Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Book Report: Interesting Times, by Terry Pratchett

As usual, when I'm not ready to plunge into new reading but still want something to read, I turn to Pratchett. This is another chapter in the story of Rincewind, the most incompetent and cowardly wizard on the Discworld. When he's set to the distant Counterweight Continent, he stumbles into an ineffectual rebellion, a sinister plot, and the theft of a kingdom by a group of elderly barbarians. As always, his desperate attempts to avoid becoming involved lead directly to his playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of the mysterious Aurient.

Even after repeated readings, I find myself lingering over his phrases, his puns, the spin he puts on words that make you stop and think about what they really mean. Combined that with a comical action plot and themes that include aging, grief, and the true nature of courage, and you have a book that I come back to again and again.

Ulysses Rating: 5 - I'll read this again and again.

4 comments:

Toyin O. said...

Great review, thanks for sharing:)

Steve MC said...

I keep hearing about this Pratchett fellow, but have never read any of his works.

If you could recommend just one, what would it be?

Ulysses said...

If I could recommend just one, I wouldn't be as fond of his work as I am. However, these are among my favorites:
Mort
Wee Free Men (for younger readers)
Small Gods
Witches Abroad

Steve MC said...

Thanks! Just what I was hoping to find. In fact, just this Christmas I was wishing there was another Douglas Adams book out there, since I always used to get one of his for Christmas, and a glimpse of Mort shows there's still plenty of great British sci-fi humor out there.

“They do a lot of reading, wizards.” :-)