# Discworld Reading Club #26 - Thief of Time
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 6, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703 "2009-02-06T15:04:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/1 "2009-02-06T15:04:55Z")
All right, all right, ALL RIGHT!
The books covered so far:
1. [The Colour of Magic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=319942)
2. [The Light Fantastic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=322121)
3. [Equal Rites](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=323881)
4. [Mort](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=325906)
5. [Sourcery](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329316)
6. [Wyrd Sisters](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331474)
7. [Pyramids](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=354028)
8. [Guards! Guards!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=356823)
9. [[del]Faust[/del] Eric](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=359767)
10. [Moving Pictures](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=362543)
11. [Reaper Man](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=364542)
12. [Witches Abroad](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=366634)
13. [Small Gods](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=368592)
14. [Lords and Ladies](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=370560)
15. [Men at Arms](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=385770)
16. [Soul Music](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=392204)
17. [Interesting Times](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=399321)
18. [Maskerade](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=402762)
19. [Feet of Clay](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=407477)
20. [Hogfather](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=434568)
21. [Jingo](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=439916)
22. [The Last Continent](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=459683)
23. [Carpe Jugulum](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=459695)
24. [The Fifth Elephant](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463892)
25. [The Truth](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9828216#post9828216)
Auditors, Nanny Ogg, Susan Death, nefarious plots and their foiling…
For some reason, this one never really jelled with me. I should probably go back and re-read it sometime, just to see if it was me or the book.
Thoughts?
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/2 "2009-02-06T15:34:08Z")
_Thief of Time_ is my favorite Discworld book, hands down. I think it has the most well-thought out plot, as opposed to just relying on satire, characters, and laughs to pull through. Not that I’m averse to the former, but it gives ToT an extra dimension, a kind of solidity.
Then there’s the great cast of characters: Susan Sto Hellit, Lu-Tze, and Nanny Ogg all in one book, along with the Five Horsemen of the apocalypse, Lobsang and Jeremy, the Auditors, Qu, the Death of Rats, Lady LeJean, and of course, Jason.
Another thing I liked about ToT is the underlying theme of what it means to be human. The Auditors, Susan, Horsemen, Jeremy, and LeJean each, in their own way, have to deal with the benefits and detriments of humanity, or near humanity.
And the Angel Clothed in White with the Iron Book was great comic relief.
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/3 "2009-02-07T23:21:51Z")
Anyone else?
---
### Author:  [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/4 "2009-02-07T23:41:39Z")
The story is very good, I think one of the best ones in the series. Lu-Tze is a great character, the scenes in the monastery are fun, Suzan is getting more and more interesting, and I always like Igors, so yeah, I liked it a lot.
---
### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/5 "2009-02-08T00:36:33Z")
My fave discworld book, and the one I’ve re-read the most! I love the scene with the procrastinators spinning out of control, as the monks try to deal with the time surge.
Susan takes on a more human aspect, even as she embraces her timeless nature, and the phenomenon of auditors trying to cope with human senses is most thought-provoking.
Nanny shows she’s tough as nails, and equal to Granny in her own way, by standing up to Death and dealing with Time out of control.
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/6 "2009-02-08T00:55:09Z")
I like it. I don’t list it in my top ten, but it’s got nice characterisation throughout, which is my favourite aspect of Terry’s writing.
---
### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/7 "2009-02-08T04:23:20Z")
One of my favorites. I’ve reread it several times.
---
### Author:  [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/8 "2009-02-08T10:53:19Z")
It’s one of my favourites as well. Lu-Tze is great and the detail I like best are the video game-like quicksaves that the Yetis can do.
---
### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/9 "2009-02-08T19:50:13Z")
One of my faves.
Does anyone else feel that Susan-as-schoolteacher is modelled on Ms Frizzle ([The Magic Schoolbus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms_Frizzle)).
Si
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/10 "2009-02-08T19:57:39Z")
OK, now I’m going to have to break out one of my copies and give it a re-read. I’ll likely be home sick from work tomorrow, so that will give me something to do other than suffer through another cold passed on by my ungrateful,\* diseased\*\*\* little wretches of students!\*\*
Peeved, you say? Why do you ask?
---
### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [February 8, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/11 "2009-02-08T21:48:19Z")
I also particularly appreciated the conceptualization of the cosmic tick. What a Plank-second should be!
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/12 "2009-02-09T01:55:02Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#):
>
> One of my faves.
>
> Does anyone else feel that Susan-as-schoolteacher is modelled on Ms Frizzle ([The Magic Schoolbus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms_Frizzle)).
>
> Si
I honestly never thought of that. (My brother, for the record, says, “NO way!”).
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/13 "2009-02-09T21:13:37Z")
I like it. The monastery, the whole _Kung Fu_ thing, as well as the timeslicing. The twins thing was a bit predictable…then wasn’t. And I really like Lady LeJean.
Didn’t much care for the shoehorning of Chaos into the Horsemen there, it was almost a bit too message-y for my tastes.
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/14 "2009-02-09T22:54:49Z")
Really? What message? I didn’t notice any messages there.
---
### Author:  [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/15 "2009-02-09T23:19:39Z")
Can anyone tell me what Rule One is? I’ve read the book about three times and still don’t know.
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [February 9, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/16 "2009-02-09T23:55:55Z")
“Never attack a small, wrinkly bald monk, especially if he’s smiling.” Or something like that. I don’t have the book with me right now.
---
### Author:  [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/17 "2009-02-10T04:51:16Z")
It’s very difficult for me to pick favorites among the discworld books (they’re all so good) but Thief of Time is definitely up there.
---
### Author:  [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/18 "2009-02-10T07:04:07Z")
Loved the procrastinators. Just loved them.
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/19 "2009-02-10T11:09:49Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> Really? What message? I didn’t notice any messages there.
It’s message-y about Chaos Theory - how emergent behaviour and chaos mathematics is at the heart of Life, the Universe, Everything…kind of like Malcolm’s expositions in _Jurassic Park_, only personified. Pterry has a thing for chaos maths, and it shows.
---
### Author:  [@Neverending\_Elbow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neverending_Elbow)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703/20 "2009-02-10T14:39:12Z")
I really liked this one, although the one thing I was disappointed about was that Lobsang wears a robe - I was really looking forward to the apperance of The Trousers of Time. 🙂
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discworld-reading-club-26-thief-of-time/484703.md?page=2)