The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

 

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Wee Free Men is the first of the Tiffany Aching series of novels which is aimed at a younger audience but for me stands side by side with the rest of the Witch series written by Terry Pratchett. Tiffany is a young farm girl with a curious and intense mind who finds herself at the center of events after her granny dies and Elf Queen invades her land and steals away not only her younger brother but the son of the local baron. Tiffany asks questions few would even consider which pushers her down the path of Witchcraft and armed with a frying pan and with help of some local and highly aggressive but loyal Nac Mac Feegle (faires, often drunk faires) she travels to the land of the elves to reclaim what is hers.
The Wee Free Men is a very entertaining and well written novel, as you would expect Terry is a master at weaving stories within his Discworld and creates a younger character who can be enjoyed by all while being mainly identifiable to a subset of the fanbase. I would heartily recommend this novel to any younger reader looking for a way in to Discworld or just looking for something that isn't as complex as the latter Guard and City novels.

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War of the Worlds & When Worlds Collide

I'm not sure if I like the packaging together of two movies but I guess if we can get 4K releases and the chosen movies are related (genre or otherwise) then perhaps there will be more must buys than reluctant buys just to get one of them. In this case though here we have two great classic scifi flicks, War of the Worlds is a personal favourite and When Worlds Collide is fondly remembered.

Update, only just realised that while the traditional 4K ULTRA HD + BLU-RAY banner is on the outer case this actually means one 4K disc (War of the Worlds) and one Blu-ray (When Worlds Collide) not two formats of each movie. Suddenly the value of this boxset drops significantly and in addition issues with some colouring of Mars in the early shots which are different to the Criterion Blu-ray.

As always, take nothing for granted.

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

 

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Night Watch is one of those novels be they standalone or part of a definitive series that I really can not give a review that would do it justice. The novel really does attain a level above any of the previous and excellent City Watch subset of Discworld and provides a hard edged story which retains some of the humour of previous novels while focusing on characterisation, plot and insight into our world.
So Duke Vimes soon to be a father is dealing with a ruthless criminal named "Carcer" who simply has all the brakes off, a number of watchmen have died at his hands but now he is cornered above the Unseen University Library with Vimes closing in. It's at this point that a huge storm hits and lightning and magic combine to send the two men back into the recent past of Ankh-Morpork. The current patrician Lord Winder is extremely paranoid (with good reason) and has the military, the watch and the Cable Street Particulars (Brutal Secret Police) enforcing curfews and clamping down on any dissent but revolution is in the air with Lord Snapcase as the favoured politician to solve all the cities problems. Vimes through a number of events figures out when he is and with the help of The Sweeper is tasked to well live this life as the recently deceased Sgt. John Keel a man who as it happened trained a very young Samuel Vimes so many years ago.
The novel really is that good, it is a complex time travelling story with many characters we know well from previous novels albeit much younger but everything fits so well and it's so difficult to find faults with it. I guess it's not a novel that would rate highly as someone's first visit to the Discworld but is that a flaw, nah I don't think so, this is a masterful tale within a series yet feels different for all the right reasons.


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The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

 

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents was not a Discworld novel I'd been back too, in fact this is only the second time I have read the novel so yeah a lot of it was pretty fresh, it might have been interesting to wait and watch the upcoming feature before going back to the novel but hey not to be. The story of Maurice is in the form of a Pratchett tradition, take a well known fable and manipulating it to reflect the Discworld and when required our own world and thus the Pied Piper becomes part of the Discworld family with a twist.
The Amazing Maurice is a cat, a very clever cat who can talk and he has a human "friend" named Keith who can play a mean pipe and thus they travel from town to town earning a few dollars by riding the towns of their rat problems. Oh did I forget that the rats are also part of this "scam" and they too can talk and are intelligent thanks to living for generations in and around Unseen University. Together the strange combination of souls enter the town of Bad Blintz but find that there are no native rats to be found ( lots of rat tunnels and old traps/poisons etc but no rats ) yet the townsfolk are near starving with rationing ongoing thanks to a huge rat infestation. The local rat catching guild seem to be doing a healthy trade is dead rat bounties though and we soon realise that there is something dark and devious going on in Bad Blitz and none of it is the fault of rats.
I actually quite enjoyed the novel and definitely looking forward to the tv adaptation and as a stand alone novel which tells a story without the usual Discworld trappings it comes across as a pleasant addition to the series and good one off for someone new to Terry's writing.

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The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett

 

The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde are bored, who knew running an Empire would shall we say be less than satisfying and thus for their final quest they are going to return (with interest) the first item that was stolen. In other words they intend to climb Cori Celesti and assault Dunmanifestin the home of the gods with an abundant amount of Agatean Thunder Clay which goes bang big time. As is the tradition the Horde want their epic adventure to be remembered and thus a minstrel is kidnapped and tasked with the creation of an epic song and thus the party is ready and the adventure begins.
However what the Horde fail to realise is that while they may go out on an epic high the collapse of the Gods, Cori Celesti and Dunmanifestin will critically disrupt the magical field that is the bedrock of what makes the Discworld a reality. With time running out Carrot, Leonard of Quirm, Rincewind and the Librarian venture forth on a wild adventure of their own to stop the Horde before it is too late.
The Last Hero is a large format illustrated novel, not ideal for reading on a kindle (which I did for the purpose of this read through) and while it does seem a little lacking when compared to many other Discworld novels if treated as a kinda uber bonus then you should be more than happy with the story and the artwork. Overall a decent addition to the collection which relies on combining a lot of characters (some more major the others) and providing some with a satisfying conclusion to their stories.

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