Finished Mort last night. Bought Soul Music and Reaper Man today.

[Lobsang]

I enjoyed mort, although it is one of his early books (4th Discworld I think) so it lacked some of his brilliant word-play. (but I still enjoyed it so lay off)

Today I bought Soul Music and Reaper Man, because they are both about Death and having exhausted the Watch books I may as well exhaust the rest. In my general experience Terry's later books are better than his earlier ones, so I am half expecting these two books to be better.

[Uvula Donor]

Today I bought Soul Music and Reaper Man, because they are both about Death and having exhausted the Watch books I may as well exhaust the rest. In my general experience Terry's later books are better than his earlier ones, so I am half expecting these two books to be better.

I thought Soul Music was one of the weaker books in the series. But if, after reading it, you agree, you will find that Reaper Man more than makes up for it.

FWIW, I really liked Mort.

[davmilasav]

I could never get into Soul Music but if you can find it look for the illustrated novel that deals with Cpt. Carrot's adventures as an astronaut/Cohen the Barbarian's Quest to return the Fire. The detail in the background is fantastic, down to the reverse writing in Leonard's diary.

[FyreFiend]

I could never get into Soul Music but if you can find it look for the illustrated novel that deals with Cpt. Carrot's adventures as an astronaut/Cohen the Barbarian's Quest to return the Fire. The detail in the background is fantastic, down to the reverse writing in Leonard's diary.

That's The Last Hero. I was able to find a copy at my local Borders

[DrFidelius]

Mort was the book that made me stop reading Pratchett. I enjoyed The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic and thought that Equal Rites was fun.

But I lost patience with Mort. It was not as slapstick as I wanted. So I stopped reading any Pratchett.

Fifteen year later, or so, I pick up a copy of The Last Continent since I had favourable memories of Rincewind and I find Australia to be consistently amusing. I have been making up for lost time since then. Both of The Girls like Diskworld (especially the witches stories), but I still cannot get The Wife to read it.

Anyway, I liked Soul Music, but read Reaper Man first, and be sure to pick up Hogfather when you are done with those two. But don't try to read them all at one sitting. Pratchett does not seem to do well with overexposure.

[Lobsang]

I read Hogfather a while ago.


Unlike many bookworms I don't 'flash' read books, so there isn't too much worry about overexposure for me. And I am not too worried about Soul Music not getting too many thumbs up here as I have only ever disliked one Discworld book and that was Colour of Magic.

I'll read Reaper Man first.

[Miller]

FWIW, Soul Music is one of my favorites. I liked it better than Mort or Reaper Man, although RM comes awful close.

[Charlie Tan]

Born to Rune.

Heh.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Live fats
Die yo gnu

[silenus]

I think I've read Soul Music at least 5 times so far, and I love it every time. Of the three (Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather), I'd put Hogfather last, even though I liked it very much.

Hellllllllo, baby! :D

[Uvula Donor]

And I am not too worried about Soul Music not getting too many thumbs up here as I have only ever disliked one Discworld book and that was Colour of Magic.

Sorry, Lobsang, I didn't mean to give the impression that Soul Music shouldn't get a thumbs up. I still enjoyed it. Actually, I don't think I've ever disliked a Discworld book at all.

[Peter Morris]

My opinion FWIW:

Soul Music was the point where the series jumped the shark. Mort was a work of genius. Soul Music is nowhere near as good. I'm not saying it was a bad book, just nowhere near as good as what had gone before. Half the plot is an almost exactly the same as Mort, the other half is too similar to Moving Pictures for comfort. From this point Pratchett began recycling ideas, plots, characters and jokes endlessly. The earlier brilliance has never been recaptured. The jokes have grown rarer and less funny. I'm currently reading Monstrous Regiment, and so far i haven't laughed once.

[rjung]

Y'know, it isn't mandatory for all of the Discworld novels to be knee-slapping yukfests...

"I would like it to be clearly understood that this book is not wacky. Olny dumb redheads in Fifties' sitcoms are wacky."
--Terry Pratchett, introduction to Equal Rites

[Kythereia]

I liked Mort. I have it on my shelves, along with Maskerade (sp?); I've read a bunch of the other ones, but still have to get to Going Postal...

[Big_Norse]

Mort was the book that made me stop reading Pratchett.Mort was the book that made me start reading Pratchett. Basically this proves something I've seen whenever Pratchett is mentioned on this board: everyone has different opinions about what is good and what is bad about his books.

I think I've read Soul Music at least 5 times so far, and I love it every time. Of the three (Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather), I'd put Hogfather last, even though I liked it very much. I loved Hogfather and Reaper Man and would place Soul Music among my least favorite.

Maybe the lesson is to try them all, no matter what anyone else says...

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

My opinion FWIW:

Soul Music was the point where the series jumped the shark. Mort was a work of genius. Soul Music is nowhere near as good. I'm not saying it was a bad book, just nowhere near as good as what had gone before. Half the plot is an almost exactly the same as Mort, the other half is too similar to Moving Pictures for comfort. From this point Pratchett began recycling ideas, plots, characters and jokes endlessly. The earlier brilliance has never been recaptured. The jokes have grown rarer and less funny. I'm currently reading Monstrous Regiment, and so far i haven't laughed once.
Hm. IMHO, Soul Music was the point where TP began showing he was more than a clever genre satirist, and began to show some real depth to his writings, and where I began to appreciate them on an intellectual level, especially as regards social mores and human idiosyncracies and frailties. .

He's still hit and miss at times. I loved "Thief of Time" and "The Truth", but while "Night Watch" had its great points it didn't really grip me all that tight. And I didn't really get too excited about "Monstrous Regiment". "Going Postal" was a step back in the right direction, at least in my opinion.

All in all, I've enjoyed some aspect of everything he's written, and think he's grown greatly as a writer.

Isn't it nice he can mean such different things to different people? :D

[GuanoLad]

I really didn't like Night Watch, it's currently my least favourite. But then, I have never enjoyed Vimes as a character.

I loved Monstrous Regiment, though.

[amarinth]

I read Hogfather a while ago.


Unlike many bookworms I don't 'flash' read books, so there isn't too much worry about overexposure for me. And I am not too worried about Soul Music not getting too many thumbs up here as I have only ever disliked one Discworld book and that was Colour of Magic.Despite its lack of popularity here, I love Soul Music. I think it's my favorite book of the series and definitely has my favorite blink-and-you-miss-it joke of the series.
for anyone who cares:
"The Surreptitious Fabric" line completely cracks me up. Which might say about me more than the book itself.
But it's better if you've already read Reaper Man first.

And it's nearly that time of year, so it's a perfect time for reading, or re-reading, Hogfather.

[Barbarian]

Mort is the wife's favourite, Reaper Man is mine.

Both are signed by TP.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

amarinth, I had the same reaction to "We're certainly dwarves".

[auRa]

Soul Music is one of my favorite Discworld books, as well. The scene where The Band With Rocks In is playing at the Cauldron made shivers run down my spine the first time I read it. Also, bands like the "short-lived but grammatically correct The Whom" were really good for a laugh. As was "rat music": "I'm mean and turf/and I'm mean and turf/and I'm mean and turf/and I'm mean and turf/and me and my friends/can walk towards you/with our hats on backwards/in a menacing way/yo". I think the references to our-world themes and features is one of the best things about Pratchett, especially as a non-British or American native. It's always a little confidence-booster when you get the little historical and pop-culture references or what have you.

I have a constant argument going on with a friend of mine who enjoys the Rincewind-themed books most of all. I, on the other hand, find almost everything other than Rincewind enjoyable. We both agree that the fact that we disagree indicates that Discworld books really cater to a wide audience. Something for everyone. Excellent.

[lee]

amarinth, I had the same reaction to "We're certainly dwarves".
My favorite was in The Truth The dwarf named Bodoni, like the font.

I point these kind of things out to KellyM aftery she has read them. She often misses these gems.

[Evil Death]

Mort is the wife's favourite, Reaper Man is mine.

Both are signed by TP.

... which makes them worth less than unsigned editions.

If you didn't get Night Watch, you didn't read it right. It's not meant to be funny.

[rjung]

I enjoyed Night Watch more once it was revealed to me that the novel is
an inverted retelling of Les Miserables.

[Lamia]

Despite its lack of popularity here, I love Soul Music. I think it's my favorite book of the series and definitely has my favorite blink-and-you-miss-it joke of the series.
for anyone who cares:
"The Surreptitious Fabric" line completely cracks me up. Which might say about me more than the book itself.Soul Music was the first Discworld book I ever read, so it'll always have a warm place in my heard. As a longtime "music with rocks in" geek, I also have a special fondness for it. I suspect that those who both get and enjoy the many little history of rock and roll jokes and band name puns in Soul Music will like it a lot more than those who don't.

My favorite: The Whom.

[Miller]

... which makes them worth less than unsigned editions.

Perhaps, but what kind of sick freak would ever sell off their Terry Pratchett collection?

Hm. IMHO, Soul Music was the point where TP began showing he was more than a clever genre satirist, and began to show some real depth to his writings, and where I began to appreciate them on an intellectual level, especially as regards social mores and human idiosyncracies and frailties.

I agree, but Peter Morris does have a point in that the plot of Soul Music rehashes many of the elements of Mort. I believe he did a better job of them the second time around, though, and I think that might be precisely why he did so: he felt he hadn't adequatly addressed the themes he wanted to address in Mort, and decided to give them a second go. The addition of rock'n'roll was the clincher. What better vehicle to explore the themes of death, immortality, and immortality-through-death?

[Barbarian]

... which makes them worth less than unsigned editions.


You're fricking INSANE! Or a chump. I'm still wondering after reading your defense of the overweight dart-thrower. ;)

That being said, my #2 favourite TP, and the one I reread most often, is Small Gods.

[Evil Death]

You're fricking INSANE! Or a chump.

I'm just quoting Pterry himself on this one:

"I've signed so many books that unsigned copies are probably more valuable now..."

:wally

[Daylon]

LOVE Terry Pratchett... he's hilarious - Reaper man was certainly my favorite after The Light Fantastic"...Terry's a genius with the spoken word - one of the very few writers that can make me bust out laughing when I'm reading by myself somewhere...



Some Favorites:

"You're dead," he said. Keli waited. She couldn't think of any suitable reply. "I'm not" lacked a certain style, while "Is it serious?" seemed somehow too frivolous.

The thing between Death's triumphant digits was a fly from the dawn of time. It was the fly in the primordial soup. It had bred on mammoth turds. It wasn't a fly that bangs on window panes, it was a fly that drills through walls.

Pets are always a great help in times of stress. And in times of starvation too, o'course."

All dwarfs are by nature dutiful, serious, literate, obedient and thoughtful people whose only minor failing is a tendency, after one drink, to rush at enemies screaming "Arrrrrrgh!" and axing their legs off at the knee.

People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, "Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else."

D.


I enjoyed mort, although it is one of his early books (4th Discworld I think) so it lacked some of his brilliant word-play. (but I still enjoyed it so lay off)

Today I bought Soul Music and Reaper Man, because they are both about Death and having exhausted the Watch books I may as well exhaust the rest. In my general experience Terry's later books are better than his earlier ones, so I am half expecting these two books to be better.