Customer Reviews
An idiots guide to discworld - By: Susan Belcher, 04 Nov 2008 
This book is quite entertaining, it tries to give a synopsis of the Discworld & the books of Terry Pratchett, & it does it well.
The author has taken the books & looked at the mythology & lore relating to the certain aspects of each book. I have a problem with a couple of the "Americanised" versions of why certain things have been included, & especially the inaccruate ones, but I may be being pedantic.
The errors & omissions from his book are not substantial, just sometimes a little irritating, & the book has obviously been written from an American perspective for the growing American readership of Discworld books. This does not detract from the from what is one of the best discworld guides I've ever read.
Overall, it's an outstanding guide to the discworld.
Caution! Contains addictive substance! - By: Stephen A. Haines, 04 Aug 2008 The substance is called "narrativium" & Mr Watt-Evans is a Heavy Dealer of the material. And why not, since his book is concerned with the inventor of narrativium, Terry Pratchett? "Narrativium" has to do with telling stories & Pratchett is peerlessin that regard. Watt-Evans has undertaken a momentous taskin relating & assessing the many volumes comprising the [sort-of] series of Pratchett's Discworld. The collection is an outstanding synthesis, each piece addressing both the established fan & the newcomer to this magical world. Watt-Evans own prose skills are amply displayed herein a highly personalised account.
It's telling that Watt-Evans must begin with THREE Introductions. That's a sign that Discworld books are anything but simple "fantasy" & that their readership is wide & varied. He follows this with some "Commentary" [of which there are two more setsin the book], then descriptions of the booksin chronological order. That order causes some continuity problems as he notes things like "six[!] novels later" for readers to revisit certain characters. Each of the essays on the individual books necessarily imparts enough of the story to establish its place & valuein the set, while struggling to avoid spoilers. He does this well, although there are a few giveaways that might have been avoided. The point of this string of chapters is to both entice the new reader to the Discworld books while offering insights regular fans may have missed. He offers "starting points" to the new reader, each explained with solid reasons for the selection. "Background" characters & villains are given a hearing, with The Luggage granted its own chapter.
If it's necessary to select an outstanding essayin this collection, that will unquestionably be Chapter 56 on Sam Vimes & the City Watch. While many charactersin the Discworld series grow & develop over several volumes, Sam Vimes does soin a very special way. Although he risesin the hierarchy of the Watch, while at the same time marrying into the richest family of the City of Ankh-Morpork, he resolutely remains his own man. Vimes is beset by a need for justice as well as keeping his City intact & running smoothly. His anger often risesin response to events, & he has an internal Beast to maintain control over. The conditions for Ankh-Morpork's running smoothly are set by Vimes' chief foil [he has no trouble with criminals], the City Patrician, Havelock Vetinari. Watt-Evans offers fine portraits of both & why their interactions are so important.
There are a couple of small clangersin this book - omissions, mainly. He lets most of Pratchett's titles stand without comment, but "The Last Continent" is so named not just because it seems to have been the final effort by a Discworld creator, but because it was the last one visually encountered by European seamen. "Monstrous Regiment", an otherwise totally enigmatic title, derives from a 16th Century religious tract. Either because Watt-Evans is US-born or is pandering to that audience, he fails to inform readers of something every childin the UK would instantly recognise. These are minor things which detract nothing from an excellent summation of Terry Pratchett's work & his genius. Watt-Evans has no problem with Terry's international renown, but deftly avoids declaring that Discworld stories are more than entertaining, they are addictive. He's candidly envious of Pratchett's genius, which is only right & proper. Pratchett is without equal. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
