Re: Discworld If you come in at the first book, you might be disappointed, but only a little bit. I came in at Reaper Man, which was largely brilliant, mostly because I still have a vestigial goth gland that hasn't become infected and been removed yet. Also, it is brilliant because of this line, spoken by the Death of humans to Azrael, the Death of universes, as an appeal against dismissal: "Lord, what has the harvest to hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?" See? All goth. If you're reluctant to get into the nigh-endless soup that is the Discworld series, you might start with Reaper Man. I also strongly suggest two of Pratchett's earlier works, Strata and Dark Side of the Sun, both sci-fi and both very lovely. This is why Pratchett's fantasy doesn't seem viscous and overwrought to me like other fantasy does: he's got a sci-fi brain and likes things to make rational sense.
Re: The Scar. That book was hot. Hot like fire. I loved Perdido, and I enjoyed The Scar much more
( ... )
Yeah, The Scar rules a lot. Too bad about Iron Council sort of falling off, though.
ARE YOU IMPLYING I AM GOTH??
I have of course read Starfish, but after I read Behemoth (eh) I sort of lost motivation to read the third one whose name I forget. How is that? I have not read the Succession thing, but now I will.
That's too bad about Iron Council. I was looking forward to that.
You're so goth you poop velvet bats.
The third book in the series is, well, the third book in the series. That's about all I can say for it. Watts spends a bunch of time making you hate the antagonist (he finds some really gut-churning ways of doing this) and showing you how the thing actually started. He draws lots of implied parallels between human society and his world's computer network. There's a fun little line at the end where Lenie is disabled and half conscious while the antagonist taunts a beat-to-shit-but-still-standing Ken Lubin, and Lenie thinks, "What the hell? What are you doing? This is Ken fucking Lubin! Do you know who he is? Have you read his file?" We both know that Watts isn't so good at writing action scenes, but he makes the book's climax an action scene. So bleah.
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If you come in at the first book, you might be disappointed, but only a little bit. I came in at Reaper Man, which was largely brilliant, mostly because I still have a vestigial goth gland that hasn't become infected and been removed yet. Also, it is brilliant because of this line, spoken by the Death of humans to Azrael, the Death of universes, as an appeal against dismissal: "Lord, what has the harvest to hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?" See? All goth. If you're reluctant to get into the nigh-endless soup that is the Discworld series, you might start with Reaper Man. I also strongly suggest two of Pratchett's earlier works, Strata and Dark Side of the Sun, both sci-fi and both very lovely. This is why Pratchett's fantasy doesn't seem viscous and overwrought to me like other fantasy does: he's got a sci-fi brain and likes things to make rational sense.
Re: The Scar.
That book was hot. Hot like fire. I loved Perdido, and I enjoyed The Scar much more ( ... )
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ARE YOU IMPLYING I AM GOTH??
I have of course read Starfish, but after I read Behemoth (eh) I sort of lost motivation to read the third one whose name I forget. How is that?
I have not read the Succession thing, but now I will.
Reply
You're so goth you poop velvet bats.
The third book in the series is, well, the third book in the series. That's about all I can say for it. Watts spends a bunch of time making you hate the antagonist (he finds some really gut-churning ways of doing this) and showing you how the thing actually started. He draws lots of implied parallels between human society and his world's computer network. There's a fun little line at the end where Lenie is disabled and half conscious while the antagonist taunts a beat-to-shit-but-still-standing Ken Lubin, and Lenie thinks, "What the hell? What are you doing? This is Ken fucking Lubin! Do you know who he is? Have you read his file?" We both know that Watts isn't so good at writing action scenes, but he makes the book's climax an action scene. So bleah.
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My college roommate used to say something like the velvet bat line; where's it from?
Dang it. I'm sad about Starfish III: Die Starfish Die.
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