
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Vengeance of Pandas posted:I personally like Moving Pictures but can't stand Pyramids. It seems like Things Encroaching From The Dungeon Dimensions was the plot of half the early books, but hasn't come up in ages. The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Equal Rites, Moving Pictures, I'm probably missing a couple..
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Mar 25, 2013 19:40
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Entropic posted:It seems like Things Encroaching From The Dungeon Dimensions was the plot of half the early books, but hasn't come up in ages. The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Equal Rites, Moving Pictures, I'm probably missing a couple.. The Dungeon Dimension was the plot of the last game.
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Mar 25, 2013 21:31
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That reminds me, I need to play Discworld Noir all over again. For the twentieth time.
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Mar 25, 2013 21:33
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P-people don't like the evil shopping mall plot?
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Mar 26, 2013 03:51
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Justin_Brett posted:P-people don't like the evil shopping mall plot? I don't remember disliking Moving Pictures in the slightest bit when it was released, but I haven't felt compelled to re-read it either. I do seem to recall the Wizards were funny in the shopping mall bit though. The only Disc book I remember disliking immediately was The Last Continent. I guess I'm just really indulgent of Terry's writing.
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Mar 26, 2013 11:43
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I thought The Last Continent was terrible. Just a series of "Australia, amirite?" jokes.
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Mar 26, 2013 12:57
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^^^ I found myself struggling through the Last Continent - just couldn't get into it. I always skip through the Windle Poons sections of Reaper Man on rereads, just to focus on the Death parts. I was more interested in seeing how Death coped with life, rather than how Poons copes with undeath. Pesky Splinter fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 26, 2013 16:53
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The only books I find unbearable are his very earliest and his very latest. Everything in between is pretty much gold. I love Monstrous Regiment even though everyone trashes it for some reason.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:08
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Pope Guilty posted:I thought The Last Continent was terrible. Just a series of "Australia, amirite?" jokes. This is the synopsis of basically every book or movie written about Australia.
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Mar 26, 2013 17:28
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AXE COP posted:Everything in between is pretty much gold. I love Monstrous Regiment even though everyone trashes it for some reason. Wow, really? That surprises me. I've never heard anyone talk about Monstrous Regiment in anything but glowing terms. (I love it too.)
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Mar 27, 2013 00:11
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effervescible posted:Wow, really? That surprises me. I've never heard anyone talk about Monstrous Regiment in anything but glowing terms. (I love it too.) I didn't love it, but I thought it was pretty good. It's middle of the road for Discworld, which puts it pretty high in my list of good books that I will read again. I recall a lot of people saying it was crap in the months after it came out, and for that reason I never picked up the hardcover, which I've been doing with Disc books since 1999 or so. I regret that now, because it's a pretty neat story.
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Mar 27, 2013 02:23
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I miss all the silly dog latin jokes from the early books. Like the Watch's motto -- which Sgt. Colon helpfully translates as "To Protect And Serve" -- being "FABRICATI DIEM PVNC".
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Mar 27, 2013 14:36
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For some reason I never got around to reading Night Watch. I am listening to the Stephen Briggs narration now and It may be my favourite in the series.
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Mar 29, 2013 01:25
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You are in for a hugely enjoyable experience. Night Watch is amazing. Absolutely my favorite.
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Mar 29, 2013 04:42
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