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/lit/ - Literature

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4217589 No.4217589[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Does Pratchett have any discernible talent? Or is his stuff just fantasy version of Hitchhiker's Guide?

I'm curious because a friend rec'd his stuff to me like 6 years ago (in high school) and I just wrote it all off as lolsorandumb fantasy bullshit, without reading a single book. Am I right in my assumption, or should I give Pratchett's work a chance?

>> No.4217594

No, it's fun and witty and smart. It's very pleasant and enjoyable. It starts off a little lolrandomfantasy but after a couple books, it's quite pleasant. I suppose if you hate fantasy in all forms it's probably not for you, though. Or if you hate, like, PG Wodehouse, I guess, although I don't know how someone who wasn't a monster could do that.

>> No.4217596
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4217596

I never hear a bad thing about him. Maybe some lesser books out of the lot, but just pick up a favorite and enjoy for what it is.

I don't appreciate the rivalry the Pratchett against Adams but I wont hold it against the guy. Give it a shot

>> No.4217599

>>4217594
>>4217596
Might check him out then, though I'm not too keen on fantasy. I've read that his work is rather satirical of fantasy tropes, so that interests me.
Is it worth it to read all of his Discworld books? Because I think there's like 40, and my backlog is way to big to fuck with that.

>> No.4217616

>>4217599
Its not necessary. Whether its worth it or not is you call, I guess. I would some of them aren't worth reading.

>> No.4217618
File: 254 KB, 1567x1024, discworld_guide.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4217618

>> No.4217619

>>4217589
I've read the first 3 books of Hitchhiker's Guide as well as two of the Discworld books. Legit, I think Discworld is a whole tier better, absolutely hilarious, Hitchhiker's Guide has its very hilarious moments but I don't think is as potently awesome as Discworld.

>> No.4217622
File: 579 KB, 1000x1795, discworld_guide2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4217622

>> No.4217628

>>4217619
Alright, sounds promising, considering I loathe Hitchhiker's Guide. Well, the first was good, but I can't stand the culture behind it (lol I said '42' such nerd wow xD)
>>4217616
>>4217618
>>4217622
Thanks m8s. Much appreciated

>> No.4217631

>>4217628
I can understand how that random bullshit will put off people, but discworld is one of a kind, its actually funny AND it delivers stories. The style of writing is nothing youll see for as long as you live.

>> No.4217636

>>4217618
I don't trust anyone that reads 400 books about wizards and calls them "wizzards"

>> No.4217637

>>4217631
Now I'm pretty #hyped haha
How do you mean by the style of writing being different from others?

>> No.4217681

>>4217637
pls respond

>> No.4217688

>>4217589
Discworld is pretty good overall. Occasionally he gets a little too obsessed with his own cleverness, or goes too far in detail explaining a metaphor he just used, but for the most part the tone is just about right.

>> No.4217716

Read the Long Earth. Shit gives me a boner.

The end is kinda crap tho.

>> No.4217760

>>4217628
>loathing books because of their fanbases
>2013
The Hitchhiker's series is pretty great, yo. The first two Discworld books are very similar in their randomness/episodicness and sense of humour, but after that you get plots and characters developed as more than just joke vehicles. I'd say Pratchett has more heart than Douglas Adams, in that he makes you care more about the characters and is less cynical.

>> No.4217761

really good thread about discworld on an imageboard about literature

>> No.4217775

Too bad about his illness.
Some of his later ones have sort of shown signs of being less coherent as stories than his earlier ones, which i'd account on his alzheimers (he can't actually write himself anymore), but the latest science of the disc book is the only one I think was outright bad as a whole.

Also yeah OP it's enjoyable. The better ones are generally the mid-ones past his earliest books which are generally more straight fantasy parody. (that set up the world so it's a fairly good idea to read them)

>> No.4217816

Rather Middle England and twee but enjoyable if you can look past the forced political and social bias.

>> No.4217908

>>4217589
>I just wrote it all off as lolsorandumb fantasy bullshit, without reading a single book.
lol. pls go away

>> No.4218088

>>4217816
What's forced about it? Seems pretty natural for a middle-class British writer to be broadly leftwing and liberal...

>> No.4218106

>>4217761
thx mate, we try

>> No.4218469

>>4217908
Late as fuck replying to this, but I generally disliked most fantasy I have read, except for like HP when I was in elementary school. I just can't really get into the non-realistic goings-on.

>> No.4218559

>>4217599
Just one thing to keep in mind - the books get progressively darker (though not less funny) as you go on. The latest ones are very gray at times.

>> No.4218565

>>4217636
Rincewind is not a good wizard. He has "WIZZARD" written in sequins on his hat to remind people.

>> No.4218571

>>4217589
>fantasy version of Hitchhiker's Guide
>implying this is bad.

To instruct and entertain.

>> No.4218576

>>4218565
He can't spell.

>> No.4218597
File: 175 KB, 475x800, feet-of-clay-2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4218597

The Watch novels are in my humble opinion his best work by far.

His lesser works would be the Rincewind series which is in fact pretty much the Hitchhikers guide with a wizard protag WITH ONE EXCEPTION ! - Faust/Eric - it's beautifully illustrated and a fun read.

>> No.4218612

>>4218597
Personally my favourite books are making money and going postal.

>> No.4218615

>>4218597
They're Dirty Harry: Fantasy Edition - now fortified with 100% of your RDA of cop clichés. Not that this is a bad thing.

>> No.4218618

>>4218612
That's because you're a faggot.

>> No.4218622

>>4218615
And swamp dragons. Don't forget swamp dragons

>> No.4218626

>>4218615
Dirty Harry is mostly a straight-up cop action movie. There's no way at all you can say that the Watch novels are that. They're light comedic novels that you can also take seriously as cop dramas if you want to.

>> No.4218629

>>4218615
It has about as many noir cliches as fantasy ones. Which makes it a father of modern fantasy pretty much.

>> No.4218637

>>4218626
Alright, "COMIC fantasy edition" then. I assumed we could take that as read since, y'know, this is a Pratchett thread.

>> No.4218642

>>4218559
mite b cool
>>4218565
shit that's pretty funny
>>4218597
Well I'm going to start with The Colour of Magic, but Feet of Clay seems pretty interesting, because I'm a Merchant lel

So can I assume that Pratchett's work is good because of his deconstruction/satire/what-have-you of fantasy tropes? because that's something I can get into, I think

>> No.4218640

>>4218637
Dirty Harry is important, anon. Don't mess around with the Dirty Harry franchise

>> No.4218644

>>4218642
>So can I assume that Pratchett's work is good because of his deconstruction/satire/what-have-you of fantasy tropes? because that's something I can get into, I think

It's good because it's funny. In some cases, it's funny because it's referencing existing culture, but mostly it's funny because it's funny.

Fuck all that TV Tropes bullshit, tho

>> No.4218665

>>4218642
The Colour of Magic has probably aged the worst and is the most obviously tropey and random.
Consider starting with Guards! Guards! (Ankh-Morpork background) or Equal Rites (background on how magic and shit works on the Disc) instead.

>> No.4218672

>>4218644
Ah, well that's much better then
>>4218665
Well, if TCoM is necessary for plot, I would like to read it, but if it's fine to skip, then I guess I'll do that instead

>> No.4218680

>>4218642
As far as rincewind goes - most other wizards think, that if he was gone, the median of wizarding ability would actually go up among the general populace.

Of course, considering these very same wizards usually consider it a good day if they get ten meals a day and midnight snacks, they don't do anything about it at all.

>> No.4218692

>>4218672
No books are necessary for plot really. It sometimes helps to have read earlier ones (like guards guards if looking at guard series books) but they're still self contained and you get a feel for the characters quickly enough.

But would also recommend starting with guards guards or thump as well.

Another thing to keep in mind - a few books are written for younger kids.

The tribe series and the amazing maurice and his educated rodents (thought the latter is incredibly well written and would never recommend one to pass it) come to mind.

>> No.4218761

>>4218692
Alright, that's sound advice. The Discworld charts posted previously seem to show which books are for kids, so I should be able to easily enjoy them.

>> No.4218765

>>4218761
*avoid
not enjoy. toplel

>> No.4218791

>>4218761
Actually doesnt as far as I can see - it merely mentions illustrated novels which are probably mostly for kids.

For instance it doesnt seem to seperate out the Tiffany books.

>> No.4218796

>>4218791
The second one does.

>> No.4218805

I think of Terry Pratchett as the cotton candy of literature- tastes good and you can get through a bunch of it very quickly, but it is not at all filling. Like cotton candy it's fine to eat once in a while. but I wouldn't recommend it as your whole diet, and don't go in expecting much subtlety of flavor.

>> No.4218843

>>4218805
>don't go in expecting much subtlety of flavor
It's there, but only if you look for it and aren't distracted by a knob gag at the time.

>> No.4218883

>>4218805
I'd call it more of a good cake. You can either splurge on a lot of quickly just glancing the sugar taste. Or you can go trough one slower and actually enjoy the flavours.

There's depth and subtlety to the books, but it's easy to miss. The man has a very good understand of language.

A huge lot also depends on what kind of translation you had if you aren't reading an english one.

For instance I had the german ones and they were relatively meh, but the czech one on the other hand is very good.

>> No.4218900

>>4218883
I can't see translations working out well for Pratchett. For that matter I'd be surprised if Yanks pick up on half of the content.

>> No.4218917

>>4218900
Like I've said, it really depends on the translator. The truth is, to be a good one, you need to be a good writer anyway.
Thats why I think the german version was a bit dry. It was well translated, but not amazingly well written.
The czech versions are closer to rewrites though.
Ido know that Pratchett apparently likes them though and became friends with the translator.

>> No.4218921

>>4218900
>For that matter I'd be surprised if Yanks pick up on half of the content.
Well fuck. OP here, I'm a Yank. Though I feel I have enough grasp on UK slang to not be totally lost. Of course, this is just because I have seen like Skins and Inbetweeners and shit, which aren't strictly educational in regards to UK mannerisms

>> No.4218936

All of your responses in this Web domain "thread" have been logged by the NSA for analysis. We thank you for your cooperation.

>> No.4218947
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4218947

>>4218936
ur a faget

>> No.4218952

>>4218921
I think it's more the old not-understanding-self-deprecating-humour chestnut.

Personally I think it isn't true, it's rather that American comedy in general is produced for the lowest common denominator, I think Americans certainly have the capacity to understand the humour.

>> No.4218962

>>4218921
It's not so much slang as cultural assumptions and context. Skins et al aren't going to do you much good either, they're far too recent.

The best analogy I can come up with is that it might be like trying to watch The Young Ones without any knowledge of Thatcher-era Britain. Not so much that you won't find it funny, more that you wouldn't register most of it as a joke at all and only be left with Rik getting smacked in the balls with a cricket bat.

>> No.4218998

>>4218952
Ah, well that's certainly understandable.
>>4218962
This is upsetting somewhat, as I have seen The Young Ones without such knowledge. I suppose I can just search for shit on Wiki if I feel I must 'get' the references Pratchett makes

>> No.4219021

>>4218998
That's the problem, see - if you don't know the thing that's being referenced/parodied, how would you even know it's there?
It'll not spoil it, there's plenty of nice robust humour that doesn't depend on external knowledge to go around.

>> No.4219043

>>4219021
Oh, well if his references are not obvious, then I will have difficulty.

>> No.4219052

>>4219043
Don't you worry, while there are references, most of the humor is either observational or full-on meta.

>> No.4219059

>>4219043
No you won't, there might be the odd apparent non-sequitur but there'll be a cock joke along to make you forget about it soon enough.

>> No.4219062

>>4219052
Alright that's great then

Now if only my backlog wasn't fucking huge

>> No.4219084

>>4219062
Pratchett's really, really good for bedtime reading.

>> No.4219108

>>4219084
I can probably do that. Read a few pages of Pratchett before sleep while also being in the middle of another book

>> No.4220916

>>4218952
I don't have any problem understanding most the humor, but then again I've only read most of the Watch series and the two Moist Von Lipwig books.

The watch is dripping with cop drama and 70's cop movies/tv show references. I love any book that can reference Dirty Harry, Robocop, and Iron side with no sense of Irony.

>> No.4221613

>>4218629
>>4218615
They at least started out like that and that's what I loved them for, but the last ones didn't really feel like them anymore.
Especially Thud and Snuff. Although I believe he tried to make Snuff feel more like the earlier ones by putting Vimes somewhere where he doesn't have political power nor a force behind him.

>> No.4221635

I met him once at a book signing for the release of Going Postal

He's the nicest guy, stuck around hours after he was meant to have finished just because he hadn't had a chance to speak to everyone who'd turned up to see him yet.