I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett
I finished I Shall Wear Midnight today. So, basically 24 hours after picking it up. Pratchett books are always page-turners for me. Even the ones with chapters!
I liked it a lot more than I liked Wintersmith. I couldn't say what my problem with Wintersmith was - it just was vaguely unsatisfying. But I like this one more. It's been long enough since I've read the first couple that they don't leap to mind for easy comparison.
It was very very dark - particularly at the beginning. It started dark and got easier as the book went on. Almost too much, actually. The whole first half of the book was like "People Are Complicated - there are no Easy Solutions"; when things started getting rapidly better it felt almost like a cop-out. It kind of felt like "NEVER MIND! It was magic. Everything is Better Now." Which...seemed directly counter to the earlier point. I don't know. If I have a complaint about the book, it was that. But then, Tiffany Aching is Good At Endings...and it is a book for children. *shrug*
Although I don't know how a "book for children" gets away with a discussion of "inflatable pink willies." ???
Anyway, I did like it. Parts of it were incredibly moving. I liked the overall resolution a lot - it was nicely set up, in some obvious ways and some not-obvious-until-afterwards ways, which is always a very nice blend. It's always good when a book makes you sit up and say "OH I GET IT!" And I managed to call the romantic resolution as soon as a certain character came onto the scene; although I thought he was a little too perfect and it felt a bit like Pair The Spares. But not too much. And there's something very...wise...to the notion of "Because we were both different, we thought we were the same as each other. We weren't." Some very very nice bits, all told. And it made me cry in bits.
As for the Call Back Cameo, I think this person is now officially the Most Awesome Person In All Of Spacetime. Too awesome to use almost. Hopefully will be kept around as something that happens to other people, because they really can't be someone that things happen to at this point.
But...son, what? What? At least one of the people involved in making that happen should know better - both of them, if I call this correctly. But I suppose if it's singular then no harm done. Still, a Question has been raised.
Oh, and Vimes was in it - and a brief mention of Young Sam *soppy grin*. Wee Mad Arthur is developing into a very interesting character though - I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of that situation. Poor Vimes is going to miss his "gnome" copper.
Crivens!
I liked it a lot more than I liked Wintersmith. I couldn't say what my problem with Wintersmith was - it just was vaguely unsatisfying. But I like this one more. It's been long enough since I've read the first couple that they don't leap to mind for easy comparison.
It was very very dark - particularly at the beginning. It started dark and got easier as the book went on. Almost too much, actually. The whole first half of the book was like "People Are Complicated - there are no Easy Solutions"; when things started getting rapidly better it felt almost like a cop-out. It kind of felt like "NEVER MIND! It was magic. Everything is Better Now." Which...seemed directly counter to the earlier point. I don't know. If I have a complaint about the book, it was that. But then, Tiffany Aching is Good At Endings...and it is a book for children. *shrug*
Although I don't know how a "book for children" gets away with a discussion of "inflatable pink willies." ???
Anyway, I did like it. Parts of it were incredibly moving. I liked the overall resolution a lot - it was nicely set up, in some obvious ways and some not-obvious-until-afterwards ways, which is always a very nice blend. It's always good when a book makes you sit up and say "OH I GET IT!" And I managed to call the romantic resolution as soon as a certain character came onto the scene; although I thought he was a little too perfect and it felt a bit like Pair The Spares. But not too much. And there's something very...wise...to the notion of "Because we were both different, we thought we were the same as each other. We weren't." Some very very nice bits, all told. And it made me cry in bits.
As for the Call Back Cameo, I think this person is now officially the Most Awesome Person In All Of Spacetime. Too awesome to use almost. Hopefully will be kept around as something that happens to other people, because they really can't be someone that things happen to at this point.
But...son, what? What? At least one of the people involved in making that happen should know better - both of them, if I call this correctly. But I suppose if it's singular then no harm done. Still, a Question has been raised.
Oh, and Vimes was in it - and a brief mention of Young Sam *soppy grin*. Wee Mad Arthur is developing into a very interesting character though - I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of that situation. Poor Vimes is going to miss his "gnome" copper.
Crivens!