The Shepherd’s Crown

The Shepherd’s Crown is the last book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I really don’t like the finality of how that sounds, which is probably why I’ve waited a long time to read this book.

Having complained about how the female lead character was used in The Unicorn Project, I figured it was time to read this book and see it done properly again.

I’m not going to include any full-on spoilers, but some things might give the game away, so don’t read this if you’ve not already read the book.

During the first sequence in the book I got a pretty good idea what was coming and I was like, “No. No. Nooooooooo!” I’m not going to say what it was, but it was a major kick in the gonads…

Tiffany Aching is a great character. It would be so easy for a lesser writer to make her a Mary Sue, but Pratchett keeps her multi-dimensional. Sometimes strong, clever, and at times ruthless. Sometimes self-doubting and almost naive.

As you would expect for this part of the disc (world), there are a number of familiar characters. It’s wrong to say any character in Discworld is “my favourite”, as it changes with each book, and sometime several times in a single book. This book contained several of my favourite characters. Some old and some new. πŸ™‚ There was also a brief appearance by Horace, a Blue Lancre cheese made by Tiffany, who was known to eat mice, and as it turns out is capable of fighting alongside the Nac Mac Feegle. I’m ashamed to admit I had forgotten about him until he was mentioned in a scene.

This was quite an emotional roller coaster ride of a story. Partly because of the story itself and the characters involved. Partly because it was the last of a 41 book series, which I loved. Partly because of the reason for why it was the last book.

Oh well. Happy days!

Cheers

Tim…

For those that don’t know, here’s a little bit of history…

Despite having a degree and a PhD, I had somehow managed to remain pretty terrible at reading. I suspect a mild case of dyslexia maybe. In 2006, at the tender age of 37, I decided to force myself to start reading in an attempt to improve.

I started by reading The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. In 2007 I started to read the Discworld series and got hooked. I read all of the books (very slowly) that existed until I was done, then kept reading each new one as they arrived. I’ve dipped in and out of other things since then, but by far the majority of the books I’ve read in my life were part of this series. We are fast nearing the end of 2019, and that part of my reading life is now over. πŸ™

For those that care, I am substantially better at reading now. Part of that is practice of course. Part of it is not beating myself up about being crap at reading anymore. Part of it is the additional confidence public speaking has given me. I’m still pretty terrible at reading out loud, but I’m less bothered by the mistakes now. πŸ™‚

So for the part you played in that process, thanks Terry!

Raising Steam

Raising Steam is the 40th book in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

I waited a long time before starting this book because I heard from several sources that it wasn’t very goodΒ andΒ I didn’t want to ruin what has been an awesome 39 book series. I finally bit the bullet and I’m really glad I did because I really enjoyed it. Maybe some literary types can argue some difference between the earlier books and this one, but as far as I can see it’s the same Discworld stuff I’ve enjoyed all along.

Steam trains have come to Discword and most of the world has fallen under their spell. I used to love toy trains as a kid, so I could relate to this. πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Wintersmith and Making Money…

During my recent trips I read the last two books in the Discworld series…

Wintersmith – The Wintersmith (the God of winter, sort-of) falls in love with Tiffany Aching, a young witch. If Tiffany handles it badly the discworld cold be thrown into a permanent winter. The 4th in the young adults series. I got half way through this and left the book on a plane, so I had to buy a new copy to finish it.

Making Money – Moist von Lipwig, a former conman, tries to revitalize the Ankh Morpork banking system.

I’ve been reading these books since November 2007. That’s about 19 months, which works out at roughly 1 book every 2 weeks. There is a new book out later in the year, but I’ll wait for the paperback.

So now what? I don’t really know what to read next. Any suggestions welcome… πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Thud!

The first 50 pages of Thud! were a real struggle for me. I love the Sam Vimes character so I was expecting this book to click instantly and it just didn’t. It starts off quite serious and there seems to be a distinct lack of humour. So I switched my mindset from expecting humour to just reading a detective story and then started to find it much more amusing. It does seem significanly more serious and it just feels different to many of the Discworld books I’ve read, but maybe it was just me. Even so, it was pretty cool.

Cheers

Tim…

A Hat Full of Sky and Going Postal…

The recent traveling as given me a chance to read some more Discworld books.

A Hat Full of Sky – Another mission for the new witch Tiffany Aching. A nice story, but like the other Young Adult Discworld books, it lacks a little edge.

Going Postal – Against his will, a conman called Moist von Lipwig becomes Ankh-Morpork’s latest postmaster. So does he make a go of it, use it to continue his life of crime, or make a run for it? I’m always hesitant when a new character is introduced, but this one works really well.

Cheers

Tim…

More Discworld Books…

The recent travelling means I’ve been able to do some more Discworld reading:

The Truth: Ankh-Morpork gets its first newspaper. It’s all downhill from there on…

Thief of Time: The perfect clock is built, time stops and the world as we know it ends. Susan, Death’s Granddaughter, and the History Monks come to the rescue.

The Last Hero: Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde decide to give the Gods what-for! Could this mean the end of Discworld?

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents: A talking cat, talking rats and a stupid looking kid pretending to be the Pied Piper. Life is never quite as simple as a fairy tale.

Next stop, book 29. The journey continues…

Cheers

Tim…

Soul Music and Interesting Times…

Rock and Roll is born on Discworld in Soul Music and Rincewind frees the Counterweight Continent in Interesting Times.

Although both books are pretty good, by the standards of previous offerings I felt they were a little flat. Maybe some of that is down to the manner in which I read them. Most of the previous books were read in comparatively few sittings. Maybe 50-100 pages at a time. These two books were read in chunks of about 10-20 pages at a time. I guess you lose some of the momentum when you are constantly starting and stopping. πŸ™‚

Cheers

Tim…

Lords and Ladies and Men at Arms…

My quest to read the Discworld series continues:

Lords and Ladies – This book starts where Witches Abroad finished. This time the witches have to prevent elves returning to the Discworld. Love, marriage, death and elves. What more could you want. πŸ™‚

Men at Arms – I keep reading these books and saying, “This one is my favorite!”, only to read the next and have it become my new favorite, but Mean at Arms is a classic!

Cheers

Tim…

Reaper Man, Witches Abroad and Small Gods…

It’s a while since I mentioned any books, so I thought I’d get myself up to date…

Reaper Man – Death takes a holiday and chaos ensues. Death is my favorite character in the Discworld series, so I really enjoyed this one.

Witches Abroad – Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick have to go “abroad” do some “fairy god-mothering” to make sure a few fairy tales don’t end they way they should. These three characters work really well together as they are all so different. The funny thing is 4th fro last sentence is, “There’s a billion places like home. But only one of ’em’s where you live.”, which seemed really appropriate as I was reading it whilst feeling totally at home in Vienna.

Small Gods – What happens when people worship the politics and process of their religion rather than their God? Answer… Their God becomes a one eyed tortoise who can only be heard by the last person who actually truly believes in him. A very funny book with more than a hint of truth in parts.

That’s 13 books done and I’m still only 1/3 of the way through…

Cheers

Tim…