Chanced upon this latest Terry Pratchett novel while shopping at Kino, and the wifely-person kindly bought it for me for Christmas. =) I know its not Christmas yet and i've finished reading my present, one of the benefits of being an adult i suppose. Hahahaha.
As usual, it is an enjoyable read, although I thought the title was a bit disingenuous and contrived, since only Vimes appears to regularly take snuff, which is an old-fashioned stimulant to be kept in elegant boxes and snorted gracefully in society, and does not add to the main plot. The downtrodden masses in this book (and main plot) concerns the goblins, who start off in the book classified as non-sentient beings until Vimes comes across them on his holidays, and is convinced to take up their cause after hearing them communicate via the universal language . With enough villians thrown in (at some points, it felt like the entire countryside was filled with them), Vimes managed to bluster through aristocrats and workmen alike using, tact and guile (not necessarily at the same time) that is characteristic of him.
The book also expounds on two characters merely touched upon in the past: Wilikins (Vime's butler) and AE Pessimal (sent by the Patrician and co-opted into the Watch), and fills them with such colour, that I wished such people existed in real life, just so you could shake their hand. Such is the detail and interest that Pratchett weaves and invokes.
Pratchett also introduces a new series of children's books (remember Where's my Cow?), which deals alot with poo. It somehow points to young Sam growing up an alchemist or researcher as the book goes on, although honestly, i'd rather just focus on Mr Vimes himself. LOL
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
Book Review: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents
Just read this book as we are trying to complete our collection of books by Terry Pratchett and my overall impression of it is this book is a deserving winner of the Carnegie Medal (in 2001).
The obvious twist on the Pier Piper story aside, the book has some witty dialogue and a particularly memorable 'torture' scene, when the boy and girl team need information from a couple of ratcatchers. Of course, the concept of a downtrodden group/race/club is nothing new, and the only drawback is the rather convinient happy ending. Still, this is an enjoyable book which I'd happily read again, if anything, just to see everything from a cat's perspective ("I ask my food to say something before i eat it ok?" LOL)
In other news, we caught part 1 of Hogfather on cable, thanks to the National Day offer (almost all channels available), which stuck fairly closely to the book version.
The obvious twist on the Pier Piper story aside, the book has some witty dialogue and a particularly memorable 'torture' scene, when the boy and girl team need information from a couple of ratcatchers. Of course, the concept of a downtrodden group/race/club is nothing new, and the only drawback is the rather convinient happy ending. Still, this is an enjoyable book which I'd happily read again, if anything, just to see everything from a cat's perspective ("I ask my food to say something before i eat it ok?" LOL)
In other news, we caught part 1 of Hogfather on cable, thanks to the National Day offer (almost all channels available), which stuck fairly closely to the book version.
Friday, 24 June 2011
book review: the Cobra
I thought it's been some time since Frederick Forsyth published a new book since the Afghan (which i did a review of). This new book is more of a page turner and builds upon the characters found from his previous book called the Avenger. In fact, the storyline midway was so suspenseful that when i found that i had left the book in office, actually considered going back to get it (insomniacs of the world unite!). I have to say that the ending is a bit of an anticlimax though, so don't get your hopes up.
On the whole, the amount of research and preparation, and the way he organises and present his material is unsurpassed (as usual). There were one or two instances when i had to refer back to an earlier page to understand what was going on, but generally easy to follow given the number of characters and rather multiple events happening at different places at the same time. Was a little daunted seeing the (long) list of characters at the start of the book, and also reminded me of Tom Clancy books. In fact, i was reminded most of TC's novels where the 'superior' American technology trumps everything else when the drugdealers struggled to cope, although the stuff they used appeared relatively Amish. Also, I did sense a bit of inconsistency in the characters since the Avenger, but that's to be expected when (as explained to a friend) Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes join forces to fight the drug barons. (Anyone remember GI Joe?) What stood out the most was the level of violence being described. It has cranked up a notch since the (already) brutality seen in the Avenger and at times made me cringe. I guess it served its purpose of showing how evil men can be, although in reality i doubt (or rather hope) no such evil people exist.
Interesting bit: Singapore features quite often in the plot, i think because of our position as a shipping hub (thanks to our central geographical position!)
On the whole, the amount of research and preparation, and the way he organises and present his material is unsurpassed (as usual). There were one or two instances when i had to refer back to an earlier page to understand what was going on, but generally easy to follow given the number of characters and rather multiple events happening at different places at the same time. Was a little daunted seeing the (long) list of characters at the start of the book, and also reminded me of Tom Clancy books. In fact, i was reminded most of TC's novels where the 'superior' American technology trumps everything else when the drugdealers struggled to cope, although the stuff they used appeared relatively Amish. Also, I did sense a bit of inconsistency in the characters since the Avenger, but that's to be expected when (as explained to a friend) Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes join forces to fight the drug barons. (Anyone remember GI Joe?) What stood out the most was the level of violence being described. It has cranked up a notch since the (already) brutality seen in the Avenger and at times made me cringe. I guess it served its purpose of showing how evil men can be, although in reality i doubt (or rather hope) no such evil people exist.
Interesting bit: Singapore features quite often in the plot, i think because of our position as a shipping hub (thanks to our central geographical position!)
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
book review: the Afghan
I've always been a Frederick Forsyth fan, and when i found myself with a bit of time to spare while waiting for my flight to Hong Kong, i popped into a bookstore and found his latest paperback on sale: the Afghan. Long story short, i managed to finish it in 3 days while on holiday in Hong Kong, although i confess that to do this, i'd sneak in a few pages while ww was making her purchases (and testing her credit limits at times).
Overall, i was disappointed with the book. It may have the usual meticulous research and planning but some of it seems like a rehash from previous books. The main protagonist is from Fist of God, where quite a bit of background was laid down there. I haven't cross checked, but i'm sure they match up. Then there are things like the 'Afghan' training at Castle Forbes. Those who remember his other book Icon will also remember that Jason Monk trained there, and the caretaker and kitchen helpers are the same. His novels follow a trend of first the background information, then the in-between fill in stories, then the preparation, then the main climatic action scene. The background information was quite engaging but then fell flat as obvious as red herrings go, you could smell it coming (wth i'm writing about i have no idea, but that sounded better in my mind lol). The main climatic scene was set at sea, and while it was well described, it reminded me too much of one of his earlier books, Devil's Alternative. The ending itself seemed too PC and hardly a twist in the tale, more like a slight diversion to the fish & chip shop and thence the pub, almost as if you couldn't wait to get to the end, so it was all rather abrupt.
Quite disappointing really, his other books are really much much better. If you're not into the rather heavy research and "what if" scenarios, he did do some books with short stories, like No Comebacks and the Veteran. Surprisingly, he did quite a good love story in one of them.
Overall, i was disappointed with the book. It may have the usual meticulous research and planning but some of it seems like a rehash from previous books. The main protagonist is from Fist of God, where quite a bit of background was laid down there. I haven't cross checked, but i'm sure they match up. Then there are things like the 'Afghan' training at Castle Forbes. Those who remember his other book Icon will also remember that Jason Monk trained there, and the caretaker and kitchen helpers are the same. His novels follow a trend of first the background information, then the in-between fill in stories, then the preparation, then the main climatic action scene. The background information was quite engaging but then fell flat as obvious as red herrings go, you could smell it coming (wth i'm writing about i have no idea, but that sounded better in my mind lol). The main climatic scene was set at sea, and while it was well described, it reminded me too much of one of his earlier books, Devil's Alternative. The ending itself seemed too PC and hardly a twist in the tale, more like a slight diversion to the fish & chip shop and thence the pub, almost as if you couldn't wait to get to the end, so it was all rather abrupt.
Quite disappointing really, his other books are really much much better. If you're not into the rather heavy research and "what if" scenarios, he did do some books with short stories, like No Comebacks and the Veteran. Surprisingly, he did quite a good love story in one of them.
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