I confess that very much I liked it. I'm a sucker for these sort of stories that explore the interconnectedness of all things (Have you read Alice and Sunderland?) But the thing that kept annoying me was the goddess of Football. That bit just really didn't fit.
Well, I probably would have forgiven a lot more if there were an underground resistance, so I suppose we're even. ;) I haven't read Alice and Sunderland ...?
The Goddess of Football seemed like an idea that might have been more a part of the story when (assuming) it was something more like Soul Music or Moving Pictures, and then when the book moved away from that concept she was left like some sort of glowy appendix.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as the others.... I was VERY pleasantly surprised with Unseen Academicals (finished a few days ago in fact.) I thought it was a HUGE improvement after "Making Money" (which I barely even remember the plot to.) I laughed at a lot of parts. Not to mention, I think only a really GOOD book can make me turning pages eagerly looking for the part where the busty kitchen girl makes out with the goblin.
A point where I agree with you is in the spoiler... where you say how there's a lot of repetition about Nutt's friends' reaction to his... revelation (I'm trying not to spoil it either.) That was kinda overdone. But I finished the book gleefully wanting more.
Well it's always possible I just wasn't in the right frame of mind ... I never thought I would like Monstrous Regiment as much as I do.
I haven't reread Making Money either ... :\ Every time I think about it I land on that image of the golden army and ... just ... maybe I'll give it another couple of years.
When is he going to get to the book about the subway already?? Come oonnnnn...
I had a lot of problems with it too, mostly that I didn't get into it and start laughing until around when Rincewind showed up. That's pretty far into the book.
Also, some of the earlier parts had me speculating on possibilities that, well, I found more interesting than what actually happened.
I kept hoping Rincewind would employ my old strategy of team sports: run to the opposite end of the field from the action but make a show of paying attention to what's going on so it looks like you're hanging out there just in case the ball suddenly comes your way.
I think the pay off is metatextual, a sort of raspberry to Tolkien's moralism and the way fantasy tends to equate species with race, and replicate the logic of racism. But as you say, that's not new for Pratchett. That and parody of Romeo and Juliet. What I got from it that I don't normally is anger - at times it read like an angry book, and Glenda was much more arch than even his typical pragmatic lady.
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The Goddess of Football seemed like an idea that might have been more a part of the story when (assuming) it was something more like Soul Music or Moving Pictures, and then when the book moved away from that concept she was left like some sort of glowy appendix.
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A point where I agree with you is in the spoiler... where you say how there's a lot of repetition about Nutt's friends' reaction to his... revelation (I'm trying not to spoil it either.) That was kinda overdone. But I finished the book gleefully wanting more.
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I haven't reread Making Money either ... :\ Every time I think about it I land on that image of the golden army and ... just ... maybe I'll give it another couple of years.
When is he going to get to the book about the subway already?? Come oonnnnn...
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I had a lot of problems with it too, mostly that I didn't get into it and start laughing until around when Rincewind showed up. That's pretty far into the book.
Also, some of the earlier parts had me speculating on possibilities that, well, I found more interesting than what actually happened.
Still, I enjoyed it.
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It's definitely an undisciplined book.
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I still liked it, mind you, and have reread it several times, but something seemed "off."
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