Intermittent reading post

[lizbee]

Just finished:

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Australian middle grade fantasy, but a dead perfect mimicry of British fantasy adventure stories for young readers. Which is to say, there's a dash of Harry Potter and a dollop of the Eleventh Doctor, and it's just really, really good. Like, reading-Harry-Potter-for-the-very-first-time-good, and I know that's an overused comparison, but that's exactly how it felt.

Because I'm me, I have a ... feeling about how the most successful Australian children's book to come along in years -- international release, movie deals, all that good stuff -- isn't all that Australian in tone or setting. But that's just the way of the world and the nature of the entertainment industry, and is in no way a criticism of Townsend's work, or a disparagement of her success. (I enjoyed this article very much, and would quite like to meet her one day so I can fangirl in person.)

It's about Morrigan, a solemn goth child born under a curse that will see her dead before her twelfth birthday. On the night of her predicted death, she's whisked away by the Eleventh Doctor as played by Domhnall Gleeson Captain Jupiter North to the city of Nevermoor, where he has submitted her for entry into the Wundrous Society. Belonging to the society will give her friends and a family for life, which she desperately craves, but if she fails her trials, she will be expelled from Nevermoor -- where she is an illegal immigrant, and the dehumanising language used to refer to such is really on point -- and left to die at the hands of the Hunt of Smoke and Shadow. 

Nevermoor won a pile of awards, including the Aurealis Award for best children's speculative fiction, and as it happens, I am one of the judges for that category this year. So I'm eager to see what the sequel will do.

Reading next

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

In between the Aurealis reading that's about to land in my lap, I've set out to reread the Discworld series in publication order. But skipping the ones I don't like, because who has time for Rincewind? No one!

I've already knocked over Equal Rites and Mort, and been deeply impressed at the leap in quality between those two books, the third and fourth in the series. Wyrd Sisters was the first Pratchett I ever read, and I'm keen to see how it holds up.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

Nevermoor sounds really good. Will have to check it out.

I side eye anyone who tells me they like the Rincewind books.

[lizbee]

I side eye anyone who tells me they like the Rincewind books.

You mean someone out there likes the Rincewind books?!

[ironed_orchid]

Apparently. Sometimes when I enthuse about Pratchett someone will say something about Rincewind or The Luggage and that''s how I know they probably haven't read anything since Soul Music.

I feel like the first few books are parodies, whereas once they get going they become proper satire (with a great cast).

[lizbee]

Isn't that exactly how Pratchett evolved? From straight-up parody to parody with better worldbuilding, to large-scale satire?

[ironed_orchid]

I believe so.

[archangelbeth]

I like the Luggage! Sometimes I like Rincewind, if only from sheer nostalgia, but a large part of that is that the Luggage, and who doesn't fantasize about a giant chest that follows you around, does laundry, and eats your enemies?

(I haven't read the last Pratchett book, because... well, a combination of "when I read it, there will be no more" and "my life has fractured my attention span lately." *sigh* )

[lizbee]

(I haven't read the last Pratchett book, because... well, a combination of "when I read it, there will be no more" and "my life has fractured my attention span lately." *sigh* )

The last one I read was Unseen Academicals, because I could already see the effects of his illness, and it was just too sad. I'm not sure how far I'll get this time.

[archangelbeth]

I think the last one I have is one of the Tiffany Aching series. I don't know if that's going to show signs.

[tree_and_leaf]

The very last one published, "The Shepherd's Crown", is a Tiffany Aching one, and... well, it does show some signs (particularly in the dialogue), but it's much better than the last few Discworlds proper. I think it makes for an appropriate farewell, in a number of ways.

[ironed_orchid]

I feel like the quality shifted around Making Money and Unseen Academicals, part of it can be attributed to switching to text to speech software, and later dictation to a human assistant, but they are not as well plotted and some characters behave in ways that seem off. for these reasons I completely understand not wanting to read the later books.

I do however really love and highly recommend I Shall Wear Midnight, the third Tiffany Aching book. It does some stuff really well, and I felt like it ended with a lot of stuff in her character arc nicely resolved. (Which is part of the reason I have mixed feelings about the final book, which is also Tiffany Aching and the other witches.)

[ironed_orchid]

I held off reading the last book until a couple of months ago for similar reasons.

[tree_and_leaf]

I can deal with Unseen University and the wizards in general, although they're not my favourites, but Rincewind himself is deeply tedious and one note.

[dancantdecide]

Ooh, I really enjoyed Nevermoor!

And I’ve only ever read one Pratchett - The Colour of Money - which didn’t do it for me. Maybe I should try again with a later one. Any suggetsions on where I should start?