Thief of Time (spoilers)

[Yue Han]

Not too many spoilers here, but others might post them later on, so read at your own risk. I'm just wondering if anyone else has read the latest Pratchett book, and what their thoughts on it are.

My thoughts.... I really liked it, especially the Horseman sections. It is NOT a good first book for anyone I think; it's the collision of several existing plot threads, concepts and character sets. It's really, really different from The Truth, and to a lesser existent The Fifth Elephant and The Last Continent. It seems to me that some of the more recent books have been a more conventional world assembled with unconventional pieces; Thief of Time is a truly weird book, in a good way.

A few questions to encourage discussion:

What did you think of the Lobsang/Jeremy situation- The foreshadowing, the whole concept?

Did you figure out who Ronnie was in advance? I know a few people who said they did, but I was surprised, although once you know all the clues are there.

What did you think of death-by-chocolate? I know some people thought this was stupid, but it made sense to me.

Feel free to talk about anything else you're interested in, or branch off into general Pratchettology as well.

--John

[jkusters]

Diskworld books are very hit and miss with me. I generally don't read one and say, "Oh, that was okay." Either I love it or I don't. The last two I've read ("The Truth" and "Thief of Time") were both "love it" books. Both of them read in nearly one sitting, damn that annoying thing called work, and will probably be re-read in the near future.

JOhn (Diskworld Wizard. Honest, got a published picture to prove it.)

[aseymayo]

I didn't guess who Ronnie was - and was thoroughly ashamed of myself for not putting the clues together. I'm still not sure I understand just how he became a milkman, though.

Death-by-chocolate? Sure, why not? The Discworld is a place where some pretty silly ideas are literally true - the world is flat; it rides on the backs of enormous elephants, who ride on an even bigger turtle; tiny imps live in cameras, watches and personal organizers and do all the work. In this world, we have desserts named "Death By Chocolate"* - so it's no surprise to me it could be actual fact rather than mere metaphor on the Disc.

TOT may not rank among my very favorite Pratchett's, but it's still a wonderful book with some good new characters as well as old friends. Although I have to admit, I am a little disappointed whenever there's a book without the Librarian in it somewhere.

* I've eaten one dessert called "Better Than Robert Redford." It wasn't, in my opinion.

[Yue Han]

I didn't think of that; almost all the others have had the Librarian. I suppose, like the Lancre books, it just wasn't possible... although maybe they could have used him to introduce Grim Fairy Tales. Then again it was pretty crowded book anyhow.

Re: Milkman... Have you read Mort? Remember when Death went to work as a short order cook? I think Pratchett's avatars each have their Duty, and if they give it up, they seem to develop an obsession with any smaller job they take up. They aren't happy without some kind of duty. And if you have the ability to be everywhere at the same time and positive cold to use up, milkman's a pretty good choice.

--John

[aseymayo]

Still, a milkman has to be, well, fairly organized. As far as I can see, Ronnie would have made a terrible milkman - you'd think to be true to his nature, he'd constantly mix-up orders and leave the wrong items and deliver them at random times.

But oh well. It's possible I'm just disgruntled because I sort of wrote off Ronnie as a minor character the first time he appeared.