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All of the problems that begin in Snuff come terribly to a head in Raising Steam. "Stretched too thin" is the words to describe it - Snuff was the first Discworld book I just plain didn't like, and I have since softened up to it, but Terry's preachiness dial really gets maxed out in it. And I don't mean the obvious stuff like "slavery is bad", it's like the "why don't you fine young ladies GET A JOB" stuff. Incredibly grateful that The Shepherd's Crown exists, because if Raising Steam was the final Discworld book it would be a poor sendoff for such an amazing series.
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Dec 29, 2022 04:44
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Let's not forget about what "millenium hand and shrimp" comes from
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Jan 1, 2023 02:30
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Raising Steam really has the burden of being The Final Discworld Book! so it's crammed packed with as much stuff as possible to remind you that our heroes are all really cool. It's the start of a new Discworld era, it's a cross-continent tour, it's got action, it's got commentary on religious fundamentalism, it wants to be a Vimes book and a Moist book and a novel about a new protagonist! Too much to deal with at one time.
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Jan 4, 2023 05:50
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CommonShore posted:was it known when it was written/published that it was carrying that burden? The short answer is probably "no", but Terry's Alzheimer's was progressing progressing pretty steadily at that point and he in fact had to dictate the novel because he wasn't able to type as well as he used to. I am sure that if he wasn't struggling with his condition he would've written a lot more past Raising Steam and Shepherd's Crown, and of course Shepherd's Crown was published posthumously in what Terry would've considered unfinished condition, but I think he knew how much time he had left to write a proper ending to the Discworld. Having the Disc officially enter the Industrial Age is as good a stopping point as any.
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Jan 4, 2023 06:09
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The_Doctor posted:He’d been dictating well before then; I Shall Wear Midnight and Snuff were both largely dictated by Terry into voice recognition software, possibly even Unseen Academicals. I didn't actually know that. I'd seen others making him dictating Raising Steam as the explanation for the book's noticeable shift in writing style, but if there was a point in my opinion where Discworld started to feel different it would have been Unseen Academicals...
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Jan 4, 2023 17:32
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Wow, that is incredibly sad. Alzheimer's is hell.
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Jan 5, 2023 00:52
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I remember when the next Moist book was going to be "Running Water". And when it was going to be "Raising Taxes".
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Jan 6, 2023 16:54
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Shepherd's Crown is genuinely great. The Witches series is my favorite set of Discworld books, but those are all just prequels to the Tiffany Aching series in my opinion.
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Jan 11, 2023 05:07
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I don't know if Terry had help, it had good external editing, or if Terry managed to rally together for the ending, but the difference in quality between Raising Steam and Shepherd's Crown is stark. A very good ending to Discworld as a whole, both thematically and in plot events. The Tiffany Aching books are the best Discworld series, even if they are supposed to be YA.
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Mar 8, 2023 23:25
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I really need to find a copy of the bio myself, I've been aching to read it. Everything about sound completely devastating but it would really unlock the context for his last few books.
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Mar 8, 2023 23:48
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 What the HELL is the truth here
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Mar 10, 2023 20:09
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I wouldn't recommend a new reader start at Colour of Magic. I'd say pick a series that sounds fun to you (Watch, Witches, Death, etc) and read that through, then switch to another one. My first Discworld book was Going Postal and that had me instantly hooked, I'd recommend it too as a good start for any new reader since it's mostly self contained and doesn't require much context to understand the worldbuilding
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Mar 10, 2023 23:43
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Kid's got good taste, no doubt from you puttin' them on the right track in life: becoming a Pratchett fan
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Mar 11, 2023 23:47
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It did make me smile in Raising Steam when it was mentioned in passing that Rincewind was a professor now. He's finally made it 
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Mar 21, 2023 21:07
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I actually read all of the Watch series in reverse order, god knows why I did it. Maybe my thoughts on reading order aren't very well founded.
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Mar 24, 2023 01:21
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Wingnut Ninja posted:RE: guilds effectively policing their respective activities, do we ever really see that outside of the Thieves' Guild? Like, I don't recall ever seeing the Assassin's Guild prosecuting unlicensed murders, possibly because assassins don't murder people so they wouldn't consider it within their purview. A lot of other guilds like Musicians and Engravers crack down on things that aren't normally crimes, outside of the very technical definition of "doing X without a guild license is illegal because we say it is". Maybe the Fools' Guild maintains a roving street mime patrol to find people to throw in the scorpion pit. I know it's mentioned that the Assassin's guild regulates the trade of spring crossbows, and anybody who is caught carrying one better hope the Watch catches them because the guild will string them up without a second thought
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May 14, 2023 21:25
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I got my copy of A Life With Footnotes today. Very excited for it to destroy me.
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May 16, 2023 18:48
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Night Watch is very easily the best Discword novel and it's not even close. The late 90s-early 2000s is the most prime Discworld era ending at Unseen Academicals. Terry really amping it up to eleven with The Truth, The Wee Free Men, Going Postal, just top tier Discworld
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May 26, 2023 04:29
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That's got nothing on Terry on the usenet noting that Hersheba would've worked better on American audiences, and then actually using it later
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May 26, 2023 05:43
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Going Postal was my first Discworld and it'll always be my favorite. Just the perfect Discworld novel, where Ankh-Morpork feels its most vivid and alive.
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May 27, 2023 19:41
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Youremother posted:I got my copy of A Life With Footnotes today. Very excited for it to destroy me. Finally finished this and, man, it's rough. Everything I was expecting and more, really gives you the most clear and vivid image of Terry as a person: acerbic, witty, bull-headed and astonishingly generous. The final chapters were truly worse than I could have imagined and moved me to sincere tears. My grandmother died of an unusual combination of cancers, and seeing her at the end exhausted and catatonic as the disease stole her away piecemeal was brought back most terribly in Terry's struggle. Only a year later my grandfather, already a husk of himself after losing his wife, contracted the exact same cancers and though an experimental treatment greatly improved his standard of life it played tricks with his memories something foul. One of the worst moments of my life was him forgetting my own name and having to be reminded - his thing with all of his grandchildren was to greet them by their full name and shake their hand every time he saw them, and having to remind him of what my name was broke us both inside. It really gives me a much, much deeper appreciation for Raising Steam, as well as The Shepherd's Crown; Rob is 100% correct in that the marvel is not merely the book's quality, but that they exist at all. It also gave me an appreciation for Rob himself, who through reading this book I can sense his presence in the writing towards the end. It really feels like Terry's autobiography, even though it isn't.
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Jun 3, 2023 00:09
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Bilirubin posted:can someone slap that "order to read Discworld in" graphic up for me, just wondering when I've got enough backstory to give Night Watch (my last Watch book) its proper perspective. I've also read most of the Death books by now  But, of course, you need to start from the start and read them all in publication order 
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Jun 10, 2023 06:17
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The bit towards the end where Terry was terrified of the traffic in the rain because he thought he was being attacked by spaceships was loving harrowing. To even imagine that kind of situation happening to me, let alone someone I care about...
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Jul 20, 2023 21:19
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UA is where Discworld starts getting really weak. I still haven't read Pyramids myself I need to dig into the standalone Discworld stuff by now, man he wrote a lot of books...
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Aug 13, 2023 05:59
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Seconding the Watch series, if you want more serious stuff the Watch series is the way to go. Though I believe that the Witches series is the best, 100% because of the Tiffany Aching books, Terry's best work
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Aug 14, 2023 00:46
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I'll say it a thousand times, the Tiffany Aching series is Pratchett's best work. It was a true miracle that The Shepherd's Crown was produced at all. The Wee Free Men is the only Pratchett book that brought me to real tears thinking about my own passed grandmother.
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Dec 5, 2023 19:52
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Part of what makes Going Postal and Making Money good too
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Dec 21, 2023 08:07
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Unseen Academicals isn't that bad, but it definitely marked the decline in Terry's writing skills. Snuff was a lot worse IMO, but still a pretty decent book. I think the only truly "bad" Discworld book is Raising Steam, and boy, you gotta read the biography to understand what a miracle that book was
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Dec 23, 2023 20:19
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The_Doctor posted:Snuff wasn’t great for me, and I never finished it. Right at the start, Wilikins had a completely different personality from his previous appearances and it felt like everyone was off. I second this. I liked Murder Wilikins, and think him and Vimes have some really fun moments where they can actually see each other as peers, but Terry starting to lean in hard on Wilkin's sordid past is... I guess I can chalk it up to character development??? At best?
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Dec 24, 2023 03:32
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I'll say it yet again, The Shepherd's Crown is a genuine miracle. To go from Raising Steam, a completely Not Great book, to all the cool stuff in Shepherd's Crown? I really don't want to be crass here but terminal lucidity is the only thing that comes to mind
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Feb 9, 2024 18:26
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