Tag: Discworld

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The Bookish Owl – Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

Men at Arms Terry Pratchett

Today’s owl photo features Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett!

And yes, I’m still alive (hurray!), but both my reading and my blog maintenance is suffering from being extremely busy. When I haven’t been working on making my writing deadline later this week, I have been fending off drunk guys at renaissance fairs and blowing stuff up in Dungeons & Dragons.

I wish I could say real life has been keeping me busy, but as you can tell, I have been going all-in with the make-believe.

Back to the book:
This is yet another Discworld reread. Men at Arms is the second book in the City Watch storyline, and while it’s not as great as ‘Guards! Guards!’, it’s still pretty damn great. I love the mismatched duo of Cuddy and Detritus, and Vimes, Colon, Nobby and Carrot are their usual wonderfully dysfunctional selves.

Angua is great as well, but the poor girl is really a bit too sane for her new friends.

Men at Arms
by Terry Pratchett

The City Watch needs MEN! But what it’s got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman… most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get, because someone in Ankh-Morpork has been getting dangerous ideas – about crowns and legendary swords, and destiny. And the problem with destiny is, of course, that she is not always careful where she points her finger. One minute you might be minding your own business on a normal if not spectacular career path, the next you might be in the frame for the big job, like saving the world…

Men at Arms Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Mort by Terry Pratchett

Mort Terry Pratchett Collector's Edition

You know the deal, books and owls and all that. This time it’s Mort by Terry Pratchett.

This is another Discworld favorite that I’ve been looking forward to rereading. Death takes on a human apprentice. Said apprentice immediately messes everything up. Craziness ensues.

Only an author such as Pratchett can make Death into such a precious character and I absolutely adore him in ‘Mort’. He’s so cute when he’s trying to be a good master to his new apprentice, despite not understanding humans at all.

Poor Mort won’t know what hit him.

Mort
by Terry Pratchett

Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job. Henceforth, Death is no longer going to be the end, merely the means to an end. It’s an offer Mort can’t refuse. As Death’s apprentice he’ll have free board, use of the company horse – and being dead isn’t compulsory. It’s a dream job – until he discovers that it can be a killer on his love life…

Mort Terry Pratchett Collector's Edition

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The Bookish Owl – Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett Collector's Edition

Next up is Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

If you have been following this blog, you will probably have noticed that I’m reading all the Discworld books in order. However, I’m also reading them in the lovely hardback Collector’s Edition, and the last few books will not be released in this edition until November.

Obviously, this does not mean I will take a break from Discworld. It just means that I get a chance to reread my favorites and that’s something I’ve been dying to do!

So yes, ‘Guards! Guards!’ is a reread for me, but I’m still ridiculously excited about it. It’s the first book in the City Watch series, and it’s got:

  • Dragons
  • Vimes when he was still only reluctantly doing his job
  • Carrot arriving in Ankh-Morpork and horrifying watchmen and criminals alike by insisting on upholding the law
  • Dragons
  • Sybil pursuing a highly confused Vimes
  • Errol the Swamp Dragon
  • Dragons
  • Vetinari getting locked up in his own dungeon and creating a spy network of rats
  • Carrot still thinking he’s a dwarf
  • …Dragons

The plot might not be as deep and multi-layered as the later books, but no one can convince me this isn’t the greatest Discworld book of all times.

Guards! Guards!
by Terry Pratchett

Here there be dragons . . . and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis (“noble dragon” for those who don’t understand italics) has appeared in Discworld’s greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all . . .).

Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, an ancient and long-forgotten volume–The Summoning of Dragons–is missing from the Library’s shelves. To the rescue come Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot, and the rest of the Night Watch who, along with other brave citizens, risk everything, including a good roasting, to dethrone the flying monarch and restore order to Ankh-Morpork (before it’s burned to a crisp). A rare tale, well done as only Terry Pratchett can.

Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett Collector's Edition

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The Bookish Owl – I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett

I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett

I’m on to read I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett!

I have been working hard on my own books for the last couple of weeks, revising like crazy to get the new editions ready for a convention in November, and my brain feels like mush at this point. I can’t even tell you how much I need Pratchett-style leisure reading. All the way through my last read, I kept subconsciously entering revision-mode, spending 5 times as long to read a page because I was correcting every slightly awkward sentence in the description-heavy dark fantasy book that I was supposed to be reading for fun.

I think something light and humorous is the only thing that will keep my brain from burning down and sliding out my ears right now…

I Shall Wear Midnight
by Terry Pratchett

As the witch of the Chalk, Tiffany Aching performs the distinctly unglamorous work of caring for the needy. But someone – or something – is inciting fear, generating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. 

Tiffany must find the source of unrest and defeat the evil at its root. Aided by the tiny-but-tough Wee Free Men, Tiffany faces a dire challenge, for if she falls, the whole Chalk falls with her . . .

I Shall Wear Midnight Terry Pratchett

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The Bookish Owl – Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett

It’s time for reading Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett!

It’s been a long time since we got a book about the wizards of Unseen University, so let’s see how much mayhem they’ve been holding back on. Seeing as this book seemingly introduces football to the city of Ankh-Morpork, I can only assume that we’ll have at least one explosion, three murders, and one or two angry and/or confused mobs by page 20.

I haven’t been that fond of the books that tried to introduce overly modern concepts (like movies and rock music) to the Discworld, but I have noticed Pratchett’s style maturing a lot over the last 10 books or so, so I’m willing to believe he’ll manage to make football seem less out of place. Hopefully it will also contain fewer pop references, because I know nothing about football.

I’m aware it’s about a lot of men with weird hairstyles chasing a ball around, but I never really bothered to figure out why…

Unseen Academicals
by Terry Pratchett

Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork. And now, the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic, so they’re in the mood for trying everything else. This is not going to be a gentleman’s game.

The prospect of the Big Match draws in a street urchin with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can, a maker of jolly good pies, a dim but beautiful young woman, who might just turn out to be the greatest fashion model there has ever been, and the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt). As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed for ever. 

Because the thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.

Here we go! Here we go! Here we go!

Unseen Academicals Terry Pratchett