Terry Pratchett

I was delighted to realise that Terry Pratchett has a new Discworld novel, Thud!, being released soon (and I've already put it on hold at the library in anticipation). And it features Samuel Vimes, one of my favourite characters, so I'm terribly excited.

I've been reading the Discworld novels (and other ventures of Pratchett's, including his brilliant novel Good Omens which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman) for about ten years, and I continue to find them just as funny. They're fantasy novels with bite, dry satires of the modern world, and they often make me curl up in my chair, wheezing with laughter.

They're difficult books to gush about with other people, I find. I don't know too many fans - my friends often sadly lack a taste for fantasy or sci-fi, and even though Discworld is more satire than fantasy, it tends to put people off if they don't enjoy the odd wizard traipsing through their stories. And when you do find someone who enjoys them, they're not the sort of books you can dissect, or discuss how you absolutely fell in love with this character. Conversations tend to be along the lines of, "It's fantastic, isn't it, so dry and witty?" "Yeah." "And I love how that particular footnote was put there." "Yeah." And you trail off into silent satisfaction of your mutual good taste.

Irregardless of their gushing factor, the Discworld series (may they never end) are fantastic books. I haven't been as enamoured of the latest two volumes, but I think the return of Samuel Vimes and (presumably) the Watch bodes well. Now I just have to wait impatiently for Thud! to be released and make its way to my local library.