The Truth is one of my favorites, perhaps because I started out as a reporter and asked myself many of the same moral/ethical questions William does.
Continuing the hijack above:
I have to concur with the “Can we please relegate the witches to minor roles” thoughtline above. The only book in which (no pun intended) they were main characters that wasn’t ho-hum was Maskerade.
Nanny, Granny, et al are great side characters but can’t carry a whole novel.
I am beginning to think I should read the books in order. Is that a good idea?
For instance, it seems like Vimes developes in the books, and I have two unread books with him in, without having seen his past (The Truth and Night Watch)
About Night Watch - Is the picture on the front meant to be a parody of the picture on the back? The picture on the front seems to be Josh Kirby, who did the one on the back?
I liked The Truth – rather more than Thief of Time, actually. I liked how Ankh-Morpork was shown from a slightly different point of view, and how most of the characters were new but still well-developed.
I also like how truly complex Pratchett’s characters are getting, for example with the delicate “racial” tensions in Ankh-Morpork:
“Did I say ‘thank you’?”
“No, you did not.”
“Oh dear.”
Lobsang – reading the books in order is not a must. Some lay the foundation for others, but they’re each complete in themselves. I did find going back to read Guards! Guards! a bit more difficult after I’d read the later Watch books and seen what the Watch evolved into, though.
I found it quite good except that scene with venitari which just seemed arkward.
I haven’t seen the front and back pictures, but I hear that the one on the back is “Night Watch” by Rembrandt.
And the witches are great. They’re funnier if you’ve met folks like them, of course.
They don’t need to be exactly in order. But I’d say the mini-series do need to be read within their order. Vimes (especially) & Carrot do develop over the course of the books. So do the witches, in their books & Death (which is weird, but he does).
I liked The Truth. Definitely up there, for me at least. But then, I like newspaper stories.