You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
I was quite surprised that for this, his last book, this was really well done. As the notes say, he may have been a little rushed to get this done in his last few months with us, but how can we complain? If every generation has even one Terry Pratchett, we're a blessed species.
This is a solid Discworld novel, and a fine capstone to the Witches series. As might be expected, it deals with mortality, and gives hope that even the seemingly irreplaceable people in the world can be, if not replaced, at least a new and different person can fill a similarly sized hole. Not a subtle message, but a welcome one.
This is a solid Discworld novel, and a fine capstone to the Witches series. As might be expected, it deals with mortality, and gives hope that even the seemingly irreplaceable people in the world can be, if not replaced, at least a new and different person can fill a similarly sized hole. Not a subtle message, but a welcome one.
Stephen Briggs as a reader: Terry Pratchett as author: Tiffany Aching as main character: what's not to love?
This is not Pratchett's strongest outing. It IS his last, and it's a huge bonus in light of his diagnosis with Alzheimer's. There's an afterword that sums up nearly everything that I thought as I was listening to it, but the gist is as follows:
--this is Terry Pratchett's last book. It offers some poignant, funny, honest insights on life, humans, humanity, change, and death.
--there is a lot in the book: elves, trains, Ank-Morpork (sp), Vetinari, witches, goblins, and the Nac Macfeegles all intersect, but the novel is not the 500 pages it deserves (and wants) to be--Pratchett just ran out of time. Preston gets very short shrift, as does Vetinari! Unfortunately, the Wee Free Men are short-changed, too.
--I think each reader needs to decide if s/he feels it's worth it to visit one last time, even if the master is diminished, or if s/he would rather stick with the more complete and polished works.
Ultimately, "it is what it is." I'm glad I had a chance to read Pratchett's last--though definitely not his best--work.
This is not Pratchett's strongest outing. It IS his last, and it's a huge bonus in light of his diagnosis with Alzheimer's. There's an afterword that sums up nearly everything that I thought as I was listening to it, but the gist is as follows:
--this is Terry Pratchett's last book. It offers some poignant, funny, honest insights on life, humans, humanity, change, and death.
--there is a lot in the book: elves, trains, Ank-Morpork (sp), Vetinari, witches, goblins, and the Nac Macfeegles all intersect, but the novel is not the 500 pages it deserves (and wants) to be--Pratchett just ran out of time. Preston gets very short shrift, as does Vetinari! Unfortunately, the Wee Free Men are short-changed, too.
--I think each reader needs to decide if s/he feels it's worth it to visit one last time, even if the master is diminished, or if s/he would rather stick with the more complete and polished works.
Ultimately, "it is what it is." I'm glad I had a chance to read Pratchett's last--though definitely not his best--work.
A perfect send off for Terry.
I'm not convinced he didn't do it on purpose.
GNU Terry Pratchett
I'm not convinced he didn't do it on purpose.
GNU Terry Pratchett
Spoiler
GNU Granny WeatherwaxSpoiler
GNU Nightshade
The Turtle Moves.
I've now read all the Discworld core books. That is sad, but the book is very good.
I've now read all the Discworld core books. That is sad, but the book is very good.
The rating you give the book is a reflection of a rainbow of factors, some of them outside of anyone's control: your life and mood when you read the book, where you read the book, how fast you read the book, what you know of the book's historical and personal context, among many others.
If you know this book's context at all, you're not going to be able to make it through without crying. Out of context, this book might not be a five-star book. But it exists within its context, which is that it was the last book Sir [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg] wrote. In that context, it is beautiful, heartbreaking, terribly sad, and uplifting. And also, of course, wry, witty, funny, quirky, and brave. A fitting end for novels that I wish had never had to end.
If you know this book's context at all, you're not going to be able to make it through without crying. Out of context, this book might not be a five-star book. But it exists within its context, which is that it was the last book Sir [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg] wrote. In that context, it is beautiful, heartbreaking, terribly sad, and uplifting. And also, of course, wry, witty, funny, quirky, and brave. A fitting end for novels that I wish had never had to end.
This book isn't up to his standards for the other Tiffany books--because he died in the middle of messing around with it, enriching it, adding clever footnotes, making everything just a little bit better.
It was hard to read. Not bad, certainly better than his earlier books. But I couldn't turn a page without a sense of loss.
It was hard to read. Not bad, certainly better than his earlier books. But I couldn't turn a page without a sense of loss.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
medium-paced
Despite being a fanatical devotee of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, somewhere along the way I missed out on all things Tiffany Aching.
Call it life, call it a world of other books that required my attention - not to mention films, TV, moving house more times than is good for any sane person -but this series-within-a-series had slipped off my radar.
And to be honest, I didn't feel like I was missing out.
I hadn't particularly enjoyed the last couple of 'proper' Discworld books, which I felt lacked TP's usual flow and energy, his usual focus. With good reason, I know, it was understandable, but that didn't lesson the struggle with the books concerned.
Having just finished The Shepherd's Crown, I now know that wasn't right. It wasn't his health that took his mind away from the book in hand - it was Tiffany.
You see, not only did TP know what was coming when he started his final book (Death having done him the rare courtesy of giving him a heads up), it shaped his writing and his thinking.
And he doesn't hold back.
Two chapters in and you're in tears. Then, as Tiffany and the Witches gather their strength and forces for one final showdown with the elves, in classic TP style you are taken softly by the hand along a gentle path until you suddenly realise it's a rollercoaster and you can't let go.
Honestly, the closing chapters were infused with the strength and passion of his classic works.
Yes, it's easy to colour one's thinking in view of known background information, but as someone who has read all the 'grown-up' Discworld books (for want of a better phrase, because this one is as grown up as they come) The Shepherd's Crown sits alongside the best of them.
It's got passion, fire, his old humour, his subtle touches, and footnotes! Remember when you'd spend half your time reading the bottom half of the page mid-way through a paragraph (sometimes over two pages)? They're back - and they brought reinforcements.
I didn't want to read this book, because I didn't want there to be no more. I never wanted this world to stop evolving, even though I knew one day it must.
But he's ended on a high. On the highest of highs. He knew what he was doing, and there's one passage that is a clear message to readers and the wider world, and as he had to go he's left us with one final treasure.
Give Binky a nuzzle from us all down here, Mr P...
Call it life, call it a world of other books that required my attention - not to mention films, TV, moving house more times than is good for any sane person -but this series-within-a-series had slipped off my radar.
And to be honest, I didn't feel like I was missing out.
I hadn't particularly enjoyed the last couple of 'proper' Discworld books, which I felt lacked TP's usual flow and energy, his usual focus. With good reason, I know, it was understandable, but that didn't lesson the struggle with the books concerned.
Having just finished The Shepherd's Crown, I now know that wasn't right. It wasn't his health that took his mind away from the book in hand - it was Tiffany.
You see, not only did TP know what was coming when he started his final book (Death having done him the rare courtesy of giving him a heads up), it shaped his writing and his thinking.
And he doesn't hold back.
Two chapters in and you're in tears. Then, as Tiffany and the Witches gather their strength and forces for one final showdown with the elves, in classic TP style you are taken softly by the hand along a gentle path until you suddenly realise it's a rollercoaster and you can't let go.
Honestly, the closing chapters were infused with the strength and passion of his classic works.
Yes, it's easy to colour one's thinking in view of known background information, but as someone who has read all the 'grown-up' Discworld books (for want of a better phrase, because this one is as grown up as they come) The Shepherd's Crown sits alongside the best of them.
It's got passion, fire, his old humour, his subtle touches, and footnotes! Remember when you'd spend half your time reading the bottom half of the page mid-way through a paragraph (sometimes over two pages)? They're back - and they brought reinforcements.
I didn't want to read this book, because I didn't want there to be no more. I never wanted this world to stop evolving, even though I knew one day it must.
But he's ended on a high. On the highest of highs. He knew what he was doing, and there's one passage that is a clear message to readers and the wider world, and as he had to go he's left us with one final treasure.
Give Binky a nuzzle from us all down here, Mr P...
“So cry ‘Crivens’ and let loose the clan Mac Feegle” (239)
Once upon a time there was an idiot called Mr. J. This hardly news because all idiots at some point or another. Mr. J, however, was the idiot of idiots. The Idiot race in Monty Python is Mr. J’s calling. Mr. J wrote something idiotic about a decreased author, Mr. P, in the Guardian. Again, this hardly news since the Guardian pays its writers to tell stories about stalking reviewers. This time, the readers of Mr. P’s work took to the interweb and posted on star
reviews of Mr. J’s book. I suppose an Ms R would call this bullying.
What does she know? Discworld fans are a passionate bunch.
The sad thing about Pratchett is that he never won the Booker for Nation.
He should have. But the book was steampunk. The book is fantasy. Too many people think that such description means it is mediocre, unserious, lacking message or teaching.
Yet, Frankenstein is considered literature.
There is rarely one idiot you see.
It’s not that I think every Pratchett books is wonderful and deserving of a Booker. Like all authors, Pratchett has his “off” books. Dickens did too. Pratchett would have never admitted it, would never use the word himself, but several of his books, Nation in particular, and are literature.
The Shepherd’s Crown, Pratchett’s last Discworld novel, is a case in point.
Crown is a Tiffany novel. Tiffany is Pratchett’s answer to Harry Potter as Carrot is Pratchett’s answer to Aragorn. In this last novel, the reader journeys not only with Tiffany but many of the other witches readers love.
Sadly, there is no Ogg singing of the Hedgehog song.
Tiffany’s journey is in many ways, always has been, about the journey of the self. The struggle to be at home, to find oneself or that sense of having found oneself. That while we are all different, no is lesser for that. In fact, we all the bit stronger for it. We go on with the experience of those before us, but we make our own way. That life is about both change and tradition.
I found myself crying at the end of the book, and not only because Pratchett is dead. The book is a beginning and an end.
Reading this book, one should be thankful that Pratchett existed and that he wrote. Thankful that he wrote so much of himself into his work. That his hope for humanity was never outweighed by his disappointment in it. That he wrote this hope into his books. That his love and knowledge of humanity, of what makes us human shines though his words. Like in this book.
Pratchett isn’t blind about humanity. He is aware of all its faults, but he doesn’t offer a pessimistic view. He doesn’t write about the big people, but the little people – those in the trenches who are, perhaps, the most human of all. Those who make the wheel move. Like Granny, he makes us want to do better, to live up to his standard. To see the heroic in everything.
And that is something great authors do.
Once upon a time there was an idiot called Mr. J. This hardly news because all idiots at some point or another. Mr. J, however, was the idiot of idiots. The Idiot race in Monty Python is Mr. J’s calling. Mr. J wrote something idiotic about a decreased author, Mr. P, in the Guardian. Again, this hardly news since the Guardian pays its writers to tell stories about stalking reviewers. This time, the readers of Mr. P’s work took to the interweb and posted on star
reviews of Mr. J’s book. I suppose an Ms R would call this bullying.
What does she know? Discworld fans are a passionate bunch.
The sad thing about Pratchett is that he never won the Booker for Nation.
He should have. But the book was steampunk. The book is fantasy. Too many people think that such description means it is mediocre, unserious, lacking message or teaching.
Yet, Frankenstein is considered literature.
There is rarely one idiot you see.
It’s not that I think every Pratchett books is wonderful and deserving of a Booker. Like all authors, Pratchett has his “off” books. Dickens did too. Pratchett would have never admitted it, would never use the word himself, but several of his books, Nation in particular, and are literature.
The Shepherd’s Crown, Pratchett’s last Discworld novel, is a case in point.
Crown is a Tiffany novel. Tiffany is Pratchett’s answer to Harry Potter as Carrot is Pratchett’s answer to Aragorn. In this last novel, the reader journeys not only with Tiffany but many of the other witches readers love.
Sadly, there is no Ogg singing of the Hedgehog song.
Tiffany’s journey is in many ways, always has been, about the journey of the self. The struggle to be at home, to find oneself or that sense of having found oneself. That while we are all different, no is lesser for that. In fact, we all the bit stronger for it. We go on with the experience of those before us, but we make our own way. That life is about both change and tradition.
I found myself crying at the end of the book, and not only because Pratchett is dead. The book is a beginning and an end.
Reading this book, one should be thankful that Pratchett existed and that he wrote. Thankful that he wrote so much of himself into his work. That his hope for humanity was never outweighed by his disappointment in it. That he wrote this hope into his books. That his love and knowledge of humanity, of what makes us human shines though his words. Like in this book.
Pratchett isn’t blind about humanity. He is aware of all its faults, but he doesn’t offer a pessimistic view. He doesn’t write about the big people, but the little people – those in the trenches who are, perhaps, the most human of all. Those who make the wheel move. Like Granny, he makes us want to do better, to live up to his standard. To see the heroic in everything.
And that is something great authors do.