Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #29)

Commander Sam Vimes is about to be a father.  But he has been forbidden from his wife’s side.  What’s a good copper to do besides wear a hole in the carpet pacing?  Catch bad guys!  And Carcer, known murderer, bad guy extraordinaire, has been spotted and the Watch has him surrounded.  Joining the hunt is the best thing Sam can think of to keep him occupied.  But a harrowing encounter with Carcer atop the Unseen University Library during a freak magical storm sends Vimes and Carcer back in time.  Their presence alone disrupts the thread of time but when Carcer murders John Keel, the man who mentored a young Sam Vimes, the older Vimes must assume Keel’s identity and mentor himself if he is to be the Sam Vimes that he is.  Even if time has been disrupted certain events must take place: teaching a young Sam how to be a copper, being the face of a revolution and grabbing hold of Carcer to bring him to justice and back to the timeline they belong in.  If Sam fails, the life he knows, will never be or have been.

Oh time travel what a tangled web you weave and Pratchett handles it wonderfully though there were moments that confused me but I think that’s just the nature of time travel and this is Discworld after all.  Night Watch is also quite dark and gritty, and I’m often surprised by this at times because the humor and fantasy elements are hilarious and outrageous.  Pratchett doesn’t shy away from violence and the truth and motivations behind the mob mentality, rebellions and class warfare.  There’s also plenty of light moments and comedy.  I don’t know how Pratchett is able to balance everything out but he does.  There are moments that make you cringe, nod your head in agreement, stifle a laugh; his books are very engaging.

I really loved seeing the younger versions of Sam, Colon, Nobby and Vetineri.  A skinny, street urchin, pickpocket Nobby is the cutest, filthiest thing ever and Vetineri is just as sly and smart as an assasin just as he will be a sly, two-steps-ahead-of-you patrician.  And of course, Sam is Sam, always the copper, always determined to do what is right and he has become one of my favorite characters, not just from Discworld, but also from the fantasy genre altogether.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Captain Sam Vimes of the Night Watch is a drunk.  There is a dragon loose in his city.  Why is there a dragon?  They’ve been extinct for ages.  But some overly ambitious Elucidated Brethren have summoned it and it’s wrecking havoc on poor Ankh-Morpork and Sam will not have it!  So that means Sam is going to have to sober up, his men will have to find their courage to stop it.  And with luck - quite a bit of luck, actually - perhaps they can manage to not get killed along the way.


Back when I read Snuff I became a fan of Sam Vimes.  I met him at a point in his life where he’d already achieved so much, he is a husband, a father and Commander of the City Watch, having gained a few more titles along the way.  I’d always wanted to see what he was like before that and I got my opportunity to do so in Guards! Guards!  This Sam is so very different yet he is the Sam I met in Snuff.  In Guards! Guards! we meet Sam for the first time, drunk and mumbling to himself in the gutters.  He is just a captain of the Night Watch, with only two men under his command.  Not much is expected of them and they actually prefer it that way.  But Sam will not stand by to let a dragon destroy his city.  When he came to his senses and knew he would have to do something about it I couldn't help but feel proud of him; that was the Sam I got to know in Snuff.


I also got to meet Lady Sybil Ramkin, Sam’s future wife (I am not considering this a spoiler since I already wrote about her in my Snuff review), an eccentric heiress who is an expert on swamp dragons, the very small brethren of the very large dragon causing chaos.  She also plays a big part helping Sam and the Night Watch towards a future or being more than just mall security.  It’s also nice to see the beginnings of their romance.  They’re so cute!


The Patrician is back too and this book just made me like that guy even more.  I also got to meet some new people: Colon, Nobby, Carrot, the Librarian and Errol, the swamp dragon.  I’m not sure if Errol makes much of an appearance in other books but I had to talk about him because he plays an important part in the fight against the dragon menace.  We learn from Lady Sybil that swamp dragons will often re-work their plumbing, sometimes with messy results, but Errol manages a way to re-work his plumbing that made me do a double take before realizing that what I read was what I read.  It’s so delightfully hilarious and silly (and gross).  Colon and Nobby are the grizzled veterans; grizzled veterans in the way that they know where all the good watering holes are at.  The Night Watch takes on Carrot, a human raised by Dwarves (visions of Elf can not be helped with this scenario).  Carrot is very naive and the conversations he has with Colon and Nobby are great when they try to explain how the non-Dwarf world really works.  And there’s the Librarian, a wizard-turned-orangutan after a spell gone awry, who does not concern himself much with the goings on of humans but when someone dares steals a book from his library he is dead set to find it, even if he must communicate by charades.


A great cast of quirky, unique characters... check!  Excellent and witty dialogue... check!  A laugh out loud storyline... and check!  I’m sensing a pattern with these books and I’m liking it.  So far, the 3 out of 3 I’ve read have been fantastic.  I have not been disappointed and once again I’m looking forward to more!

Summer In Discworld

Well, I’m still in the middle of the Once Upon A Time Challenge and all is going well.  But that won’t stop me from joining along on another reading challenge.  This one took no second thoughts about participating.  It’s the Summer In Discworld challenge hosted by Tales of the Marvelous.  So you know what that means?


Lots of Discworld!


I’ve already dipped my toe into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld on two occasions, with Snuff and Going Postal, and I’m looking forward to more!  And of course, I am all stocked up so this gives me a good excuse to haul these books out of the bag they've been sitting in since I bought them.


Now, it’s all about having fun and enjoying the experience of this strange flat world that sits on the back of four elephants who stand upon a turtle floating through space.  There will also be a group read for Going Postal, which I recently read and loved and can’t wait to see what others think.  More details can be found here.

I’m a bit late writing this since the reading challenge started on June 1st, but it continues on through August 31st so there is still lots of time to enjoy a silly adventure or two in Ankh-Morpork.  So join along if you can, you won’t regret it!  And don’t forget to check out those who will be taking the plunge as well: http://marveloustales.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/summer-in-discworld-reviews/

P.S.  I'm about 100 pages into Guards! Guards! and it's fabulous!

Weekend Fun: A Book Fair, New Books, Mother’s Day, The Avengers and Downton Abbey!

It was a pretty full weekend.  On Saturday I went to the 4th Annual Tallahassee Downtown Book Fair.  It was my first book fair and I had no idea how these things work.  I was feeling a little awkward and was trying to get through all the tables quickly because we got there about an hour before they would be packing up.  It wasn't until we left that I realized I should have written a handful of questions before I got there to ask and highlight each author I spoke to here.  Of course I think of that after.  Oh well, next time I'll be better prepared.  I browsed through the Friends of the Library Book Sale but nothing called to me.

Friends of the Library book sale

Venessa making a bookmark

But I did find something that called to me from one of the local author's tables.  I picked up a signed copy of Riding Fence by A.H. Holt.  The last western I read, that was fiction, was Lonesome Dove and I really don’t read western novels much so I’m really excited about this one.  It'll be nice to take a break and read outside of the SF/Fantasy genre.

AND THEN I went to Loud Voice Books and guess what I did?  Bought five Pratchett’s, of course!:

Guards! Guards!, Night Watch, I Shall Wear Midnight, Thud! and Nation

I only meant to pick up three but I couldn't say no to them when the hardcovers were only $3!  So I got Guards! Guards!, The Night Watch, Thud!, I Shall Wear Midnight and Nation, which is a non-Discworld book.  I happened upon a paperback copy of Nation a couple weeks ago and passed it up.  But after reading this review, I regretted not getting it so knew I would need it.


Then on Sunday I celebrated Mother’s Day with a trip to the movie theater to see The Avengers!  And oh. My. Goodness.  I loved it!  Things I loved in no particular order (and slightly spoilerish):

• All the clips and hints given before the movie was released totally didn't give away too much.  I was afraid it would but it didn't.  I went in with some idea what to expect and having read non-spoilerish reviews I was anticipating a great movie.  I think I loved it more than I was expecting to!
• The team getting together/getting to know each bits were my favorite parts.  Especially how each Avenger would team up with someone:  Tony Stark and Bruce Banner bonding in the lab just two geniuses at work, Iron Man and Captain America working together to get the engine of the Hellicarrier running again, Captain America leading the way with Hawkeye and Black Widow by his side, Cap giving Black Widow a boost to hop aboard a Chitauri flying-motorcycle-thingy, Iron Man grabbing Hawkeye to give him a lift while calling him Legolas and The Hulk grabbing Iron Man before he fell.... great stuff!  
• And oh boy, there were some great one liners in this movie.  But it’s Joss, and that’s what I've come to expect from watching his other shows, Buffy and Firefly.  Big epic disasters are fun and all, but it’s the funny moments, the verbal jabs that people make and that he portrays flawlessly have always been what I enjoyed the most from Whedon.
• Thor didn't get a lot of bonding time with the other Avengers, but he is more of an outsider being from another world and I hope he gets more one on one moments with the others in the sequel.  But his scenes with Loki I liked.  Thor, not ready to give up on his brother was great, and you could feel Loki’s jealousy and resentment growing up in “big brother’s” shadow.
• Agent Coulson, you’re the best.  You put up with so much from these guys and you always remained cool, calm and collected.  You were not afraid to stand up to someone who was more powerful than you.  You did your duty and you are respected for that.
• I'm glad The Avengers called out S.H.I.E.L.D., how they did, in a way, instigate this whole mess.  They mean well but they're not perfect and can make mistakes.
• Everyone got to strut their stuff and all their abilities were utilized well.

This is a great group of actors, who had a great director and it turned out to be a great comic book movie.  I couldn’t have asked for more.


After watching The Avengers and gushing over it with my husband (who usually falls asleep during a movie but didn't this time) we came home and I settled in to watch some Downton Abbey.  I watched all seven episodes that were available on Netflix.  I was up until almost 2 am.  It was so addicting!  Briefly, here's what I thought...


My guest list for a spot of tea:


The Dowager Countess
Lady Sybil
Anna
Mr. Bates
Matthew Crawley


The most infuriating, of infuriating people to ever shake a fist at:


Lady Mary
Lady Edith
Thomas
Ms. O’Brien


It was a great weekend and I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  I hope everyone else did too.

"Oh, and do take his wig, will you? We tried putting it in a cupboard, but it got out."

Stop the world.


I’d like to get off so I can climb aboard the giant flat disc, that sits on the back of four elephants, that stand upon a giant turtle floating through space, because Discworld seems to be where all the fun is at.  This was my second adventure with Terry Pratchett’s Discworld and this time I got to spend more time in Ankh-Morpork and I loved every minute of it.


In Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, con man Moist von Lipwig, is sentenced and “hanged” for his crimes.  But Lord Vetineri has other plans in mind for Moist, such as turning him into the new Postmaster!  Not a very prestigious profession for a con man but it’s better than being dead.


The Ankh-Morpork postal service has been out of commission for years and it’s backlogged with letters clogging the old building.  Moist has to contend with avalanches of old, undelivered mail bursting through doors, postal workers who “follow regulations” other than actually delivering the mail, the coaches are being run as a private business and the mail is actually speaking to Moist, asking to be delivered!  And all of the Postmasters before Moist have died under mysterious circumstances.  But Moist sees this as an opportunity to put his skills to work.  What does he have to lose?  He’s already “died” once.  Oh and he’s also up against The Grand Trunk, a company that runs the clacks that has been run down by the greed and corruption of its board members.


The clacks are a network of tall towers place at intervals (or on rooftops within the city limits of Ankh-Morpork) that send messages back and forth through a special code communicated through shutters and blinking lights.  Similar to the fire signals in The Return of the King, the semaphore line and the telegraph system.  They are the only means of communication since the breakdown of the postal service.  When Moist threatens the operators of The Grand Trunk when he actually starts delivery letters, things get very interesting.  There are plots to sabotage the other.  There is witty banter with veiled threats and a challenge issued that Moist has no hope of winning.


Moist is a fun character.  He is totally without honor and has no problem admitting it or even using his skills as a con man to make things work to his advantage.  But it’s all to help the struggling postal service regain its prominence.  He is charming and smart and it’s easy to forgive him for his “dishonorable ways”.


I was able to get to know Lord Vetineri, the Patrician and ruler of Ankh-Morpork.  I was introduced to him in Snuff but only briefly.  In Going Postal I got to see him in his full glory and I love this guy.  He is smart, ruthless and his battle of wits with Moist and the chairman of The Grand Trunk, Reacher Gilt, were the best parts of this book.  He is the ultimate puppet master!


This book, or rather, this world, from what I've seen so far, is just full of unique, oddball characters that you grow to love.  Terry Pratchett writes some great dialog too.  This is one of the handful of books that had me laugh out loud.  And maybe the only book that had me laughing out loud more than once.  It’s all Moist and his antics and the things he gets away with.  I think I’m just going to look upon this book dreamily as I wait for the weekend when I can go snap up more from Loud Voice Books who posted a pic of a pile of Discworld books they just got in.  I just hope there’s still some left when I get there!  But I will restrain myself from reading the entire series all at once.  There is a lot more to read out there but from my two positive experiences I’d like to keep these around as palate cleansers for those not-so-great reads that pop up now and again.  Basically, this was me after I finished reading Going Postal:

New On The Shelf: The Limited Edition

Well, I’ve been very good lately and I haven’t bought too many books since my last New On The Shelf.  During one of my daughter’s softball practices, my husband and I wandered over to a shopping center for some caffeine.  Of course, it was just an excuse to check out the used bookstore, My Favorite Books, which I hadn’t been in yet!  And it was worth it!  I found two Discworld books, The Light Fantastic and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, as well as Zoe’s War by John Scalzi.  An interesting tidbit I learned at the bookstore: There are certain author’s books who don’t stay long on the shelves and Pratchett is one of them, so I was really happy that I found these two before someone else got to them.

 After watching The Legend of Korra, I had done some research prior to my write up for it to make sure I had certain facts right.  I learned of the graphic novel Avatar: The Last Airbender – The Promise Part 1 that bridges the two series together.  Naturally I had to get a copy for myself so Venessa and I headed over to Barnes and Noble.  I didn’t tell my husband what I planned on getting, I wasn't even sure they would have a copy, so when we returned he looked at me funny and said, “I thought you were getting something for yourself?”  I did!  It was in the Graphic Novel section, which is right next to the Sci Fi/Fantasy section!  Not the kids section!  I can’t help it if it’s something we can both enjoy! (Geez, don't get so defensive, Sarah!)

 This Kid needs her fingernails trimmed!

After enjoying The Dead Man: Face Of Evil, and having received it for free, I went to the Kindle store to see what else I could get for free that looked interesting.  I got Wolverine’s Daughter by Doranna Durgin and The Illustrated Book Of Wrath Volume 1 by Robin Coe.

Then the Sony Reader Store had a 35% off code to redeem with select titles.  One of those was The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and I couldn’t resist.  This will be a good one to read with Venessa (I say that a lot, don’t I?).  I read it a few years ago when it was just that one and The Sea Of Monsters and really liked it.  I ended up donating my physical copy and I've regretted it so I had to jump on this deal.

I also checked out Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman for an upcoming group read that is part of the Once Upon A Time Challenge.  Anyone is welcome to join.  And hopefully soon I’ll be receiving The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin.  I ran across it at B&N a few months ago and it’s been haunting me so I finally gave in and requested it from the library.  But man, am I itching to buy my own copy even if I haven’t read it yet! 

Out of all of these, I’ve already read the Avatar graphic novel and I read it a second time aloud to Venessa.  I’ll post a Storytime With Venessa to discuss what we thought of it soon.  I also started on The Illustrated Book Of Wrath but I don’t know… It has some lovely illustrations but Famine rambles a lot in the beginning and it’s real tiresome.  I don’t know if I can continue through much more of it to see if he stops.


So, that’s what’s been added to my collection.  Lots of good stuff I can’t wait to get to!

New On The Shelf: Adventures in Book Collecting

Well,I've been trying to be good. I really have! But this collection of new books has built up slowly from the last post. Let's take a look at what I've collected:

Goodwill Book Store

Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Mort by Terry Pratchett

This was from a random stop. We were out and about one Saturday afternoon and we passed by so I insisted we make a stop. Mort is #4 of the Discworld books. After recently reading Snuff and liking it a lot, I was really excited to add another Discworld book to my collection.

Venessa really enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux movie and really really really likes Coraline (she went a week where that was all she watched recently), so I thought the book versions of both would be nice to have.

Library

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

This book was stalking me. I first saw the book here at the OF Blog. During a browsing excursion to Barnes and Noble (where I didn’t buy anything, thank you very much!) I saw it on the shelf. Then I read the reviews here and here. The last review and the comments convinced me this is a book to read. I tweeted this as my #FridayReads and got a response from the author, saying he hopes it doesn't ruin my weekend. I'm happy to report it didn't and I don't need to resort to this.

Goodwill, Destin, FL

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

How to Read a Film: The Art, Technology, Language, History, and Theory of Film and Media

While on vacation in Destin, FL (which has beautiful beaches by the way!), the weather was poopy so we just took walks on the beach when we could and ate good food and had lots of drinks! We also did some shopping and that included exploring some of the local thrift stores. My husband found the film book for me because I had mentioned wanting to get one. I thought it’d be nice to have some knowledge on film techniques to help with my future film reviews. This book is older but for a couple bucks it looks like it’s a good start.

I read the Maltese Falcon years ago and I couldn’t pass up having my own copy. I remember so little of it and the movie! Time to correct that!

Fun fact #1: Once upon a time I was obsessed with the name Dashiell. Some of you ladies have probably done this as well, but I kept a list of names I wanted to name my kids. Dashiell was on the list and I also thought it’d make a great pen name.

I also found a copy of one of the Fuzzy books by H. Beam Piper. Fuzzy Nation, the book I reviewed recently, was a retelling of one of the stories. I really want to read H. Beam Piper’s but the copy I found wasn’t that great. I was disappointed and sad. It was only .75 but the book was in really bad shape.

Great beaches in Destin!

Loud Voice Books

Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche

Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven Millhauser

The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett (Dammit! I forgot to have it included in the pic!)

This was a two part trip. On some other weekend I felt the need to browse a bookstore so I went to Loud Voice Books. I didn’t have anything in mind and ended up with Dangerous Laughter and Shining at the Bottom of the Sea.

Then of course after such purchases I see Steven Millhauser’s name pop up on a blog where I find out he’s nominated for something and someone not at all happy with some other Stephen Marche book called How Shakespeare Changed Everything.

I believe The Company Man was a Kindle Daily Deal that popped up on my Facebook feed. It sounded really interesting as alternate histories go. I emailed Loud Voice and got a great deal on it. Much better than if I’d gone through Amazon!

From Mom-In-Law

Spy Killer by L. Ron Hubbard

Inside Straight (Wild Cards, #18) by George R.R. Martin and others

My mom-in-law, Laura, sent these two to me. Notice how George R. R. Martin's name is insanely huge compared to the title. It's the same on the front of the book. Reading through Goodreads this book has some pretty good reviews. And though it's part of a series, it sounds like you can jump in with this book and not be completely lost.

I enjoyed L. Ron Hubbard’s, Battlefield Earth (enough to have read it twice and yes, I saw the movie, which was NOT GOOD) so I’m really curious about this one. According to his Wikipedia page, he did a lot of writing before he invented Scientology.

Fun Fact #2: One of the reasons I read Battlefield Earth was 1) curiosity and 2) those Dianetics commercials. Does anyone remember those? It’s the only book commercial I ever remember seeing on TV and they were on ALL the time it seemed!

Fun Fact #3: In my days as a QA Analyst I used this program to find broken links: http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html Xenu is a "dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs". I swear I did not make this up. I copied it straight from wikipedia so it must be true!

Scientology just amuses me. Please, don't be afraid. I'm not trying to brainwash you! I'm curious to see what Spy Killer is like, if it will have traces of the beginnings of Scientology, where in Battlefield Earth, his beliefs were blatantly obvious.

So that's it! Anything look interesting to you? Has anyone read any of these? Let me know what you think if you have.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett Review

A few years ago I read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I absolutely love that book. Since then I’ve read other books by Neil Gaiman but not Terry Pratchett and I’d always meant to. Finally, this year I did so with Snuff, the newest book of the Discworld series.

Discworld is a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants that stand upon the back of a giant turtle. The world is peppered with wizards, trolls, dwarves, vampires, werewolves, goblins and there’s a small man named Wee Mad Arthur who captures and rides birds wherever he wants to go!

And there is of course the City Watch in the city of Ankh-Morpork, where Sam Vimes is the Commander. In Snuff we follow Sam on vacation with his wife and son. Sam is a lawman, through and through, and he will uphold the law, no matter what it takes. And even though he leaves the crime and corruption of Ankh-Morpork, it follows him even when he’s on vacation.

I jumped into Discworld blindly with Snuff. I knew absolutely nothing about it at the time, but I felt it was incredibly believable. It may help that there’s now 39 books in the series and Terry knows this world inside out.

I really like Sam Vimes. I don’t know everything he’s seen or done throughout the Discworld series, but I find him a believable, interesting character. I can see why he’s treated with respect and loyalty. And then there's Willikins, Sam's butler/body guard. This guy is great and I really liked his and Sam’s friendship as well as Sam and his wife, Lady Sybil’s, relationship. This is the type of relationships I like to read about: the love, respect, and understanding between friends and within a marriage.

One of my favorite themes in books is friendship and loyalty, how a character grows into this leader that people love, respect and would lay down their life for. In return they know, and we as well, that the person they would give their life to protect would in turn do the very same for them. Sam is one of those characters. This was a clever, fun and exciting read and I’m fully prepared to emerge myself into Discworld.