Book Review!
Sep. 4th, 2006 12:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keilexandraParents and sis have gone off to Brandywine Zoo, so I have uninterrupted computer time for a few hours. Whee! Here's a book review I wrote in my notebook two days ago.
Title: Lords and Ladies
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy
# of Pages: 281 (paperback)
Rating: A
Summary:
I was going to just steal the publisher summary, like usual, but it's partially covered up by the library barcode sticker. Damn.
Basically, Lords and Ladies is about Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, three witches who appear in three previous books (Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, and Witches Abroad, according to the Author's Note). The three return home to Lancre to find that much has changed--Magrat's unofficial beau Verence has become king and is marrying her, and elves are trying to get into the world (it being circle time).
And of course there are hte parodies and satires Terry Pratchett is so fond of.
Review:
This is only the second of Terry Pratchett's novels that I've read--the first was Going Postal, which I loved--so the Author's Note in the beginning set me off with a bit of trepidation, seeing as I haven't read the previous books. But Lords and Ladies is fantastic, funny, and probably deserves an A+, not a mere A.
I only give out A+s to books by Guy Gavriel Kay, though. Maybe I'll write an adoring review of Lord of Emperors sometime.
Anyway, back to Discworld. Terry Pratchett is famous for his irony, and this novel is no exception. I love his clever parody of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; it blends with the plot perfectly and yet is easily picked out for a smile. The three main characters are beautifully rendered, and their ordinariness is refreshing.
Then there are the elves, who are much different from the "old folktales" (AKA fantasy cliche). These elves are impossibly beautiful, never age, and have a certain style, or glamour. They can also read minds, invoke horrible thoughts of shame and uselessness, and are cruel, vicious, nasty, brutish, etc. They're not very nice at all.
This is my only real complaint about the story. Elves have no notion of mercy or of how anyone other than themselves might feel; as thus, they become quite evil. I can accept this because I know that Pratchett is parodying an old, well-known cliche, but still. And I never did figure out if the elvish Queen was immortal or not, since elves can be killed with an iron weapon, but she is married to a god.
There are also many other interesting characters: Ridcully the Head Wizard of Unseen University, the orangutan Librarian who can only say "Ook", Jason Ogg the blacksmith, Diamanda, Shawn Ogg the entire standing army of Lancre (except when he's lying down), and the Bursar who requires dried frog pills to stay sane. Just your usual cast, really.
Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy
# of Pages: 281 (paperback)
Rating: A
Summary:
I was going to just steal the publisher summary, like usual, but it's partially covered up by the library barcode sticker. Damn.
Basically, Lords and Ladies is about Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat, three witches who appear in three previous books (Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, and Witches Abroad, according to the Author's Note). The three return home to Lancre to find that much has changed--Magrat's unofficial beau Verence has become king and is marrying her, and elves are trying to get into the world (it being circle time).
And of course there are hte parodies and satires Terry Pratchett is so fond of.
Review:
This is only the second of Terry Pratchett's novels that I've read--the first was Going Postal, which I loved--so the Author's Note in the beginning set me off with a bit of trepidation, seeing as I haven't read the previous books. But Lords and Ladies is fantastic, funny, and probably deserves an A+, not a mere A.
I only give out A+s to books by Guy Gavriel Kay, though. Maybe I'll write an adoring review of Lord of Emperors sometime.
Anyway, back to Discworld. Terry Pratchett is famous for his irony, and this novel is no exception. I love his clever parody of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; it blends with the plot perfectly and yet is easily picked out for a smile. The three main characters are beautifully rendered, and their ordinariness is refreshing.
Then there are the elves, who are much different from the "old folktales" (AKA fantasy cliche). These elves are impossibly beautiful, never age, and have a certain style, or glamour. They can also read minds, invoke horrible thoughts of shame and uselessness, and are cruel, vicious, nasty, brutish, etc. They're not very nice at all.
This is my only real complaint about the story. Elves have no notion of mercy or of how anyone other than themselves might feel; as thus, they become quite evil. I can accept this because I know that Pratchett is parodying an old, well-known cliche, but still. And I never did figure out if the elvish Queen was immortal or not, since elves can be killed with an iron weapon, but she is married to a god.
There are also many other interesting characters: Ridcully the Head Wizard of Unseen University, the orangutan Librarian who can only say "Ook", Jason Ogg the blacksmith, Diamanda, Shawn Ogg the entire standing army of Lancre (except when he's lying down), and the Bursar who requires dried frog pills to stay sane. Just your usual cast, really.
That was fun.
