# Discworld Latecomers Ongoing Discussion (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979 "2017-01-12T18:35:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/101 "2017-06-28T00:07:57Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Nation made me cry. > > In the good way, I guess. I’m half-way and enjoying it. If he had wanted, this could have been set in Discworld and been a Discworld book. It’s got his humor and understanding of human nature in it. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/102 "2017-06-28T01:10:16Z")
That’s the thing with Discworld: It’s a big enough world that he could have set nearly any story he wanted in it. And given how successful the Disc has been, it had to have taken some guts to choose not to set it there, because putting “The next Discworld book!” on the cover would have guaranteed sales. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/103 "2017-06-28T01:30:51Z")
Meh. Bought _Nation_ the second it came out, read it, and have never even looked at it again. Couldn’t tell you a bloody thing about it, whereas I can quote large sections of _Unseen Academicals_ and I fooking HATE that book. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/104 "2017-07-09T20:19:16Z")
Finished **Nation** a few days ago and really liked it. I know it isn’t Discworld, but he did a great job. It reads like a Discworld novel set on earth in the 1800’s, really. You could easily take it and re-write it as a Discworld book. Nothing happens in it that would contradict or be out of place in one. It’s a nice book and I found the ending great, but it did not move me as much as I was expecting. Reading **Soul Music** now. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/105 "2017-07-17T16:29:05Z")
**Soul Music** This was an excellent book and my favorite Death novel so far(I’ve read Mort, Reaper Man, and this one). The Susan storyline was great. I think she’s one of my favorite characters and storylines he’s developed up to where I have read. I love Carrot in the City Watch books a little more, but I really liked Susan and how she affected Death. The music jokes were a little obvious and not all that original, but the music storyline was also very good. I really recommend this one. 3 1/2 stars from me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/106 "2017-07-17T17:39:27Z")
Obvious or not, I thought the music jokes were hilarious. **Soul Music** is definitely in my Top 5 Pratchett. “Born To Rune.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/107 "2017-07-17T19:46:08Z")
Personally, I thought _Soul Music_ was a little weak, because it felt to me like just a combination of _Mort_ and _Moving Pictures_. It’s also before when Pratchett matured past the use of the Magic Reset Button. I liked the later novels much better, where changes were allowed to stay changed. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/108 "2017-07-18T03:12:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Obvious or not, I thought the music jokes were hilarious. **Soul Music** is definitely in my Top 5 Pratchett. > > “Born To Rune.” I’m just not big enough a music fan to enjoy the jokes, though I do think I got most of them. Oh, the book contained one of my favorite little anecdotes, contained in a footnote. > [@](#): > > Rats had featured largely in the history of Ankh-Morpork. Shortly before the Patrician came to power there was a terrible plague of rats. The city council countered it by offering twenty pence for every rat tail. This did, for a week or two, reduce the number of rats— and then people were suddenly queing up with tails, the city treasury was being drained, and no one seemed to be doing much work. And there still seemed to be a lot of rats around. Lord Vetinari had listened carefully while the problem was explained, and had solved the thing with one memorable phrase which said a lot about him, about the folly of bounty offers, and about the natural instinct of Ankh-Morporkians in any situation involving money: “ **Tax the rat farms"**. I think that captures a lot about human nature and is also an example of what makes Lord Vetinari a sharp and effective leader. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/109 "2017-07-18T12:50:29Z")
Of course, this is the same man who officially recognized the Guilds of Assassins and of Thieves, because if you’re going to have crime, it ought at least be organized. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/110 "2017-08-31T21:37:06Z")
I was reading Pyramids, but I had to stop because I decided to try out a book to be a read-aloud for my 6th graders(I am an English teacher). I switched to **The Wee Free Men**. I was going to save the Tiffany Aching books for later because I heard a spoiler exists in them, but I have to read it before I teach it or use it in anyway in class. Anyway, reading it now. Good beginning, but it’s slowed a bit in chapters 4 and 5(wow, chapters in a discworld book!). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/111 "2017-08-31T22:25:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I was going to save the Tiffany Aching books for later because I heard a spoiler exists in them The big spoiler is in the last Tiffany Aching book, which is also the last Discworld book–_The Shepard’s Crown_. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/112 "2017-08-31T22:44:39Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > The big spoiler is in the last Tiffany Aching book, which is also the last Discworld book–_The Shepard’s Crown_. excellent. I’ll be good then. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/113 "2017-09-01T03:06:18Z")
Yeah, I can’t think of any significant spoilers other than that big one. There’s references (especially to the other Witch books), but nothing really spoily. And in the first Tiffany book, even the references don’t show up until the very end, and basically just consist of Granny Weatherwax showing up to say hello. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/114 "2017-10-04T22:46:28Z")
Update from me: The Wee Free Men was pretty good. Not amazing, not my favorite, but pretty good. I am now reading Good Omens(show coming next year). I have to say, the opening 1/3 was excellent and I could hear Terry Pratchett’s voice clear as a bell. I feel the middle 1/3 has dropped in quality a ton. It feels like a total shift in voice. I know they worked on all of it, but it feels like Neil Gaiman took over there. Nice book, though. I’m disappointed in the shift away from the angel and demon characters, though. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/115 "2017-10-04T23:10:35Z")
Don’t be. They really are secondary characters. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/116 "2017-10-04T23:42:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Don’t be. They really are secondary characters. Don’t be…what? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/117 "2017-10-05T02:14:05Z")
I think he means “don’t be disappointed in the focus shift”. And I saw an interview or something with Pratchett and/or Gaiman where they said that everyone recognizes the portions each of them wrote, and everyone gets it wrong, because the parts that sound like Pratchett were actually Gaiman and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/118 "2017-10-05T13:54:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And I saw an interview or something with Pratchett and/or Gaiman where they said that everyone recognizes the portions each of them wrote, and everyone gets it wrong, because the parts that sound like Pratchett were actually Gaiman and vice-versa. If Gaiman wrote the first 1/3, he did a great job sounding like Pratchett. The wry comments, little life observations, the little asides. Everything sounded like him. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/119 "2017-11-21T19:50:44Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > **Soul Music** > > This was an excellent book and my favorite Death novel so far(I’ve read Mort, Reaper Man, and this one). Note: I would now rank Reaper Man higher than Soul Music, though I did enjoy Susan’s storyline in Soul Music a lot. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979/120 "2017-11-21T19:55:51Z")
I can accept any order for those two. **Reaper Man** is the deeper story, whilst **Soul Music** is a lot more fun. I’m a sucker for bad puns, so **Soul Music** generally gets my nod. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-latecomers-ongoing-discussion-open-spoilers/776979.md?page=7)