What a timely survey!!




I have read the entire Discworld series, many of them multiple times. Oh wait, I haven't read Wintersmith or I Shall Wear Midnight. So there's that. His only non-Discworld stuff I have read is Nation and Good Omens.



I think that puts me around 39 books? Yes?



I think he's great. His early books were pretty weak, very one dimensional, but he really hit his stride later in the series reaching that magical combination of fantastic characters, actual emotion, solid, exciting plotting, and hilarity. I think recently he's been struggling to find new places to take his writing, and in Unseen Academicals there was a lot of backtracking over themes and character archetypes that we've already seen before, and were done better previously too.



I think the Watch books for overall quality - Night Watch is very likely the best book he's ever written, I think, and Feet of Clay, The Fifth Elephant, and Men at Arms are all very strong too ... but my absolute favorite is The Thief of Time, which I never hear anyone else talk about. Maybe it's because it was the first Discworld book I read, but I love it. Anyway, I also love Going Postal an inordinate amount ... flippin' hilarious.



I thought Unseen Academicals was pretty weak, but I am loath to attribute that to his disease. I think it might be more that he's written so many books in this world it's very probable that he's running out of fresh material. He's pretty much written himself into a wall with the Watch ... they're so competent now there's not that much more to say about it.



If actors can be knighted on the basis of their acting, then I think it's only fair that authors can be knighted for their writing.



Probably the Thief of Time.



No, I think Night Watch probably is.



Yup. Like I said before, I have sentimental attachments to Thief of Time.



No, I don't really like Tiffany Aching all that much.



I like the ones that are still funny while also containing dynamic, interesting characters and evoking real emotion. My one criticism of Night Watch is that it's not really very funny.



Yeah, I saw the Hogfather one. It was alright, but I thought it sacrificed humor for accuracy to the novel. Honestly, I think most of Pratchett's humor comes from the writing itself, so I don't know if a film adaptation will ever be able to capture that.



I'll probably answer them.



Thanks for posting!!