Tag: Terry Pratchett

Book Review – The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

Ryan2 Comments

The Last Continent

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett is the 22nd novel in the author’s comic fantasy Discworld series and the sixth in the Rincewind sub-series. Following the events of the previous novel, Interesting Times, Rincewind finds himself once again to be a stranger in a strange land, this time in Fourecks (or XXXX), a continent relatively unknown to the rest of the Discworld. It is a desolate and arid place full of surprisingly jovial people and terrifying wildlife. Though at first simply trying to survive as best he can, it would seem destiny once again has a mission for the put-upon, subpar wizard, one that will have him embarking on a odyssey across the landscape, making him a hero among the locals whether he likes it or not.Read More »

Advertisement

WWW Wednesday – March 16, 2022

Ryan5 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

I’m still reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, but I haven’t read any more of it since last week. Also, I’m between books, so nothing else to say this week!

Recently Finished

The Last ContinentOver the weekend I finally finished reading The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, and I should be finished writing the review soonish. I’m generally less enthused about the Rincewind books, especially as they’re often tours of times/places on the Discworld, which involve a fairly formulaic style of humour, but for some reason this one really resonated with me. This is also notable since this seems to be the last one of that type, based on how it ends. Rincewind’s long, strange, multi-novel odyssey is finally over. I suppose the reason might be that this one especially didn’t take itself seriously, with a plot that I’m honestly puzzling over a little. I doesn’t really matter, all things considered, but I keep wondering…why did all this happen again?

Reading Next

A Black and Endless SkyOkay, I’m seriously going to start reading A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons soon. It’s a little harder to set aside time for, because I only have a PDF copy of it, but it’s officially next up for priority reading. It sounds like it’s going to involve possession and a spooky road trip across a desolate American Southwest, and I hope that includes isolated eerie incidents as the characters deal with their own issues along the way. We’ll see. I’m also still thinking a lot about starting The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht, but I’ll try to finish Milk and Honey first.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – March 9, 2022

Ryan1 Comment
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Last night I got a little further along in Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, reading through the section of poems called “the loving.” It was enjoyably sentimental, sensual, and positive in contrast to the previous section, which dealt with pain and mistreatment. I don’t have much else to say about it other than I’m continuing to actively enjoy these poems, which is nice.

The Last ContinentSince last week I’ve gotten much further along in The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett as well, thanks to my schedule being a lot freer than I was expecting it to be. I would have preferred I have it finished by now, but I wanted to make sure I got my review of We Were Liars finally posted. I’ve not mentioned before, but this book is very much another novel exploring the world cultures of the Discworld, invariably parodying something in our world (in this case Australia and Australian culture), but this time around it’s resonating with me a lot more for some reason. Rincewind and the Wizards have been on bizarre respective journeys, and while I still can’t tell where it’s leading over 80% of the way into the book, I’m eager to find out.

Recently Finished

Spiritfarer The ArtbookOver the weekend I decided to read Spiritfarer, The Artbook by Thunder Lotus Games, which is an art book put together by the development team behind the video game Spiritfarer. I just recently finished playing it, and I’m really surprised at the emotional impact it had on me. In it, you play as Stella, whose new job is to ferry spirits from a strange spiritual world to the afterlife, helping them move on in the process. I knew it would deal with death and grief going in, but it made me cry a lot more than I was expecting. I bought this ebook as a sort of thank you for the experience, and it included lovely illustrations and earlier concept art behind the characters I’ve gotten to know so well and unveiled more of their backstories.

Reading Next

The Dictionary of Obscure SorrowsOnce again, I still intend to start A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons next, and it’s only a matter of time now since I’m so close to finishing The Last Continent. I have thoughts about some supplemental reads bouncing around in my head too, though, since I’m worried about staying on top of my reading this year. It’s a toss up between The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows by John Koenig and The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America by Matt Kracht. The former is newer and will likely be more thought provoking, but the latter I’ve had longer and I expect to be fun and light, especially since I’ve actually gotten a little more familiar with local birds. We’ll see if I make a decision over the next week or not. I should probably finish Milk and Honey first.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – March 2, 2022

Ryan3 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Unfortunately, I somehow completely neglected to read any of The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett this past week. Better luck next this coming week, hopefully.

Milk and HoneyI did however start reading Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, which is a collection of poetry. I’d never read any of their work before, but I’m trying to get myself to read more poetry on occasion and something about this book caught my eye. The results from reading Hope is the Thing with Feathers were pretty bad, as I wound up taking half a year to read the whole thing, blitzing through more than half of it at the end of December, but I think that had more to do with my ability to appreciate Emily Dickinson’s writing. When reading hers, I would often read without retaining meaning, though this varied from poem to poem. Kaur’s poems being modern and written in free verse are allowing me to appreciate this book a lot more.

Recently Finished

Hop!Over the weekend I read through Hop! by Joshua Barkman, an independently published little graphic novel by the artist behind the False Knees web comics. It’s not very long and I’d read it all previously when the pages were first posted as part of Inktober in 2021, but I loved going through it again all put together like this. It’s essentially a story about two crows taking a walk through the streets of Montreal, and it’s full of fun little gags, misadventures, and an effective amount of heart. I really love this artist’s work because the illustrations beautifully render the wildlife they depict, making them a pleasure to look at, but they’re also really funny and evocative despite the art style not being more abstract.

Reading Next

I’m still planning to read A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons next, but it’s still looking a ways off before I start it. I really need to get in gear with what I’m currently reading. My next graphic novel is still up in the air, as I may not start a new one in the coming week to focus more on The Last Continent.

WWW Wednesday – February 23, 2022

Ryan2 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

The Last ContinentSince last week I’ve managed to get much more meaningfully into The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, nearly 120 pages now. I actually had to reread what I had already gone through before my post last week, because as it turns out, my tired brain really didn’t absorb all of what was going on that night I tried starting it. So far I’m feeling much more intrigued about this book than I was expecting, especially for a Rincewind novel, because it has been surprisingly strange. Over 100 pages in and I’m not entirely sure what that plot is supposed to be yet, only that Rincewind is meant to do something that higher powers are guiding him toward, and it has something to do with fragile spacetime.

Recently Finished

Nothing this week! I have neglected my comic books, which I may go about correcting by next week if I can settle on a volume to read.

Reading Next

A Black and Endless SkyThough I had a few books I was really considering for my next read, I’ve decided that what I must start next is an ARC I received several months ago called A Black and Endless Sky by Matthew Lyons. I have actually reviewed one of his novels before too, and though it had some issues, I enjoyed it quite a bit overall, which made me eager to accept the digital copy of this I received. Due to my working schedule I probably won’t have it done by the time it is published in mid March, but I’m hopeful I can have a review up close to the date, which is what I would prefer. I’ll be going in remembering very little of what it’s supposed to be about, which is ideal for me when it comes to horror.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – February 16, 2022

Ryan2 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

The Last ContinentLast night I started reading The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, the next Discworld book I need to read, though unfortunately I was far too tired and struggled to get a meaningful amount of pages into it. Nevertheless, the 20 or so pages that I did read introduced some unexpected stakes to this book, as the Librarian of the Unseen University is apparently deathly ill, with the other faculty members concerned that he is not long for this world. I’m assuming that this won’t be the end for the character, but I’m immediately intrigued about what could possibly be threatening his well-being in such a way. I was so sleepy while reading all this, however, that I think I’m going to have to go over it one more time before I move forward.

Recently Finished

We Were LiarsOver the weekend I surprisingly finished reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I had a feeling it was going to be a fast read, but I didn’t expect how much I would power through it over those two days. Overall, I liked the book quite a bit. The characters and mystery kept me intrigued and there was an energy to the writing that kept me propelled through the narrative. As far as the twist is concerned, I wish I could say I was really surprised by it, but it was within a predictable ballpark. Credit where it’s due, however, I like how Lockhart seemed to commit to a certain aspect of it not being up to interpretation. I will try to get a review up of this fairly soon, but I’m a little behind at the moment, so it may be a bit before it gets up.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Digital OmnibusI also took some time to power through the rest of the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley yesterday, which I’m happy to have finally completed. It was a really enjoyable reread that reinvigorated my love for a story I hadn’t engaged with for over a decade. I haven’t got much more to say about it as a whole, except that I continue to appreciate how much more nuanced this book is than the film adaptation. The more I think about it, the film really doesn’t do it justice. Though stylized, it’s ultimately about relationships and growing up, especially the ways that we stumble and/or fail along the way. The film really did just adapt the style while leaving a lot of the substance behind.

Reading Next

My possibilities feel a lot more open now that I’ve finished up with Scott Pilgrim, since that was a much longer graphic novel than I usually pick up. I’ve still barely started The Last Continent, so I’m not in the mood to commit to a specific novel to read next just yet, but I will definitely start getting into more of my graphic novel selection soon. I actually just brought home a bunch of comic book issues from my parents’ house, many of which were left unread, so I might finally get around to some of them. We’ll have to see, as reading issue by issue wasn’t quite my cup of tea with physical comics.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

WWW Wednesday – February 9, 2022

Ryan3 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

We Were LiarsLast night I finally started reading We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, and I got to the end of the first section of the book. Picking up this book was more of a whim than is normal for me, so I was afraid I might immediately dislike it, but fortunately I’m pretty into it so far. It hadn’t really occurred to me before (or I’d forgotten) that this is a YA novel, and the writing certainly has a YA way about it, though I don’t mean that negatively. The first section was a lot of establishment, so I’m really intrigued to see what the advertised mystery and suspense will entail. So far we have the lead character having suffered injury under unusual circumstances, but that hasn’t developed into a full mystery just yet. I’m intrigued to see where things go.

I’m still in the middle of the Scott Pilgrim: Color Edition Digital Omnibus by Bryan Lee O’Malley too, and as this reread continues I feel like I have less to say about it. I’m much better appreciating how this story navigates the ups and downs and complications of relationships than I did the first time around, though.

Recently Finished

Thrawn TreasonOver the weekend I managed to finish up reading Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn, finally capping off this trilogy among the new canon Star Wars books. I think I like this book about as much as the second book overall, but for different reasons. The story was a lot more solid all around, but it was also less interesting than some of the directions the previous book went in. I did really like the greater emphasis on strategy and engagements between capital ships, with a lot of focus on the command bridge, but it was a little stale at times too. It really is a shame that the Rebels TV show stops this story from going any further, because there are a lot of threads I’m really interested in seeing continued. Thrawn was so much more interesting as an anomaly within the Empire. Who knows, maybe things will continue in some form. I’ll try to have a full review up soon.

Reading Next

The Last ContinentI don’t know why I feel compelled to choose my next novel as soon as I’ve started a new one, but here we are. Since it’s technically a leftover from last year, grandfathered into one of this year’s lists, I’ve decided I will read The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett next, which continues the story of Rincewind after being accidentally transported to the Discworld’s version of Australia. It’s been a little while since I read Interesting Times, the previous book in this sub-series, and though Rincewind isn’t my favourite character, I am looking forward to seeing what he gets up to next.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.

Top 5 Books I Read in 2021

Ryan3 Comments

This is hardly an original thought, but it feels especially surreal to me that 2021 has already passed us by. I’m not sure I like how much recent events have me being hyper-conscious of the passage of each year. It’s certainly been an eventful year personally, however, with some significant life changes. My second job, which has me doing a fair amount of freelance editing on a regular basis, is giving me a lot of valuable experience, but reading lagged behind as a result too.

Nevertheless, I can still look back at the year and consider, as I do every year, my top five books among all that I read. This is not ranked in any particular order, these are just my five favourite reads from 2021.Read More »

Book Review – Jingo by Terry Pratchett

RyanLeave a comment

Jingo

Jingo by Terry Pratchett is the 21st novel in the author’s comic fantasy Discworld series, and the fourth in the City Watch sub-series. After being submerged in the Circle Sea for hundreds of years, the island of Leshp suddenly resurfaces. Being exactly halfway between the city of Ankh-Morpork and Al Khali (the capital of Klatch), both cities lay claim to it for its strategic value, escalating tensions between the two. With Ankh-Morpork having a sizable population of Klatchian people, these mounting tensions begin to cause unrest within the city’s population, much to the chagrin of Commander Samuel Vimes of the City Watch and his loyal watchmen, who want nothing more than to keep the peace. After a visiting Klatchian prince is almost assassinated, it is up to the Watch to track down those secretly responsible, whom seem hellbent on ensuring that the war is inevitable.Read More »

WWW Wednesday – October 13, 2021

Ryan2 Comments
www_wednesdays

WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme run by Sam over at Taking on a World of Words. Check out her post and others over on her blog!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

The Grip of ItEarlier today, I decided to squeeze in some time to finally start reading The Grip of It by Jac Jemc, my first Halloween read this year. It was Thanksgiving and my birthday this past long weekend, so while I brought the book just in case I found some reading time, it surprisingly didn’t happen. I’ve only read a token amount really, only the first few chapters (about 14 pages), but I’m really enjoying the tone that’s being set so far. It’s mostly been about a couple buying a new house, but the way things feel immediately off without being outright scary has been great, the use of one detail in particular making the house strange without being such a big red flag that you think you would reject it in their position.

Recently Finished

JingoI’m really pleased that last week I was able to finish reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett. If my schedule had gone a little differently, I’d probably still be in the middle of it right now. Even with it all said and done, I honestly feel a little at a loss for words about it. This was a really good Discworld novel, with some particularly great elements sprinkled throughout, but I still feel like reviewing it will be a little difficult. Is it possible, so many books into a series, that a book can be so solidly written it actually becomes unremarkable? I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh, but it feels apt all the same. I was too busy to review since last week, but I am hoping I can have one up by Friday. Fingers crossed.

Reading Next

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (2)My second Halloween novel will be ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, but that’s a little further down the line at the moment. I have, however, finally gotten a copy of the graphic novel adaptation of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft, adapted and illustrated by I.N.J. Culbard. I first read the story in the collection Dreams of Terror and Death a couple of years ago, and while I did enjoy it at the time, due to Lovecraft’s weaknesses as an author I anticipated it making an even better graphic novel. Now that I’ve got my own copy of the adaptation, I’m eager to dig in and see it more visually realized.

Until next week, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own post down below.