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I’ve been meaning to make a post about Life for a while, but instead I just need to scream because I just finished Night Watch and aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh
Like, people have been reccing Discworld to me for at least five years, but I never got into it even when I tried, but I’m SO GLAD I read this because it’s everything I could have wanted. Great characters? Convoluted time travel plot? Revolution?* A bone deep belief that, yeah, humanity’s a little fucked up but we love it anyway? I’M DEAD.
I think my favorite thing about it was the fact that it assumed the reader was smart - it gives you little hints here and there, but never the full picture, right until the very end. It’s the exact opposite of the whole no spoilers plot twist nonsense. It made my head hurt and stretched my brain in ways I forgot books could do. Like, I love fic, but we all know it runs on tropes. This was a puzzle, and a phenomenally well done one. I want to read the book all over again just to see how much more I can pick up a second time.
Anyway, I know I’m super late to this party but please scream about this with me/rec me the other good Discworld books!!!
*Shockingly, the barricade gave rise to a lot of Les Mis related feelings. But the aforementioned bone-deep love for humanity - and Prachett’s rant about revolutionaries who fight For The People without knowing The People and therefore end up necessarily wanting to change them - made this sit a lot better with me as a guide for how to deal with this particular political moment. Not to be a parody of myself, but it also evoked Adam Smith’s rant on Men of System, who are so married to their particular vision for the world that they can’t accommodate the nuanced reality in front of them. Like yes, people will rebel if pushed too far. But mostly they just want to live their lives. Whereas Les Mis modern AUs always have magical third party wins and/or les amis as terrorists. This is a much more moderate radicalism of accepting humanity as it is, flaws and all, and it really resonated with me. Especially given my complete lack of trust in the American electorate post-2016. But that’s another rant.
Like, people have been reccing Discworld to me for at least five years, but I never got into it even when I tried, but I’m SO GLAD I read this because it’s everything I could have wanted. Great characters? Convoluted time travel plot? Revolution?* A bone deep belief that, yeah, humanity’s a little fucked up but we love it anyway? I’M DEAD.
I think my favorite thing about it was the fact that it assumed the reader was smart - it gives you little hints here and there, but never the full picture, right until the very end. It’s the exact opposite of the whole no spoilers plot twist nonsense. It made my head hurt and stretched my brain in ways I forgot books could do. Like, I love fic, but we all know it runs on tropes. This was a puzzle, and a phenomenally well done one. I want to read the book all over again just to see how much more I can pick up a second time.
Anyway, I know I’m super late to this party but please scream about this with me/rec me the other good Discworld books!!!
*Shockingly, the barricade gave rise to a lot of Les Mis related feelings. But the aforementioned bone-deep love for humanity - and Prachett’s rant about revolutionaries who fight For The People without knowing The People and therefore end up necessarily wanting to change them - made this sit a lot better with me as a guide for how to deal with this particular political moment. Not to be a parody of myself, but it also evoked Adam Smith’s rant on Men of System, who are so married to their particular vision for the world that they can’t accommodate the nuanced reality in front of them. Like yes, people will rebel if pushed too far. But mostly they just want to live their lives. Whereas Les Mis modern AUs always have magical third party wins and/or les amis as terrorists. This is a much more moderate radicalism of accepting humanity as it is, flaws and all, and it really resonated with me. Especially given my complete lack of trust in the American electorate post-2016. But that’s another rant.
