Pajiba

I find Pratchett a bit twee for my tastes as well -- but Good Omens, his collaboration with Neil Gaiman, was absolutely brilliant -- it was the best parts of both authors, and hands down one of my favorite books.

No, Protoguy. You don't understand the mechanics of Good Omens at all. You need to read it, and then read a few Discworld novels. Terry Pratchett's hand is extremely dominant in Good Omens.

That said: Colour of Magic is his first Discworld, and it's not so much a novel as an anthology of short stories about the same guy. Also, it's not entirely satire. Discworld is a fantasy series. What he tends to satirize are the "establishments" in fantasy, the human conceptions forced onto a wild, magical world. And yes, it is rough, as were most of his previous novels. But its still a good read if you can let your preconceptions go.

Also, I agree with Craig. This review is too short and doesn't to the seminal work of a best-selling series justice.

FyreHaar: I would say a little of Column A and Column B, and none at all of Column C. Terry Pratchett is one of the best sci-fi/fantasy writers on the planet, at the moment, and a lot of that is precisely because he's largely a satirist. It makes all of the melodrama endemic to fantasy more palatable to a certain kind of thinker.

Also, as a book reviewer, I'd like to suggest that you need to find stuff to write about, and the fact that it is, in fact, a series of short stories might have been reason to add at least another paragraph sketching out the types of adventures or themes discussed.

maceo: Start with Small Gods. It's a mostly standalone novel, and while it has a lot of self-references, it pretty much encapsulates the Discworld sensibilities. Either you find it a funny-yet-thoughtful treatise on religion, or you think its stupid.

Also, please understand: Discworld is one of the largest, most popular adult fantasy series in the Western world. Dismissively reviewing the pilot in a couple of paragraphs is akin to reading the first Hitchhiker's book and writing "Pfft. People in a space ship? Whatevs." There is going to be some backlash from people who grew up with Terry Pratchett informing their world views.

Also "Very interesting Things" by pratchett is one of the funniest things i've EVER read...and "Equal Rites" is one bad-ass feminist story...anyone new to the Pratchett should try them out.

When it comes to Discworld, I think you should start at the beginning and go from there. The reason is that he gets better as he goes along. The Light Fantastic is an improvement, Equal Rites is better still, and with Mort he finally gets his feet under him and starts off. It continues to improve until about Reaper Man, at which point the series shoots up in quality and stays there.

A couple of things folks:

First, FyreHaar is not "a book reviewer," she's a Cannonball Read III participant, which means she's participating in a good cause, but did not sign up to review books in any sort of professional capacity.

Second, CBR reviews are only required to be a minimum of three paragraphs, which this is.

Third, she was not reviewing the whole series, merely the first book.

Fourth, CBR participants don't pick which of their reviews are selected to be posted to Pajiba. I do that. I picked this because I was hoping it might generate a good discussion, where folks who liked the book would jump in and explain why they liked it. Perhaps without disparaging the author of the review (see my first point). Of course everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion.

Fifth, this is not the first Pratchett review posted on Pajiba. Perhaps you missed this one. Also, Good Omens has been reviewed twice. You can find both of those reviews under the Book Reviews Archive.

Sixth, sadly, it's a good day when a CBR review gets 5 comments. Given that this one has at least 12, I putting this one in the "win" column.

Now please carry on with your comments of what you liked about this book/series and Terry Pratchett in general. And maybe show up to some other CBR reviews to make helpful comments. The Cannonblallers are fabulous for simply signing up for the shindig in the first place and agreeing to not only read a bunch of books, but review them, and take the chance that I might grab one of their reviews randomly to throw up here, whether they like it or not. --TU

Yay Terry Pratchett!!!

I'm a recent Discworld-obsessive (thanks to Pajiban recs on FB late one night). I've been hopping a bit out of order . . . I started with Mort, then made my way through all the books dealing with the City Watch. I recently went back to the top of the list and started with Colour of Magic and I'm now on Eric Faust.

Colour of Magic was a bit of a letdown after reading further in the series, but it's easy to see that Pratchett is getting his legs under him, and it does provide a handy bit of history for Rincewind, as he pops up a lot in other books.

People have said it, and I repeat it here . . . just wait until you meet Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes. Two of my favorite characters in any series, hands down.

Also, I highly recommend Monstrous Regiment as a good standalone. It only barely touches on other characters, but was a good read (I may have vaguely sniffled through a couple parts).

The first couple of books in the Discworld series are fairly dismal, almost shockingly so if you've read his later books first and gone back to see what you've missed. It took Terry Pratchett three or four books to really hit his stride, but I don't think anyone else can compare to his humorous-but-affectionate observations on the quirks and foibles of human nature. He's just as cynical as Douglas Adams, but a good deal more warmhearted about it.

I've heard from a lot of friends about how much they love Pratchett. After reading this book I figured that either I was missing the point, his later works are better, or I know a lot of people with bad taste in books

His later works are better. The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are epically dull compared to later novels.

For Pajiba readers, I'd recommend starting with either "Wyrd Sisters" (Macbeth with laughs) or "Moving Pictures" (Movies, Hollywood and Cthulhu).

Thanks Kat, I've kinda stayed away from Pratchett for some reason. I do like Gaiman though. I'm willing to give Terry a try and Omens does sound like a good way to do so.

FyreHaar, I'm all for reading things in order (normally) but a series as long as this one needs some patience with it, I think.