Wintersmith Discussion *Spoilers*

[Doughnut Jimmy]

I see what you're getting at Brocolee but I think its a fair assumption that Pratchett also meant the books to be read by adults so its not unreasonable to comment on them from that perspective.

As you say there are some stories that appeal to both groups very well, I think what really disappoints me about Wintersmith is that Wee Free Men managed that so much better

[Jan Van Quirm]

Well the clue's in the publishing specification surely - they're for young adults. Some would argue that this is in itself patronising, but the inference is there - the books may be written about children but it's for those on their way to maturity... That covers soooo much possibility it's untrue, no matter how old you are

However, WFM keeps getting a mention and just with how that starts with Jenny Greenteeth and the frying pan, Tiffany is not by any definition a 'young' girl. What would appeal to me if I were a 'young adult' still is that there's hardly a whiff of dumbing down in the series - its whole environment's gritty as befits a rural/farming community where the kids work their passage as much as the grown-ups as it would have been in compatible times in the crofts of Scotland say (or out in antipodes ) at the turn of the 19th century with travelling teachers and children brought up to help out in the dairies etc. In Wintersmith and the 2 previous books Tiffany's 'right' for the age she's depicted at if a little solemn and more serious than other children because of her inherited talents with her granny certainly making a huge impression throughout and the echoes of that run through all her books with Roland too in terms of legacy and continuity which are important to kids as they grow up in those close-knit communities. I think this is also why we like the Witches so much because they are the lynchpins of the Chalk and Ramtops communities and Tiffany's journey, clever and exceptional as she is, is still simply a part of the cycle.

[raisindot]

I just thought of The Prisoner of Azkaban,for instance.
Dan Brown also gets rather spooky and mythical,but he wouldn´t be readable for kids.

Even J.K. Rowling's worst HP are better than Dan Brown's execrable potboilers. Talk about childish plots, inept dialogue and cliche-ridden set pieces. If it wasn't for the crypto-religious stuff in 'em no one would even read 'em. Blechhh!

[rockershovel]

I'm not personally a fan of any of the Tiffany books. They seem to me to have more than a touch of "Niven syndrome", the increasingly laboured efforts to close out and link various characters who were not originally connected at all. They aren't as bad as the "Ringworld" series but definitely heading in that general direction.

Wee Mad Arthur and the Feegles - both quite good one-joke characters - are a case in point.

I'm disappointed with this, because the "mainstream" books - especially ones involving Ankh-Morpork - have numerous continuity errors or contradictions, or simple changes, which TP freely admitted were introduced for the sake of a better joke, or because his ideas had developed.

Death is the best example of this, with ideas like the endless desert being introduced simply because they seem like a good idea. Death's house varies considerably in detail from book to book, as does the character of Susan.


There's nothing wrong with this. Many authors have done the same. It's fairly obvious that Conan Doyle little idea of the actual layout of London, and a similar error occurs in "the missing threequarter" where Holmes walks between three Cambridgeshire villages in an afternoon, in fact a distance of about forty miles.

look at the various versions of Hitchikers' Guide

[DaveC]

I've just had a daydream about an assassin, in traditional garb, doing the Dark Morris. Painfully. Imagine the textured silence punctuated by sharp nicks and cuts...

[Pearwood]

I just finished this yesterday and found it pretty enjoyable. The first half was definitely stronger with Miss Treason and her Boffo one of Terry's most amusing ideas in a while. Annagramma's arc was pretty engaging as well.

Wasn't so keen on the ending - Roland's flipping out at the bogles seem to come from nowhere and I found the resolution with Roland freeing Summer as Tiffany does the heat transfer trick all a bit pat. The Feegles were great however and I'm possibly alone in loving Horace.

All in all, I liked it better than Hat Full of Sky which I found kinda dull, but it's definitely not as good as Wee Free Men.

By the way, was that Magrat who was nursing Tiffany when she wakes up in Nanny's house?

[Tonyblack]

Hey Pearwood! Good to see you again.

[Pearwood]

Thanks.