A review by bluejayreads
Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett

adventurous funny
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

Reading this book made me realize that I definitely should have been reading the Discworld series in order all along. Moving Pictures has Ponder Stibbons as a student and the origins of Mustrum Ridcully as Unseen University Archchancellor. Also, after following just one character for so long, I’m still not enjoying having multiple protagonists quite as much. 

The protagonists in this case are Victor, an Unseen University student who hears the call to Holy Wood and goes off to become an actor, and Ginger, who becomes Victor’s co-star. Ginger I found mostly obnoxious – she’s bratty and demanding, but I got the feeling that the book wanted me to like her anyway (I did not). Victor, though, had potential. I can’t say I connected with him very strongly, but I enjoyed him and can see him going far. (I’m wondering if he’s the protagonist of the Industrial Revolution subseries.) 

I enjoyed following Victor around through the story. I also enjoyed the trolls, the Bursar from Unseen University, and getting to see more of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler (though he started to get annoying by the end). Sadly, though, I wasn’t a huge fan of the talking dog. It’s really hard to like someone who is constantly rude, mean, sarcastic, and whiny, even if that someone is a dog. 

Part of my problem with the characters in general is that the characterization is inconsistent. And I can’t tell how much of that is actual inconsistent characterization and how much of that is Holy Wood magic affecting the characters. The power of Holy Wood can make people do things they wouldn’t want to do otherwise, and it can even take over and control people at times, and it’s not always clear (to me or the characters themselves) if what’s happening is an issue with the writing or Holy Wood affecting them. 

Even though I had some issues with the characters, Moving Pictures is one of the funnier Discworld books that I’ve read so far. It’s full of Sir Terry’s signature witticisms, plus several moments of legitimate out-loud laughter. It also had some interesting thoughts on the nature of reality and how Hollywood’s presentations of reality affect our perceptions of it. (Interestingly, this is the second time a force other than magic has been magical – technically the first since Unseen Academicals is later in the series, but second in my reading order.) 

My biggest criticism is that the ending felt very unresolved. Will whatever just happened happen again? What is Victor going to do now? Was that character growth Victor went through actual growth or just Holy Wood magic? But the story itself was a ton of fun, and I’d be happy if the next Industrial Revolution book followed Victor and answered these questions. It does have its problems, but this is still a solid entry in the Discworld canon. 
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