crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
3.0
When I've had problems with any of the early Pratchett books, it's mainly been that the book started out frazzled before slowly coming together to make its satirical point.
In this case, the book started with a strong opening about storytelling and fairygodmothering. It wasn't my favorite premise, as metacommentary about storytelling tends to drain my interest, but the book appeared to know precisely where it was going and how it planned on getting there. I enjoyed catching up with the three witch characters, and seeing precisely how Pratchett was going to unravel and reravel their adventures.
Unfortunately, the middle of this book is a mess. The intent appears to be that Pratchett presents a storytelling trope that distracts the heroes' journey, they solve the problem (often accidentally), and Nanny Ogg writes a letter home to one of her sons explaining what just happened. It's a neat concept for a structure but it just doesn't work. It feels like we miss out on all the fun bits of each smaller story, and we also don't really see how this is connected to the story's Big Bad. We know that they're involved, but since we aren't supposed to know the Big Bad's motivation, it doesn't feel like they've set up roadblocks for the heroes, it just feels like there is a general sense of chaos. It really detracts from any dramatic tension building.
There's also character squabbling that doesn't move the story along. People Are Jerks To Each Other Sometimes For No Reason Other Than That's How Humans Behave When They're Stressed is a valid motivation, but, again, it detracted from the narrative rather than serving as a building block for the narrative.
Once the characters arrive at their destination, the story improves. Clear goals are presented, and Pratchett seems to have more fun with the meta-storytelling angle.
For the first time in the Discworld books, Pratchett's angle on race (previously dealt with in the context of Dwarves, Witches, Trolls, and parallels for Egyptians) has its first story that introduces characters who appear to be Discworld's stand-ins for African-Americans. I don't mean Black People. I mean, specifically African-Americans in the southern part of the US, with a strong hint of New Orleans and Carribean ancestry. While I'm not sure it's the sort of thing he'd have written if he were alive today, it is blessedly unproblematic. The characters don't speak in dialect, only one of the characters is magic (but she's a witch, and it's a book about witches, so her magic is fine), and though it's cringey that they're revealed to be mainly in service positions, the story avoids any white saviorism or horrible American storytelling tropes. Every time I braced myself for something that seemed dated and horrible, the feeling abated. There were no twists on tropes, they were just mainly avoided.
In the end, I enjoyed the story more than some of the earliest books, but feel it doesn't quite hold up to the three or four books that precede it. It does have the msot spectacularly sparing use of Death in the series so far.
If I were recommending someone to start reading Pratchett, I wouldn't ever think of starting them with this book, but it's a perfectly adequate story about storytelling, if you ignore the middle third or so.
In this case, the book started with a strong opening about storytelling and fairygodmothering. It wasn't my favorite premise, as metacommentary about storytelling tends to drain my interest, but the book appeared to know precisely where it was going and how it planned on getting there. I enjoyed catching up with the three witch characters, and seeing precisely how Pratchett was going to unravel and reravel their adventures.
Unfortunately, the middle of this book is a mess. The intent appears to be that Pratchett presents a storytelling trope that distracts the heroes' journey, they solve the problem (often accidentally), and Nanny Ogg writes a letter home to one of her sons explaining what just happened. It's a neat concept for a structure but it just doesn't work. It feels like we miss out on all the fun bits of each smaller story, and we also don't really see how this is connected to the story's Big Bad. We know that they're involved, but since we aren't supposed to know the Big Bad's motivation, it doesn't feel like they've set up roadblocks for the heroes, it just feels like there is a general sense of chaos. It really detracts from any dramatic tension building.
There's also character squabbling that doesn't move the story along. People Are Jerks To Each Other Sometimes For No Reason Other Than That's How Humans Behave When They're Stressed is a valid motivation, but, again, it detracted from the narrative rather than serving as a building block for the narrative.
Once the characters arrive at their destination, the story improves. Clear goals are presented, and Pratchett seems to have more fun with the meta-storytelling angle.
For the first time in the Discworld books, Pratchett's angle on race (previously dealt with in the context of Dwarves, Witches, Trolls, and parallels for Egyptians) has its first story that introduces characters who appear to be Discworld's stand-ins for African-Americans. I don't mean Black People. I mean, specifically African-Americans in the southern part of the US, with a strong hint of New Orleans and Carribean ancestry. While I'm not sure it's the sort of thing he'd have written if he were alive today, it is blessedly unproblematic. The characters don't speak in dialect, only one of the characters is magic (but she's a witch, and it's a book about witches, so her magic is fine), and though it's cringey that they're revealed to be mainly in service positions, the story avoids any white saviorism or horrible American storytelling tropes. Every time I braced myself for something that seemed dated and horrible, the feeling abated. There were no twists on tropes, they were just mainly avoided.
In the end, I enjoyed the story more than some of the earliest books, but feel it doesn't quite hold up to the three or four books that precede it. It does have the msot spectacularly sparing use of Death in the series so far.
If I were recommending someone to start reading Pratchett, I wouldn't ever think of starting them with this book, but it's a perfectly adequate story about storytelling, if you ignore the middle third or so.
greenwoodspicers's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
unboxedjack's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
_goldenbooks's review against another edition
La trama parecia interesante pero voy 60% del libro y todavia no ha comenzado. No me gusta el cluche del camino. Aunque me gusten los personajes, y la historia sea divertida, necesito que la trama se mueva
a_stroberry's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
faesissa's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
rachael_amber's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0