Only spoilery in a “Rincewind must survive this book since he’s in others” sense, but you should get that from just the existence of Last Continent,* Last Hero* and* Unseen Academicals* anyway.
I haven’t read them, but I would imagine that the Science books would deal a lot with Hex. So you might want to read the book(s) where Hex is introduced, first.
It’d probably also help to know the UU faculty, at least superficially. In what book is Ponder Stibbons introduced?
Hex & Stibbons are introduced in* Soul Music* but get fleshed out in* Interesting Times. *Ponder Stibbons himself actually appeared as early as Moving Pictures, but he hadn’t much Ponder Stibbonseness then IIRC.
Well, I’ll be starting Reaper Man this weekend. I alternate between Discworld and Brandon Sanderson, who is my favorite author.
He gets a bit more screentime in Lords & Ladies.
They do deal with Hex a bit, but it’s explained at the start. I suppose it could spoil earlier books about what Hex becomes capable of, but it’s fairly clear from Hex’s introduction which way it’s going.
I didn’t find the storylines in the Science books to be all that compelling, but I really enjoyed the popsci interjections. A number of them may well be out of date now, though, as some of them deal with the nature of the universe, and our understanding of such has changed a bit since they were published (the first Science of Discworld book is now 18 years old).
EDIT: Looking up the publication date, I note that there’s a fourth Science book I didn’t know about!
Reaper Man is…interesting. A bit meandering. I’m about 1/4 - 1/3 through it.
I thought Death would be more front and center. Instead, it’s actually been about Wendall Poons and his undead life struggles. And the Unseen University dealing with his non-death. Oh, Death has appeared for sure, but a lot less than I expected.
It’s cool. I like the opening ~10% more than the last ~10%, but I figure it will all come together.
There’s two story threads. My edition has them in two different typefaces, even.
DEATH is one of my favorite characters in the series. To have a book so significantly involving him and yet be so bland is a major disappointment.
I don’t know. He’s pretty interesting when he’s in it. I just thought he’d be in it more. I know, he wasn’t in Mort *that *much, but I thought this book would be more heavily about him.
Yes, I understand. I am finding the book pretty good, but not as good as a couple others I’ve read.
I think Reaper Man is actually the only book where we get extended POVs from Death himself. Most of the other Death books are seen from another character - Mort or Susan, usually, or Albert in Hogfather.
Interesting.
I have to admit, the “undead” support group was hilarious. The poor vampire who is bad at meeting people, the bogeyman who is afraid to come out from underneath things. Wonderful.
And the werewolf that’s an honorary undead, too.
“I HAVE RECEIVED THE BADLY-WRITTEN NOTE OF THE BANSHEE.” snerk
I also, so far, find myself respecting the old lady Death works for. She slaps him across the face for being too cynical/gloomy and I love it.
What edition is that? Please?
It’s just a 1998 Corgi paperback reprint (UK). It’s much more noticeable in the hardback edition, but it’s definitely there in the paperbacks. I don’t know if the American editions did it.
Nearly done with Reaper Man. I must be denser than dense, but how did Death defeat the New Death? I must have been distracted, but even going back, I’m having a heck of a time figuring out exactly what happened.
He’d befriended the inventor of New Death’s combine harvester earlier, and knew exactly which sprocket would, if misplaced, result in the harvester violently splunking itself.
I did catch that he removed part of the machine to destroy it, but my own poor reading skills( or my distraction) made me not realize that the combine harvester was New Death’s. In the end, did Death just use his regular scythe to kill New Death?
I just don’t get how Death got out of…death. Even killing New Death would make a new one arise, or did Azrael(or whoever) just concede and let Death continue?
By the way, adored the final scenes with Renata. Him taking her to the dance was adorable. Just a wonderful conclusion to a great storyline.