We lost Terry Pratchett, too
Terry Pratchett passed away a couple days ago. (Almost exactly a year after we lost Aaron Allston, another of my favorite writers.) He'd had health problems for a while, but it still came as a surprise, at least for me. I thought he'd be with us for a few more years, manage to write a few more books.
Disworld, once it got past the awkward early entries and hit its stride, was fantastic. They were brilliant books, and I'm still looking forward to that TV series about the Watch that they've been saying was coming for years. Pratchett had a brilliant sense of humor and keen insight. Small Gods, Night Watch, Reaper Man... these books moved me emotionally. Night Watch remains my favorite.
It was painful to see how his writing suffering had suffered in the last few years, presumably because of his health problems. Raising Steam felt... off, and some parts of it contradicted established character traits. Of his non-Discworld works, I enjoyed Nation and Dodger, but The Long Earth bored me (and I had to hide a grimace when my well-meaning brother gave me a copy of The Long Mars for Christmas, a book that I'm still desperately putting off having to read). But despite that, I can't help but feel that he had many great stories left to tell.
If there's any justice, Terry Pratchett will be remembered for generations as one of the greats of English literature.
Disworld, once it got past the awkward early entries and hit its stride, was fantastic. They were brilliant books, and I'm still looking forward to that TV series about the Watch that they've been saying was coming for years. Pratchett had a brilliant sense of humor and keen insight. Small Gods, Night Watch, Reaper Man... these books moved me emotionally. Night Watch remains my favorite.
It was painful to see how his writing suffering had suffered in the last few years, presumably because of his health problems. Raising Steam felt... off, and some parts of it contradicted established character traits. Of his non-Discworld works, I enjoyed Nation and Dodger, but The Long Earth bored me (and I had to hide a grimace when my well-meaning brother gave me a copy of The Long Mars for Christmas, a book that I'm still desperately putting off having to read). But despite that, I can't help but feel that he had many great stories left to tell.
If there's any justice, Terry Pratchett will be remembered for generations as one of the greats of English literature.