Feet of Clay – DaneCobain.com

Title: Wintersmith

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 376

Rating: 8/10

Terry Pratchett – Wintersmith

Wintersmith is one of Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching novels, and so the amount of enjoyment that you get from it will largely depend upon how much you like her. Loosely speaking, the story line follows what happens after Tiffany jumps into a dance that’s as old as the seasons itself, and what happens when the spirit of winter, the Wintersmith, falls in love with her. Unfortunately, as flattering as that may be, it does lead to some complications, like the fact that there might never be another springtime.

As usual, Tiffany is in fine form and accompanied by the Nac Mac Feegle, who used to annoy me but who soon went on to become one of my favourite Discworld creations. As for me, by the time that I read Wintersmith, I’d read all of the other Tiffany Aching books, and so both Tiffany and the Wee Free Men had grown on me. That said, though, I always find it tough to rate Pratchett’s books because they’re all so good that I often find it difficult to rank one of them above another – as for Wintersmith, I’d put it in his top 30% or so, but there are easily a dozen Discworld novels that I’d recommend before this, and possibly even a couple of non-Discworld stories.

Ultimately, though, if you do decide to read this then you’re unlikely to be disappointed, and if you’re anything like me then you’ll eventually work your way through Mr. Pratchett’s entire oeuvre anyway. Like the rest of his books, this works pretty well as a standalone, as well as if you read the series in order. I can’t really fault it, but I also just can’t give it a 9 or a 10 when that would give it the same rating as something like Feet of Clay or Men At Arms. Still, if you do decide to read Wintersmith then I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, and there are a few little nuggets in it that make for great entertainment but that I don’t want to tell you about for fear of spoiling it for you. Be sure to come back and to let me know what you think!

Terry Pratchett

Click here to buy Wintersmith.

Terry Pratchett – Feet of Clay | Review

Title: Feet of Clay

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating: 10/10

Terry Pratchett – Feet of Clay

Feet of Clay was the first Pratchett book that I ever read, and it’s the book that made me fall in love with the Discworld series. I still think that the Ankh Morpork City Watch books are the best books within the series, and I’m not sure whether that’s because they’re the books that introduced me to Vimes and Vetinari or because they’re just really, really good. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

In Feet of Clay, the Watch is finally beginning to get into shape, and if you’ve read the later books in the City Watch series, you’ll kind of see how it was in this book that the Watch became an actual credible organisation, rather than a ragtag bunch of corrupt nutters who everyone looked down upon.

Part of that is because of the golem aspect of the story line – it’s their feet of clay which cause something of an uproar in the city, and we get to see the full force of Vimes’ liberal attitude, here. Perhaps ‘liberal’ is the wrong word here, but you can’t deny that he has a strong sense of justice, and justice is justice no matter what species you are.

Terry Pratchett

And there are plenty of other reasons to love this book, too – to start with, a crime has been committed, but nobody knows who did it, how they did it, or what it was that they actually did. Meanwhile, Angua is on fine form, Carrott comes into his element as the Watch is forced to deal with dwarfish politics, and Vimes has several of his finest hours.

Now, I read this book first because it was one of Pratchett’s most recent works at the time, and whilst I do think it’s one of his greatest works, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that you start with it. In fact, you’re probably better off with one of the earlier City Watch books, or if you read them all in order. That said, it’s definitely one to look forward to, and your enjoyment can only be enhanced if you’ve read the books that came before this, as you’ll pick up on more of the nuances.

And so overall, I’d say that this is an essential book for your collection, whether you’re a Pratchett reader or not. In fact, you should get it whether you’re into fantasy or not, ’cause Pratchett rocks!