Thud! (Major Spoilers! Do not enter!)

Cafe Society
1

Ok, all spoilers to be boxed in boxes as this book just came out and I’m sure many of the TM haven’t even gotten it yet. I’m so pleased I got it fast! I had to turn it over to my SO, so I finished it in two nights! :eek:

I thought this book was a lot more serious. I loved it, though. I adored Young Sam, and I liked the way they all referred to him as such.
The Summoning Dark was kind of creepy, and I was surprised it would try to take over Vimes. I mean, a non-dwarf?
It was pretty creepy too, what with all the different people dying down there in the dark.
I found the whole Sally-Angua-Cheery stuff pretty amusing…I thought it would be annoying but it was well set-up.
Aaaaand…

What else can he do with the Guards series? Seems like most of the major situations have been addressed. I certainly want him to continue, but neither do I want to see it going down in quality because he’s forced to write!

More thoughts later, provided this thread doesn’t sink like a stone (in case no one’s read it yet.)

2

Continuing won’t be a problem. The last page of the book set up the next few dozen.

With the discovery of the dwarf “torque” thingy, I have a feeling Ankh-Morpork is about to get a jump-start into the Industrial Revolution.

I was actually thinking about this book this morning on the way to school. What will happen next? Eventually…

Vetinari will die, leaving a conflict between King Carrot and republican to the soles of his boots Vimes. Both will feel that they are the “savior” of the City.

:smiley:

3

Ok, I’ll be the first…

What in the Fuck are you talking about?

George

4

Pterry’s newest Discworld book.

5

WheresGeorge, Thud! is the new book by Terry Pratchett. So sorry.

silenus, didn’t think of that! It! Could! Work! (bonus points if you can identify the reference!)

6

It’s pronounced “Fronkensteen.” :smiley:

7

Much obliged.

I’ve seen much good stuff written here about Pratchett’s work, but just can’t pull the trigger on buying one of the books. I just don’t like humor in my sci-fi very much.

George

8

Try them anyway. They are fantasy, not sci-fi. :smiley:

9

Don’t buy one, borrow it. And yes, it is fantasy, not sci-fi.

10

I just don’t see that happening. Carrot has never shown anything but total loyalty to Vimes and always seems to agree that the city is better off without a king, except when he’s given Vetinari the occasional suggestion or reminder of something (making Vimes a Knight then a Duke for example). He knows what could happen if he ever takes the throne and just doesn’t want it.

I loved this book. The scenes with Young Sam were delightful and it’s good to see Vimes starting to come around about vampires too.

I wasn’t at all surprised that the Summoning Dark tried to control Vimes. He has a lot of darkness in him and it obviously thought it had found the perfect soul. What it couldn’t recognize was how hard he works to control his inner darkness.

I have a feeling the dwarf population of Ankh-Morpork is going to get even bigger underground now that the tunnels are available.

I’m now looking forward to Where’s My Cow? and I trust we will get the city version, Foul Ole Ron and all.

11

Finished it last night and enjoyed it very much. I think the last several have been great and very insightful as well as funny. I liked the Young Sam stuff a lot too–he got parent-fear down just right.

12

Loved it. It’s by far the funniest of the serious Discworld books.

But I miss the Asterix & Obelix sensibilities of books like Feet of Clay and Lords and Ladies.

13

I liked Brick’s line about lawyers. :smiley:

14

I really enjoyed it, very dark but still fun.

The Thud! club in the gemologists was good, with the dwarfs getting clubs and the trolls helmets etc - I liked that image. A nice geeky set of people.

I did like the passing reference to “that idiot at the Post Office”, too. A nice little nod to an earlier book, like the continued existence of The Times.

I thought at first that the Summoning Dark welling up inside Vimes was a development of “The Beast” (I think it was called) which was mentioned before, particularly in Night Watch. I was quite surprised to find out that it wasn’t, but Vimes’ profficiency at keeping it at bay appears to be related to his practise with The Beast.

The “girls’ night out” was fun, too, although

I did think that the Tawnee character was a bit… contrived, maybe. Stunningly gorgeous, by all accounts, and a pole dancer. And Sally’s arrival - well, a vampire in the Watch was inevitable, and an attractive female one makes an interesting “rival” to Angua. But the scene down the well was a bit unusual - female vampires can’t transmogrify their clothes. Uh huh. And following that, a scene with the two of them in the shower. Don’t get me wrong, I like young women in shower scenes - but I always liked that PTerry kept such unnecessary scenes out of his books.

I always like to read PTerry’s books twice (at least!), because sometimes you miss something that makes more sense when you know the ending. Speaking of the ending:

Koom Valley was all a big misunderstanding? “Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone was nice”? Well that’s the end of 2000 years of violence then. Hmmm…

And while I’m griping… not really spoilers but just in case…

Carrot was described as 6 foot 3 - he was 6 foot 6 in Guards! Guards! I’m sure. Scholar’s Entry appears to be known now as Wizard’s Passage. Boggis a Watch Special? The Gooseberry and The Devices seemed a bit… out of character for PTerry. I’m sure his parodies used to be more subtle.

I’ll stop whinging now. I really enjoyed it, and want to re-read it as soon as I can - however my mum will be reading it first. Bah.

15

I’m thinking subway.

16

I’m madly in love with Sam Vimes.

It’s probably because I was reading it while very sleepy, but I had a little trouble following the plot this time. Usually it all comes together and makes sense fairly early on, but I got somewhat confused following all the different dwarfs and tunnels around.

I’m beginning to develop an interest in Archchancellor Ridcully. In both this book and in Night Watch, he had some scenes that hinted rather strongly that there’s more there than Pterry habitually shows. In previous books the wizards are generally shown as a bunch of wankers, but they really came through with Vimes’s carriages.

Overall, this one’s destined to be my 2nd favorite, after Night Watch. I’m looking forward to Where’s My Cow?

17

I dunno. I’m beginning to see too many of the same themes repeating …

Hat Full of Sky and Thud! both focussing on the unseen force attempting to possess the hero, and both being thwarted by some internal representation of the self. The recurring theme of the importance of power unused. (Although I did love the line of being afraid of letting the darkness out.) Wazzer’s listening to the Duchess and Whatshisname from Small Gods listening to Om. So on. Witches or Sweeper, lots is just becoming different skins to very similar characters. Well, with this many books I guess you’re bound to repeat some riffs.

All that whined … I have a freind just starting to read Pratchett. What would each of recommend as first books? As best books? Me, I’m most partial to Small Gods but others are close. Which were his duds best skipped over?

18

I always start my students on either Wyrd Sisters or Guards! Guards!. Pterry has no duds, but I have found that the first few novels are best left until you are familiar with the Disc.

19

Bumping. I just finished it.

The SF Book Club is selling Where’s My Cow?.

It’s interesting, the word “Discworld” was never mentioned, and Death showed but once. I like these, but I’d like a “real” Discworld book soon.

And no big pun in this one. :frowning:

20

Ditto.

I find he generally doesn’t start with the whole Discworld premise in the prologue unless it has some pertinence to the story. Night Watch didn’t start with it, nor did Feet of Clay. Neither story would have been materially different if each had been set on a round spinning ball, so he skipped 'em.

The “inner personality protecting against being taken over” goes back to Carpe Jugulum, I think. Both Agnes/Perdita and the milquetoast preacher had them and it was the basis for them facing down the vampires. During Night Watch I was wondering about Vimes’ Beast and whether it’d perform the same function; evidently it does.

The only thing that really made me pull up short was the

…female vampires can’t reconstitute clothing thing. It reeked of “because you’re a boy, silly!” from Dark Crystal

I’m beginning to suspect he’s nearly reached a point where he’s going to stop writing. Now that Koom Valley is out of the way and troll/dwarf relations will (ha!) supposedly improve, the trolls in Ankh-Morpork would theoretically embrace Carrot as king… maybe. At least it was a certainty before that they would never have done; this moves one step closer to the book where Vimes vs. Carrot can happen.

But hey, three of the last four books have been about war, race relations, and revolution, so maybe Pterry’s just had something on his mind for the last few years.