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chrisbiss's reviews
527 reviews
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
2.0
I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in order.
This is the first in the series I'm 100% sure I haven't read before and honestly I think I would have been happier to skip it. I didn't really enjoy this at all and it was a slog to get through compared to most of the others. I put this alongside Sourcery as a book that I actively disliked. That's not to say that it's bad - though I think objectively it's not as good as some of the others - it just wasn't for me.
It suffers from some of the same problems as sorcery. The opening section really grabbed me and I wanted to stay in that place. Teppic training as an assassin was a lot of fun and I was ready to read a whole urban assassin shenanigans novel. Once he returned to Djel it lost me and I was left wishing for a return to where we started.
Part of the problem is that, outside of the setting - which we haven't seen before - we're mostly retreading old ground here. The story of a hereditary ruler destined to serve but not fit for the job observed by the previous king from beyond death and ultimately replaced by a side character who turns out to be a royal bastard is one that we've already seen play out in Wyrd Sisters. Unfortunately for Pyramids, Wyrd Sisters is one of the best Discworld novels. This is not.
Pratchett also returns to using chapters (or named parts, at least) for the first time since The Colour of Magic. They don't really serve a purpose beyond having titles that refer to other books ("The Book of the New Sun" is the one that springs to mind immediately) and it's in that style of humour that I think we see the biggest regression here. With Wyrd Sisters we were starting to see some of the social commentary that Discworld will later become known for, beginning to step into satire rather than humour. Pyramids is very much back to puns and punchlines and it doesn't land. If you told me that this was written somewhere around the same time as The Light Fantastic I wouldn't be surprised. It feels like an Unseen University book with a different coat of paint and as I've already established, those books aren't really for me.
This is the first in the series I'm 100% sure I haven't read before and honestly I think I would have been happier to skip it. I didn't really enjoy this at all and it was a slog to get through compared to most of the others. I put this alongside Sourcery as a book that I actively disliked. That's not to say that it's bad - though I think objectively it's not as good as some of the others - it just wasn't for me.
It suffers from some of the same problems as sorcery. The opening section really grabbed me and I wanted to stay in that place. Teppic training as an assassin was a lot of fun and I was ready to read a whole urban assassin shenanigans novel. Once he returned to Djel it lost me and I was left wishing for a return to where we started.
Part of the problem is that, outside of the setting - which we haven't seen before - we're mostly retreading old ground here. The story of a hereditary ruler destined to serve but not fit for the job observed by the previous king from beyond death and ultimately replaced by a side character who turns out to be a royal bastard is one that we've already seen play out in Wyrd Sisters. Unfortunately for Pyramids, Wyrd Sisters is one of the best Discworld novels. This is not.
Pratchett also returns to using chapters (or named parts, at least) for the first time since The Colour of Magic. They don't really serve a purpose beyond having titles that refer to other books ("The Book of the New Sun" is the one that springs to mind immediately) and it's in that style of humour that I think we see the biggest regression here. With Wyrd Sisters we were starting to see some of the social commentary that Discworld will later become known for, beginning to step into satire rather than humour. Pyramids is very much back to puns and punchlines and it doesn't land. If you told me that this was written somewhere around the same time as The Light Fantastic I wouldn't be surprised. It feels like an Unseen University book with a different coat of paint and as I've already established, those books aren't really for me.
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
4.0
I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in order.
I was convinced that I hadn't read this before, even though I knew I've owned it for years (in an omnibus edition alongside *Equal Rites* and *Witches Abroad*), but the second I read the opening sentence I knew that I was wrong. Part of me is annoyed at myself for forgetting it, but the rest of me is really happy that I effectively got to read this for the first time, a second time. This is definitely my favourite of the series so far, and by a pretty wide margin.
Something I'm noticing as I work through these books is that here in the early installments Pratchett is often revisiting ideas, like he wants to have a second run at things that didn't quite work the first time. *Wyrd Sisters* feels like a second run at some of the things they didn't quite work in *Equal Rites* (and, to an extent, *Sourcery*). We've got a child with a strange destiny that may or may not manage to be fulfilled, we've got the Ramtops as a setting, and - of course - we've got Granny Weatherwax, who's put to really great use here. She feels much more fully realised as a character than she was in *Equal Rites*, and she's also elevated by the addition of and juxtaposition with Nanny Ogg and Magrat. We've previously been told that all witches do things their own way, and getting to see three very unique and very personal practices butting up against one another is fantastic. The three characters work brilliantly together and I'd happily read a hundred more books about them.
The novel itself seems better constructed than those that have preceeded it, too. The plot actually works without any weird deus ex machina shenanigans; characters take action and drive things forward constantly,; the stakes are real and impactful, big enough to risk impacting the wider Discworld (which seems to be the scale Pratchett prefers to work on) but small enough to feel personal and like they can be influenced by ordinary people. And it really is in his ordinary people with relatively mundane problems that Pratchett shines (and I largely count his witches amongst the group "ordinary people with mundane problems", unlike his wizards). The humour is becoming more refined and more focused too, and it works so much better than some of the earlier installments. It probably helps that a gentle satirising of Shakespeare is very much aimed at my interests, but I think in general it feels a lot tighter and better executed than in earlier books.
*Mort* showed an early sign of the brilliance of Discworld. *Wyrd Sisters* feels like Pratchett's ability as a writer and a storyteller finally starting to catch up to his potential.
4/5 An outstanding work in its genre. Enthusiastically recommend. I say things like "this is my new favourite book".
I was convinced that I hadn't read this before, even though I knew I've owned it for years (in an omnibus edition alongside *Equal Rites* and *Witches Abroad*), but the second I read the opening sentence I knew that I was wrong. Part of me is annoyed at myself for forgetting it, but the rest of me is really happy that I effectively got to read this for the first time, a second time. This is definitely my favourite of the series so far, and by a pretty wide margin.
Something I'm noticing as I work through these books is that here in the early installments Pratchett is often revisiting ideas, like he wants to have a second run at things that didn't quite work the first time. *Wyrd Sisters* feels like a second run at some of the things they didn't quite work in *Equal Rites* (and, to an extent, *Sourcery*). We've got a child with a strange destiny that may or may not manage to be fulfilled, we've got the Ramtops as a setting, and - of course - we've got Granny Weatherwax, who's put to really great use here. She feels much more fully realised as a character than she was in *Equal Rites*, and she's also elevated by the addition of and juxtaposition with Nanny Ogg and Magrat. We've previously been told that all witches do things their own way, and getting to see three very unique and very personal practices butting up against one another is fantastic. The three characters work brilliantly together and I'd happily read a hundred more books about them.
The novel itself seems better constructed than those that have preceeded it, too. The plot actually works without any weird deus ex machina shenanigans; characters take action and drive things forward constantly,; the stakes are real and impactful, big enough to risk impacting the wider Discworld (which seems to be the scale Pratchett prefers to work on) but small enough to feel personal and like they can be influenced by ordinary people. And it really is in his ordinary people with relatively mundane problems that Pratchett shines (and I largely count his witches amongst the group "ordinary people with mundane problems", unlike his wizards). The humour is becoming more refined and more focused too, and it works so much better than some of the earlier installments. It probably helps that a gentle satirising of Shakespeare is very much aimed at my interests, but I think in general it feels a lot tighter and better executed than in earlier books.
*Mort* showed an early sign of the brilliance of Discworld. *Wyrd Sisters* feels like Pratchett's ability as a writer and a storyteller finally starting to catch up to his potential.
4/5 An outstanding work in its genre. Enthusiastically recommend. I say things like "this is my new favourite book".
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
2.0
I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in order.
I've realised - possibly for the second time in my life, given that I historically avoided Rincewind books - that I don't particularly like Rincewind as a main character. He's very passive, with things happening to and around him rather than being driven by him, and that bothers me. Sourcery very much suffers from this problem. Rincewind does become a little more proactive towards the end, but by that point it's too little, too late.
I really wanted this book to be about Coin and the staff that contains his father's soul, which is what the opening section promises us. And it is about that, but because it's shown to us through the point of view of a character who spends most of his time running away and actively trying not to be a protagonist, we don't really get to see any of the interesting stuff. I get that that's sort of the point of Rincewind as a character - he's very much an anti-hero in a Pratchett sense, rather than the general meaning of that term - but it just doesn't work for me.
I think this is the first book in the series I'm going to say I actively disliked. It isn't bad, and it probably suffers from coming s raight off the back of a top-tier novel like Mort, but it's definitely (for me, anyway) the weakest of these first few books even when we account for how rough and prototypical The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic are.
2/5. It's fine.
I've realised - possibly for the second time in my life, given that I historically avoided Rincewind books - that I don't particularly like Rincewind as a main character. He's very passive, with things happening to and around him rather than being driven by him, and that bothers me. Sourcery very much suffers from this problem. Rincewind does become a little more proactive towards the end, but by that point it's too little, too late.
I really wanted this book to be about Coin and the staff that contains his father's soul, which is what the opening section promises us. And it is about that, but because it's shown to us through the point of view of a character who spends most of his time running away and actively trying not to be a protagonist, we don't really get to see any of the interesting stuff. I get that that's sort of the point of Rincewind as a character - he's very much an anti-hero in a Pratchett sense, rather than the general meaning of that term - but it just doesn't work for me.
I think this is the first book in the series I'm going to say I actively disliked. It isn't bad, and it probably suffers from coming s raight off the back of a top-tier novel like Mort, but it's definitely (for me, anyway) the weakest of these first few books even when we account for how rough and prototypical The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic are.
2/5. It's fine.
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
3.0
I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in order.
I'm fairly confident that I'd read this before but, as with the first two novels, I don't really remember any of it. This is another step up from The Light Fantastic and we're firmly in "these are good now" territory.
In a lot of ways this feels like a second run at the some of the themes of The Light Fantastic, with a more active (and likeable) main character and much more confidence in the way Pratchett presents the world. Some things that will go on to become staples of the series - the difference between witch magic and wizard magic, headology, Granny Weatherwax in general - are established here and it's really fun to see them in their nascent form.
We're already well away from o. Any genre pastiche here, and it feels like Pratchett is spending less time reaching for jokes and more time just being organically funny. The writing is much more assured and deliberate and it's an absolute joy to read.
The only problem, really, is they the climax feels a lot like the climax of The Light Fantastic and the big central conflict is largely one that doesn't have much to do with Esk. Existential, world-ending threats are fun but they can't be where you go every time or they stop being impactful. This felt much less awe-inspiring than it probably should have been because we'd already seen the Things from the Dungeon Dimension trying to force their way into the world via a wizard dabbling in things beyond his control in the earlier novel. If I remember right, though, Mort (the next book in the series) has quite different stakes, and I'm definitely ready for a change.
3/5 Above average. I liked it. "Solid 6/10".
I'm fairly confident that I'd read this before but, as with the first two novels, I don't really remember any of it. This is another step up from The Light Fantastic and we're firmly in "these are good now" territory.
In a lot of ways this feels like a second run at the some of the themes of The Light Fantastic, with a more active (and likeable) main character and much more confidence in the way Pratchett presents the world. Some things that will go on to become staples of the series - the difference between witch magic and wizard magic, headology, Granny Weatherwax in general - are established here and it's really fun to see them in their nascent form.
We're already well away from o. Any genre pastiche here, and it feels like Pratchett is spending less time reaching for jokes and more time just being organically funny. The writing is much more assured and deliberate and it's an absolute joy to read.
The only problem, really, is they the climax feels a lot like the climax of The Light Fantastic and the big central conflict is largely one that doesn't have much to do with Esk. Existential, world-ending threats are fun but they can't be where you go every time or they stop being impactful. This felt much less awe-inspiring than it probably should have been because we'd already seen the Things from the Dungeon Dimension trying to force their way into the world via a wizard dabbling in things beyond his control in the earlier novel. If I remember right, though, Mort (the next book in the series) has quite different stakes, and I'm definitely ready for a change.
3/5 Above average. I liked it. "Solid 6/10".
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
3.0
I'm reading all of the Discworld novels in publication order.
I was - still am, in fact - sure that I'd read this before, but it must have been so long ago that I've forgotten literally all of it. Reading it today was like coming to it for the first time, which was fun.
Where The Colour of Magic feels sort of half-formed, The Light Fantastic feels almost exactly like the Discworld we know and love. Gone is the picaresque structure. We have an actual honest-to-god plot this time, and we're no longer dabbling in pastiche of other series (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Dragonriders of Pern, etc.). This is very much its own thing, and it's much better as a result of that.
I don't really love Rincewind as a main character, if I'm being honest. The picaresque structure may have gone but Rincewind is still very much a picaresque-style hero. The events of the book largely happen to and around him rather than being driven or directly influenced by him. That's fine but it's not the kind of story I'm drawn to, and for me the book suffers as a result of that. That's not to say that there isn't plenty to like here, though. The Luggage is a delight, and the aging barbarian Cohen is wonderful. It's also very fun to see glimpses of characters who will be important in later books (namely Death's daughter Ysabell, and Mort - who is mentioned but never actually seen). I don't know if Chancellor Galder Weatherwax is ever mentioned again in the series but it's fun to see that name pop up so early, too.
This is a definite step up from The Colour of Magic and really feels like the first "proper" Discworld book. It's a shame, really, that you probably do need to know the history of Rincewind and Twoflower to get the most out of it, because if it worked well as a standalone I think I'd happily advise people to start here. I think Pratchett's decision to largely write standalone novels rather than direct sequels from this point on was a smart one.
Very excited to move on to Equal Rites next.
3/5: I liked it. "Solid 6 out of 10".
I was - still am, in fact - sure that I'd read this before, but it must have been so long ago that I've forgotten literally all of it. Reading it today was like coming to it for the first time, which was fun.
Where The Colour of Magic feels sort of half-formed, The Light Fantastic feels almost exactly like the Discworld we know and love. Gone is the picaresque structure. We have an actual honest-to-god plot this time, and we're no longer dabbling in pastiche of other series (Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Dragonriders of Pern, etc.). This is very much its own thing, and it's much better as a result of that.
I don't really love Rincewind as a main character, if I'm being honest. The picaresque structure may have gone but Rincewind is still very much a picaresque-style hero. The events of the book largely happen to and around him rather than being driven or directly influenced by him. That's fine but it's not the kind of story I'm drawn to, and for me the book suffers as a result of that. That's not to say that there isn't plenty to like here, though. The Luggage is a delight, and the aging barbarian Cohen is wonderful. It's also very fun to see glimpses of characters who will be important in later books (namely Death's daughter Ysabell, and Mort - who is mentioned but never actually seen). I don't know if Chancellor Galder Weatherwax is ever mentioned again in the series but it's fun to see that name pop up so early, too.
This is a definite step up from The Colour of Magic and really feels like the first "proper" Discworld book. It's a shame, really, that you probably do need to know the history of Rincewind and Twoflower to get the most out of it, because if it worked well as a standalone I think I'd happily advise people to start here. I think Pratchett's decision to largely write standalone novels rather than direct sequels from this point on was a smart one.
Very excited to move on to Equal Rites next.
3/5: I liked it. "Solid 6 out of 10".