Discworld marathon blog...
- Thread starter Quatermass
- Start date
Actually, Dios is nothing like Albert. Albert at least has personality. And he's afraid of death, whereas Dios is just afraid of anything different, anything that changes. I'm not sure Dios is afraid of death, just afraid of not being there to keep Djelibeybi on its course of stagnation. Albert may be a prick, but he's at least interesting.
I feel that Pyramids could have been better if it took Teppic, and did something about inter-Guild rivalry, rather like rivalry between schools or colleges. They did something a bit like that in Unseen Academicals, albeit only a little, but Pratchett could have had a lot of mileage out of the weird crap apprentices used to do in the past.
The discussion of Xeno/Zeno's Paradox is intriguing, yes, but it gets old pretty quickly. And that Listener concept seemed a bit like the Argument Clinic from Monty Python.
Thanks. Pyramids had interesting bits in it, but it was ultimately drier than most mummies, and about as vital.
I feel that Pyramids could have been better if it took Teppic, and did something about inter-Guild rivalry, rather like rivalry between schools or colleges. They did something a bit like that in Unseen Academicals, albeit only a little, but Pratchett could have had a lot of mileage out of the weird crap apprentices used to do in the past.
The discussion of Xeno/Zeno's Paradox is intriguing, yes, but it gets old pretty quickly. And that Listener concept seemed a bit like the Argument Clinic from Monty Python.
Tonyblack said:
I don't hate the book or even dislike it, I just don't see why some people rate it so highly.
Another interesting review, Q.
Another interesting review, Q.
I know Pooh will kick me but i have to agree with you Q.
I found parts of Pyramids very good but as a whole it just doesn't have enough. Some of it seems recycled and it never quite hits the excitement level of the better books.
Quite like the idea of going deeper into the guild politics or even the pirate thing but sadly didn't.
I still enjoyed the book , a weak discworld book is still a good book, but it trails Terry's best.
I found parts of Pyramids very good but as a whole it just doesn't have enough. Some of it seems recycled and it never quite hits the excitement level of the better books.
Quite like the idea of going deeper into the guild politics or even the pirate thing but sadly didn't.
I still enjoyed the book , a weak discworld book is still a good book, but it trails Terry's best.
My connection between Albert and Dios was because they had both lived humdrum lives for an incredible number of years rather than dying. I agree they are different people with different motivations, but they do have that in common.
Dois is almost like the old bloke in work who is due for retirement and is convinced that the place cannot function without him. I've worked with people who, when instructed to train someone on their job, would deliberately hold back on giving them the full training. They didn't want to think that someone could just walk in and take over their job.
Dois is almost like the old bloke in work who is due for retirement and is convinced that the place cannot function without him. I've worked with people who, when instructed to train someone on their job, would deliberately hold back on giving them the full training. They didn't want to think that someone could just walk in and take over their job.
poohcarrot said:
Are you sure you're talking about the book that was the British Science Fiction Award winner in 1989?
Mad as a mongoose!
As for that, well, 1989 was not the best year for British science fiction. Pyramids was mediocre. Not actually abysmal, except by Discworld standards, but I would give it 6.5/10 on my personal numerical score relating to all books. That means that it scored as highly as Twilight. Think about that.
pip said:
I thought that was the sanest Q has sounded.
It was pretty mediocre for the most part. It says something about the book when I would have given it the same score as Twilight.
I'm not sure Dios is even that. He's not so much an old bloke resisting retirement (I'd say Colon'd be closer to that, if I remember vaguely one or two sequences in the Watch books) than he is an embodiment of what (he thinks) Djelibeybi should be. The fact that he only exists because of a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey ontological paradox only strengthens this view. He's not a person, not even quite a character. He just is. There are ways you can get away with that, but, unfortunately, Terry didn't manage to. A shame, really, because if he had more personality than a boulder, that would have saved Pyramids from mediocrity. Unfortunately, as the old adage goes, a hero is defined by their enemies, and Teppic is cheapened by having a decrepit living paradox/stangant old man as an adversary.
Tonyblack said:
My connection between Albert and Dios was because they had both lived humdrum lives for an incredible number of years rather than dying. I agree they are different people with different motivations, but they do have that in common.
Dois is almost like the old bloke in work who is due for retirement and is convinced that the place cannot function without him. I've worked with people who, when instructed to train someone on their job, would deliberately hold back on giving them the full training. They didn't want to think that someone could just walk in and take over their job.
Dois is almost like the old bloke in work who is due for retirement and is convinced that the place cannot function without him. I've worked with people who, when instructed to train someone on their job, would deliberately hold back on giving them the full training. They didn't want to think that someone could just walk in and take over their job.
pip said:
Dotsie is correct here. Herpestidae is the family with multiple genera including the Meerkat
Well, f***. And I have done biology. I thought it said 'genus', not 'family'.
Bugger.
pip said:
You read twilight.
I knew to keep well away from that and i love vampire books
I knew to keep well away from that and i love vampire books
Willem said:
I see your 'You read twilight.' and raise you 'and you gave it a 6.5?!'
6.5/10 means 'mediocre'. Pretty much anything below 5/10 means 'badly lacking in entertainment value'. And we had this conversation before. It's a not dissimilar scale to IGN and many video games magazine review scores.
By contrast, and of interest to Pip, I gave Let the Right One In 9/10. In restrospect, I should have given it 9.5/10. It was partly the squick factor that prevented it from getting a higher score.
pip said:
Let the right one in is a bloody good book and suprisingly well translated from swedish. Up there with Anne Rice at her best.
I also read Dracula all the way through recently. Gave that one 9/10, I think, or 8.5/10.
poohcarrot said:
And have you really studied biology?
poohcarrot said:
Remind me never to look at this thread again, you're completely bonkers.
