Having been sick and in and out of hospital for the last month I’ve churned through a few.
I’ve re-read the City Watch sequence from Pratchett’s Discworld. Which is “Guards Guards”, " Men at arms", “Feet of Clay”, " Jingo" , “The fifth elephant” “Night watch”, " Thud" and “Snuff”
I don’t think I can say anything more perceptive than a thousand reviews have but it was wonderful watching both the development of the main character (Sam Vimes) and the author himself. There’s about 20 years and probably 40-50 books between Guards which was about his 4th book, and Snuff which was released in 2011 while still at his peak and before Alzheimers claimed him.
His writing style becomes more assured but also more incisive, more cutting, and to some extent his anger at the injustices in our world that he satirises in the discworld domain becomes more forceful, more pointed.
Sam Vimes progresses through a beautifully relatable growth cycle but remains a deeply flawed real character. Never a perfectly buffed and grommed character he does strive to be the best he can be.
Highly recommended.
If you’ve never read Terry Pratchett he’s a satirist and humourist. He uses the device of a fantasy world to reflect the issues of our world back to us in a form that allows him to skewer the hypocrisies and mental double think we allow ourselves. All his books are onions. At the first layer is a light read any teenager can get a giggle out of, but there’s always more layers: puns and plays on words, references to “roundworld” (our existence) and philosphical analysis.
Orwell offers so many hidden gems. I recently read Keep the Aspidistra Flying which kept me absolutely captivated and I could not get over how contemporary it feels.
I was in the mood for a) something that won’t require a lot of thinking and b) something high fantasy. So… I started The Way of Kings. I’m not Sanderson’s biggest fan, but I can’t deny that it’s a very quick and fun read (despite its monstrous size). No thoughts, just get swept up in the world and enjoy.
The storm-based worldbuilding is very cool. Coincidentally, I’ve been playing Against the Storm a lot. Very interesting how a similar base idea (what if we had a world ruled by a cycle of storms?) can go in such different directions.
Spoilery thoughts:
spoiler
I mostly like all of the main characters so far! Dalinar took a long time to grow on me (mostly because I share Kaladin’s burning hatred towards Lighteyed nobility and he is a part of the system), Shallan I immediately liked but I’m worried that if she doesn’t change/go through some character growth she could become annoying in future books. Kaladin is honestly the least interesting character-wise - I like reading his chapters because he is in the most immediately desperate situation and is Going Through It ™ but he’s just a bit too perfect. Y’know. Surgeon, gifted spearman, naturalborn leader, some kind of a wizard… at 19 years old. Sigh.
And boy oh boy do I hope that the eye colour-based caste system will get dismantled/at least critically examined in some detail cause… ouch. Kaladin is so right in hating on it. But I’m not holding my breath.
