Yes, I do realise that, I’ve been reading Pratchett almost since the beginning, probably since Mort came out. And I do understand and could see the gradual change in style, evident certainly from Unseen Academicals onwards. But Raising Steam was different again, very unlike Terry at his peak.
I have been away from the Discworld for over a year, reading Lord of the Rings, all 7 Harry Potter books, and many other new books.
I just began Wintersmith, the third Tiffany Aching book.
I just saw the movie adaptation, animated this time, of Maurice and his Amazing Rodents. My review from the movie thread:
The Amazing Maurice
Based on the Discworld book by Terry Pratchett, this movie is one of the better adaptations of a Discworld book. This, however, is not saying much…you can not capture the with and sharpness of a Discworld book in movie form because the narration is so essential.
Anyway, they made a children’s movie out of Maurice and his Rats and they did diminish some of the more intense things, as you expect. However, the gist of the story is the same and they actually did a fairly good job. The movie is good and I do think kids would like it, but if you love the book by Pratchett, this has about 10% of the charm.
Not bad, but there really is just no way to fully capture a Discworld book in movie form. I’ve never seen it done and I don’t think I will.
*friend from the DGA got a screener of this movie and very kindly let me view it. It hits proper DVD release in April, I believe.
Hm. May be part of the reason it didn’t spark discussion back in December.
Yes, we could probably talk more about it when it hits some major streaming sites and is widely available on disc.
It was streaming here already.
Personally, I loved it. Sure, it’s not the book, but it was very good.
I thought so, too. Of course, it helps that the book isn’t one that I’ve reread in years, so I didn’t remember what it left out.
It was more tone than content. The book is a lot more mature than this almost G-rated light hearted movie. I don’t mind, but it was different tonally.
Exactly. I don’t have the book here in front of me, so can only paraphrase from memory, but there’s a scene where Drumknott is expressing his surprise that the city’s criminals are laying low and keeping their noses clean, despite the giant wahooni Fred Colon has made of the Watch; and Vetinari responds that Ankh-Morpork’s criminals have the ability to anticipate the future, know that Mister Vimes will be back eventually and won’t be happy, and that an unhappy Commander of the Watch can spread his dissatisfaction around with a broad shovel. I think Nobby forming a Watchman’s Guild was a bit of a surprise, but otherwise, Vetinari knew precisely what would happen when he promoted Fred.
I’m enjoying Wintersmith quite a bit and I don’t how it is regarded, but I like it the most of the three Tiffany books so far. I think…I find the Nac Mac Feegles to be better in small doses. They are featured, but not the driving force of the story in this book and it is better for it.
I feel like Terry was at the height of his craft with the Tiffany Aching books. For one thing, I love the imagery of the Wintersmith and the Green Lady. Especially the thought of the smith hammering out a cold iron winters day.
For me, I think he peaked with ‘Thief of Time’. He wasn’t diagnosed with Alzheimers for a few years after that, and there are certainly a few good books later, but in retrospect it looks as if the decline began around the time of ‘Monstrous Regiment’…?
And latterly in the Moist books, he was rather just repeating himself, I fear…
I’m not sure I can tell a decline yet. The latest I’ve read is Snuff and Unseen Academicals.
Snuff was only OK and Academicals was never going to be great…it felt like three mini-novels combined.
Just looked at a chronological by date of publication list and they don’t really fall neatly into place for me; there was an occasional book I thought not up to the rest mixed in with some I thought really good. I tend to think of Night Watch as peak; but there were some right up there with it after that.
I thought the first Moist book – Going Postal – was in that peak; but that the later two were repetitive, and never quite took wing. So I suppose I’d say I thought them uneven, and mostly fading, after Wintersmith.
Even poorer Pratchett tends to be better than peak a lot of other people, though.