A
Tonyblack said:
Still, it was interesting to read your comments. Have you read these two books more than once? You might want to consider rereading them in the course of your marathon and redoing the reviews for these two in light of the sequential reading.
And as to justify my 'Boo' :
In comparsion to the other books, especially those featuring the wizards, UA falls flat and certainly doesn't deserve a rating above average.
Why?
First off:
The book is too stuffed. There are several plotthreads, some of which don't get fully resolved or are just there as, well, so not every solution in the story comes off as deus ex machina.
Take the whole micromail business for example. What at first glance appears to be a mocking of fashion-industries is in the end just there so the joke that worked better way back in Guard!Guards! can be brought up again.
Then there are the new characters. I would have never thought Pratchett would or could write a character as boring...no, not onlly boring, boring and obnoxious, as the orc.
The Problem is, or one problem, that the orcs don't have a backstory on the disc, so the reader has no sense of danger. And when it is finally revealed the whole -we don't mind you if you stay out of our business- mentality gets sorta ridiculous.
Why? Well, we are told in the book orcs are over evil killing machines. yet all it, basically keeps the orc in question from facing the angry mob is what...colourful candles. (I think this was the point where the book hit the corner the third or fourth time. Yes, UA is the FIRST discworld book i threw into the corner in frustration)
That Death spares him before dosn't help it.
The next thing is the, assumed, mainplot:
When I saw the cover and read the blurp I was actually excited. I think I'm not the only one who thought the book would be about football getting INTRODUCED as a fully fledged sport to AM instead of just something that is played occassionally.
Instead we got what we got. Okay, given, I'm german, I have a similar yet completely different look at the game than people from the Isle (I tihnk it's something genetically ...) but heck, it was so disappointing. (Not to metion the cover is deceiving. I've been looking forward seeing Vetinari as referee)
Aother thing are the various continuity errors that can't even be blamed on the history monks.
And then there were 'facts' thrown at the reader that came out of nowhere (trollcabs, i.e)
All in all I can say, IMHO, the book was too stuffed, had too many errors and was plain disappointing.
Only highlight?
The thing about Pex, as it does open a path for some neat plots.
Keep in mind this is all my personal opinion on the book.