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Sep. 15th, 2005 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickToday was a good day. I got lots of painting done at work, which was nice. I got the new Pratchett novel (Thud!) in the mail (huzzah for preordering!) and I am now going to review it, having given it a once-over. There will be spoilers, so if that might be a problem for you, please don't
I really liked this one, but then I'm a huge Vimes fan and this is another all-about-Vimes book. Well, sort of, anyway, in the same way that The Fifth Elephant is a Vimes book and Night Watch is a Vimes book. Something in the character of Sam Vimes really speaks to my condition. As with any new Pratchett book, the universe expands. Here, we learn a hell of a lot about Koom Valley, in a good way. A cow is sought for and found, at six o'clock. Mr. Shine, him diamond. The trolls now have Meth. Chrysophrase is moving up in the world, kinda. There's a vampire in the watch, now, too. And, well, Vimes gets a slightly better handle on technology. That was particularly amusing.
That said, this book took a while to come together for me. I couldn't really see where it was going for the longest while and I think it'll improve considerably on the second go-round. I'm not saying that in a disapproving way, mind you... I like it when there's more in the book than I can get out of it in one go, gives me an excuse to go back again later. But it does mean that the first time through has a bit of wandering-in-the-wilderness to it. I think it's a bit of a trade-off. You can either have it unroll nicely the first time 'round or you can have a rich and complex tapestry that takes more than one looking-at to be seen. Me, I like the tapestry thing.
I really liked this one, but then I'm a huge Vimes fan and this is another all-about-Vimes book. Well, sort of, anyway, in the same way that The Fifth Elephant is a Vimes book and Night Watch is a Vimes book. Something in the character of Sam Vimes really speaks to my condition. As with any new Pratchett book, the universe expands. Here, we learn a hell of a lot about Koom Valley, in a good way. A cow is sought for and found, at six o'clock. Mr. Shine, him diamond. The trolls now have Meth. Chrysophrase is moving up in the world, kinda. There's a vampire in the watch, now, too. And, well, Vimes gets a slightly better handle on technology. That was particularly amusing.
That said, this book took a while to come together for me. I couldn't really see where it was going for the longest while and I think it'll improve considerably on the second go-round. I'm not saying that in a disapproving way, mind you... I like it when there's more in the book than I can get out of it in one go, gives me an excuse to go back again later. But it does mean that the first time through has a bit of wandering-in-the-wilderness to it. I think it's a bit of a trade-off. You can either have it unroll nicely the first time 'round or you can have a rich and complex tapestry that takes more than one looking-at to be seen. Me, I like the tapestry thing.
