Outside of a Dog: Pratchett, Terry: (19) Feet of Clay

Pam

Pam wrote on March 14, 2003 at 7:50 PM:

Re: reconciling earlier books with Night Watch-- I don't think Pratchett is overly concerned with internal consistancy, but if you want to rationalize it for yourself, you can just say that reality AFTER the events of Night Watch is slightly different from how it was before, so "it all makes sense in eighteen dimensions," like you said in your review.

Jingo hammers a bit less on the "monarchy is bad" theme, although there is plenty of "aristocracy is bad," so maybe you will still feel it's overbearing.

In this time of "Freedom Fries," Jingo is probably an appropriate read, although you're not the one who really needs to read it. Too bad that in real life, there's no Lord Vetinari and Sam Vimes to rescue us.

Kate

Kate wrote on March 14, 2003 at 8:04 PM:

You're probably right about the internal consistency, but he's pretty good at reconning when he needs to. And I do find the workings of the Patrician's mind fascinating.

As far as Jingo, I've wavering whether to continue the re-read of the sub-series or not just for that reason. Sometimes I don't want my reading to be that topical...

Rebecca

Rebecca wrote on March 31, 2003 at 2:25 PM:

I did reread Jingo a couple of weeks ago. It resonated... oddly.

Re Carrot, I've acquired a suspicion that Pratchett actually has an end in mind for him, making him quite different from most other Discworld characters. I didn't notice this the first few times I read it, but by the time we reach 5th Elephant he's picked up some of Vetinari's speech patterns....

Kate

Kate wrote on March 31, 2003 at 6:28 PM:

I'm temporarily suspending the Watch books re-read for that reason.

I would find Carrot taking Vetinari's role very surprising. Very. But I don't know what Pratchett is going to do with him, otherwise.