What's your favorite Discworld book?

Stefu · April 21, 2003, 10:13

Well, we had the thread, so I thought I'd set up a poll. There was a slight trouble, as there are more than 24 books, so I dropped out all that didn't conform to the regular format (ie. Amazing Maurice and Last Hero), combined Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic to one option (since it's really more of one book chopped in two, really), dropped Eric since it was short and, well, kinda crappy, and dropped Night Watch for being the newest and so I'd get 24 options. And yes, we have no bananas.

Personally, I vote for Men at Arms. It's probably the definite Watch book - the Watch is at a manageable size, the plot's good, the book's good, and the villain's believable. (The worst setback of many of the newest Pratchett books are the simply unbelievable villains. And the Igors. Can't forget the Igors.)

General Ludd · April 21, 2003, 10:44

I've been reading one Discworld book after the other non-stop for the past few months (currently at Maskarade, only having missed eric and Interesting Times, so far) so they're all a bit of a blur, and mixed together in my memory... but I do remember Men at Arms, Reaper Man, Pyramids, and Mort as being particularily good.

Buck Birdseed · April 21, 2003, 11:06

God the Igor thing is getting a bit stale. It was barely funny the first time.

Er, anyway, Hogfather or Feet of Clay, easily the two deepest books in the series. The latter really should win purely because it has the most complex structure of any Discworld book (I love the way each of the themes are acted out on several planes at once, like the way both Ankh-Morpork and the Golems are trying to create Kings and failing), but ultimately the former is just, er, funnier. I read it every christmas, it's a bit of a tradition.

And I quite like Eric. Certainly better than, say, Moving Pictures or Carpe Jugulum.

Urban Ranger · April 21, 2003, 13:00

I like all the Watch books most, followed by the wizards, then the witches. The Watch ones are great because all those characters are so human, besides, some of them are slightly incompetent. The only thing I don't like is Lord Vertinari, who knows everything and has calculations so precise no mortal can escape his grasp.

monkspider · April 21, 2003, 14:16

I give "Guards! Guards!" the vote for coolest title.

St Leo · April 23, 2003, 20:03

This really should be a multiple choice poll. I voted for Jingo.

Er, anyway, Hogfather or Feet of Clay, easily the two deepest books in the series.

Eeew, how can you possibly like Hogfather?

The worst setback of many of the newest Pratchett books are the simply unbelievable villains. And the Igors. Can't forget the Igors.

I wuv Igors.

(currently at Maskarade, only having missed eric and Interesting Times, so far)

Do try to dig those up. Eric, though a bit juvenile, explains how Rincewind escaped from the Dungeon Dimensions while Interesting Times sets up for Last Continent. Maskarade sucks.

SnowFire · April 23, 2003, 20:06

Interesting, Stefu. Men at Arms was the last Discworld book I tried to read, and I just got stuck on it and couldn't finish it. I liked Guards! Guards! and I still like most of the characters in Men at Arms... but... but... I hate the plot! It's a shame such fun characters and generally entertaining writing style is stuck with such a bad one! Not to mention that things I'm sure he meant as funny come off just hideously wrong. Like the whole trolls move to the city and get dumb thing. First of all, wouldn't this be obvious, due to the change of temperature from day to night as well as winter to summer? It can't be THAT much colder in the mountains. That makes no sense. Very much a "from nowhere" plot idea. Secondly, the whole IDEA is something more from a horror novel than a comedy. I get freaked out by smart people turning dumb and not being able to realize it somehow, and it was done voluntarily here. Obviously Mr. Pratchett has never had a relative with Alzheimer's (a disease I might add that I would probably shoot myself in a suicidal depression rather than live through). That just didn't work. Might I add that while the villian's motive amuses me, the whole "the existence of guns is somehow evil" preachy stuff totally doesn't work for me? Technology itself is neutral and will come about, geniuses or no geniuses. Sure, Pratchett was preachy in some of his other books too (he REALLY hates middle-management blather, as evinced from Light Fantastic & Eric), but it all piled up in Men at Arms to stop me from reading more Pratchett.

What's my favorite? I'm going to have to go with Reaper Man, myself. Death is just too amusing. A shame Soul Music only had half of it be good (though my roommate and I disagree on which half- I hate the damn musicians and like Susan, he doesn't like Susan and likes the rockumentary part which is played a little too straight for my tastes). Interesting Times probably takes runner-up.

monolith94 · April 23, 2003, 20:20

thief of time, mort and small gods are the most 'thoughtful' of pratchett's books, in my opinion. Although feet of clay is right up there too. In terms of pure enjoyment, however, I will NEVER get over the first two books. I just enjoy them SO much!

Imran Siddiqui · April 23, 2003, 22:10

Mono:

The first two were great. The others I've read haven't been as funny/enjoyable. There is just something about Rincewind

.

monolith94 · April 23, 2003, 23:09

I am not alone!
I think that the thing I liked about the first two was this unending sense of weirdness - the sense that anything really could happen, and that this was a world in which every rule had been broken. It also felt epic, and engrossing.

Imran Siddiqui · April 23, 2003, 23:10

Yeah... and after that, the feeling was... well, broken. Wierdness became mundane. I didn't enjoy 'Small Gods' as much because it all seemed the same and not as exciting.

Urban Ranger · April 23, 2003, 23:36

I dunno. The first two books are not the great.

Imran Siddiqui · April 24, 2003, 00:30

Well then... maybe me and mono will form our own 'First Two Pratchett Books Club'! HA!

monolith94 · April 24, 2003, 00:46

INDEED!

Urban Ranger · April 24, 2003, 03:10

Go play in the corner, kids

N35t0r · April 24, 2003, 09:26

Well, it's a tough choice....

all those characters/groups! I mean, Death is just great, Rincewind and the wizards, (the wizzard and the wizards

) The watch... King Pteppicimon... The auditors of reality....

But in the end, my favourite are the Watch... Though it was a bit down-putting having read Jingo and Feet of Clay _before_ Guards! Guards!.. Alcoholic Vimes just was a difficult thing to cope with...

And as for the specific book, i liked Jingo very much... "Give a man a fire, and he will be warm for a day. But set fire to him, and he will be warm for the rest of his life"

Zkribbler · April 24, 2003, 10:06

Quote:

Originally posted by St Leo
Eeew, how can you possibly like Hogfather?

Hogfather is my favorite

but maybe because it was the first Prachett book I came across.

Thief of Time is IMHO the most creative. The concept of taking chunks of time ("my goodness, is it 3:00 o'clock already?? Where did the time go?") to stitch up history, and the invention of the procrastinator were both brilliant.

Moving Pictures is also wonderous, twisting the early days of Hollywood into a fantasy novel was a daring concept. I

the climatic scene were the gigantic woman carrying a screaming ape climbs to the top of a tower while CMOT Dibbler looks on with a vague notion that something is slightly wrong with the whole set up.

muxec · April 24, 2003, 10:15

I voted Small Gods. But Moving Pictures is second place. And Teppic is also cool.

General Ludd · April 24, 2003, 10:57

Ah, I forgot about Small Gods. That is another of my favorites.