Susan Sto Helit goes to a boarding school, and for the lessons she’s less interested in, she has a tendency to fade into the woodwork – literally. Susan has the ability to fade away, should she so wish it. Turns out, this is because her grandfather is none other than Death, and when he goes missing, Susan, as his closest relative, is required to take over his duties for a while. Being deeply pragmatic and rational, thanks to her first rate education, it takes Susan […]
The Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! We willna be fooled again!!!
I don’t remember if it was during my first CBR or a pre-CBR year that I read the first Discworld book, The Color of Magic. It wasn’t my jam. I just didn’t get into it. My sister, an avid reader of Pratchett, suggested that I would *really* like the Tiffany Aching books, and said, “Start with The Wee Free Men.” So I did, in honor of Sir Pratchett’s recent passing, and I am delighted with this new encounter. Tiffany Aching is a nine-year-old girl who […]
“If cats looked like frogs we’d realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are.”
I had planned to read one Discworld novel each month in 2015 as part of my cannonball read before hearing about Sir Terry’s passing last month. While I am still a newbie to his work, Lords and Ladies being only my fourth book of his, I was still struck by how quickly a truly gifted writer can bury themselves into your conscience and feel like your own. I may not have known you work long Sir Terry, but it knows me well. On to Lords […]
The Man behind the Discworld
I just learned Terry Pratchett died today. I’m trying to process that grief and it feels like I’ve lost an old friend. The world is a worse place without him there is no doubt. I wrote this review a couple of weeks ago but hadn’t posted it yet. Now is as good as time as any. Thank you, sir. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Not an autobiography, but still pretty close to it, A Slip of the Keyboard is a collection […]
“You can’t go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it’s just a cage.”
Being that Witches Abroad is a Discworld novel written by Sir Terry Pratchett there are literary tropes to be abused and social mores to be jumped up and down on. For our enjoyment this time Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick are off to stop a bad fairy godmother from unleashing a terrible torrent of stories all over the poor city of Genua. That sentence of plot description, admittedly, makes very little sense, but I promise you Pratchett has a certain way of weaving […]
“Million-to-one chances…crop up nine times out of ten.”
Folks, we need to talk about how I think I’m falling in love with Discworld. Equal Rites is only my second book in the series, but it made my heart happy while I was reading it, and considering I read it while preparing to go back to work after a two week vacation, that was a tall order. In my review of Wyrd Sisters I mentioned that I wasn’t sure whether not picking this, the starter book for the Witches books, was going to be […]