Category: Fantasy

boffo?

Posted on by Greig

Wintersmith

Terry Pratchett

This is the third of the Tiffany Aching books.
In this one she steps into a dance she shouldn’t and the Wintersmith – the spirit of winter – falls in love with her.
So somehow Tiffany has to save the Discworld from perpetual winter while continuing her novice witch training.
This continues the high standards set in the previous Aching books, The Wee Free Men & A Hat Full of Sky.
Pratchett continues to be on beautifully bittersweet and humourous form while Tiffany grows up to fulfill her destiny as a witch of remarkable power.
I wouldn’t read it as a stand-alone (though you probably could) it really does work best as part of the sequence.
In that case I wouldn’t give a moment’s hesitation in recommending anyone to read this book

Rating: A

-ing?

Posted on by Greig

The Truth

Terry Pratchett

The TruthThis Discworld novel is set in Ankh-Morpork and is the story of how the city’s first newspaper starts up just as a conspiracy to remove
the Patrician goes into motion.
This book is middle ranking Discworld. Good read, funny in places, has a message. It just isn’t as profound the very best of the series.
Obviously recommended to pretty much everyone – Pratchett is a true great.

Rating: B+

where’s my cow?

Posted on by Greig

Thud!

Terry Pratchett

The latest Discworld book. This is another focussing on Sam Vimes, and the City Watch.
The city is on edge, Dwarfs and Trolls are spoiling for a fight as Battle of Koom Valley day approaches. A high-ranking religious dwarf has been killed and Vimes has to find the person really responsible before the city falls apart. All the while making sure he makes it home for 6pm to read ‘Where is my Cow’ to young Sam Vimes jr.
Vimes is my favourite Discworld character after the outstanding ‘Night Watch’ and this book has done nothing to change that.
Not in the very top rank of Discworld books, this one is nonetheless very strong and has some interesting things to say. It’ll be interesting to see how the events that happen in this book play out in future books.
I’d recommend this to anyone. Pratchett is a genius.

Rating: A-

locket?

Posted on by Greig

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

J.K. Rowling

The sixth book in the Potter series. In which, as usual, stubborn Harry finds himself in mortal danger because he doesn’t ask the right questions at the right time, lets his paranoia run deep, starts dating his best friend’s sister and Dumbledore gets killed. By Snape (The Half Blood Prince in question). Hm. The last book will be interesting I can already see some things that will happen, I think.
It’s far from a masterpiece, but it is a real page turner. I think it took me about six hours to read!
I’d be deluding myself to offer a recommendation for this book – people will either read it or they won’t.

Rating: B+

brief update (2)

Posted on by Greig

Night Watch

Terry Pratchett

This is among the very best Discworld novels, along with the likes of
Small Gods.
A bit darker than normal, and with much less emphasis on the humour, this is an Ankh-Morpork Watch story.
Sam Vimes (who has grown to become perhaps my favourite Discworld character) is thrown into the past to hunt down a psychotic killer and finds he has to relive one of the formative experiences of his youth and take on the mantle of his mentor in order to heal time and get back to his present and his newborn child.
The plot is a device allowing Pratchett to really get under the skin of a character.
It’s a beautiful piece of writing.

Rating: A+

teenager?

Posted on by Greig

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

J.K. Rowling

The latest and longest of the Harry Potter books was released this Saturday to enormous global hype.
In this latest book, Harry has definitely become a teenager. He’s moody, he’s angry, he feels left out and the world seems against him.
There’s really no point in going into the plot, but I will say that I enjoyed the book. I feel that some subplots were introduced just to give a couple of characters an appearance in the book. I enjoyed reading the subplots but if they had been edited out you wouldn’t have missed them.
As for the much trumpeted killing off a main character, well I guessed who was going to be killed off well before the book came out. It was the obvious choice.
It’s unlikely that my recommendation would make any difference to whether you’re going to read this book or not, but I do recommend it. The Harry Potter series is a lot of fun and takes little effort to read (I’ve read each of them in a very short time – the first two in the space of a day and less than a day each for the others). Not by any stretch of the imagination the greatest children’s books ever written, but definitely worth the time it takes to read them.