Snuff (Discworld Novels)
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £3.30
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Snuff: (Discworld Novel 39): A Discworld Novel, Volume 39 (Discworld Novels) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £3.30, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'To keep it fresh into the 39th volume of a series deserves a knighthood...Snuff is entertaining, with all Pratchett's genius on display. He still makes you care about his creations and, amid all the funnies, he can turn on the pathos.'
--Sunday Express
`Is there any sign of a falling-off in Sir Terry's extraordinary abilities? No. Not one. This is another brilliant, bravura command performance of comic fantasy. Terry Pratchett with Alzheimer's is still up there with PG Wodehouse. Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic.'
--Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail
'The Discworld novels have always been among the most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies...Pratchett has been rightly praised for comic invention and whimsy; he does not always get enough credit for the psychological comedy of embarrassment which makes us blush with self-recognition...at once hilariously cynical and idealistically practical.'
--Independent --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
--Sunday Express
`Is there any sign of a falling-off in Sir Terry's extraordinary abilities? No. Not one. This is another brilliant, bravura command performance of comic fantasy. Terry Pratchett with Alzheimer's is still up there with PG Wodehouse. Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic.'
--Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail
'The Discworld novels have always been among the most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies...Pratchett has been rightly praised for comic invention and whimsy; he does not always get enough credit for the psychological comedy of embarrassment which makes us blush with self-recognition...at once hilariously cynical and idealistically practical.'
--Independent --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
The new Discworld novel from the master features the popular Sam Vimes, Commander of the City Watch.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
128 of 135 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Commander Vimes is sent to the Shires to his wife's estate for a holiday. But crime seems to follow him anyway and when he finds that a murder has been committed he starts to bring city justice to the country. This means dealing with hot-headed blacksmiths, the poo lady and a Chief Constable who is an expert in Bhangbhangduc, and those are just the "good guys".
Reviewers have said that Sir Terry's books of late are very hit and miss, that they are not as funny as they used to be. They are certainly much longer and less punchy. The humour is much more droll, but more importantly the books are much more thoughtful. Unseen Academicals started the story of racism, with an Orcish footballer who had all the traits of a certain England forward. This time it is the Goblins and how attitudes can be changed, taking them from being vermin to being people. They reflect the times they are written and the issues that are important to Sir Terry.
These are much more serious books, there always was an underlying moral sense to Discworld but in these latest books it is the morality that is more important than the humour. These are morality tales with the real bits left in. In Vimes' world he cannot wave a magic wand so everything turns our better - so he has to take a much more pragmatic route. This makes the book much more thoughtful and much slower than the mad-cap early Discworld, so while they are no longer 5 stars for humour, they are 5 stars for their emotional commitment and making you think.
Reviewers have said that Sir Terry's books of late are very hit and miss, that they are not as funny as they used to be. They are certainly much longer and less punchy. The humour is much more droll, but more importantly the books are much more thoughtful. Unseen Academicals started the story of racism, with an Orcish footballer who had all the traits of a certain England forward. This time it is the Goblins and how attitudes can be changed, taking them from being vermin to being people. They reflect the times they are written and the issues that are important to Sir Terry.
These are much more serious books, there always was an underlying moral sense to Discworld but in these latest books it is the morality that is more important than the humour. These are morality tales with the real bits left in. In Vimes' world he cannot wave a magic wand so everything turns our better - so he has to take a much more pragmatic route. This makes the book much more thoughtful and much slower than the mad-cap early Discworld, so while they are no longer 5 stars for humour, they are 5 stars for their emotional commitment and making you think.
43 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am a Pratchett addict; I took my first dose in 1976 with 'Dark Side of the Sun' and have read everything he's written since (and went back to read 'The Carpet People' and Strata') I read the Nome Trilogy - I even bought 'The Unadulterated Cat'!
For a time in the 90s he spoiled me for other fantasy writers; his style was (to me) so accomplished that others couldn't begin to match him. The earlier Discworld books, from #01 'The Colour of Magic' to #10 'Moving Pictures' were wonderful romps with a hugely imaginative drive. 'Equal Rites,' 'Wyrd Sisters' and 'Guards! Guards!' were the absolute pinnacle of comic fantasy.
Later books (with occasional returns to the earlier broad humour) were darker, more thoughtful and with a more philosophical edge. Gradually the humour became less important to the story - the books were still funny in parts, but the Discworld became less magical and more a distortion of our own world, tackling in more detail real issues such as class, racism and sexism - prejudice in all its ugly forms. He even created a new 'ism' - speciesism. He was at his best in this period when he was angry about prejudice in books like 'Small Gods,' 'Lords and Ladies' and 'Feet of Clay'.
Even the 'lesser' works (again, to me! I know it's subjective) such as 'Soul Music', 'Hogfather' and 'The Last Continent' had enough of the classic Pratchett mix of wisdom and gags to satisfy most of us.
I feel the last great Discworld book (for adults) was 'Thief of Time'. The last great book for younger readers was 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'. Both of these were classic Pratchett, filled with imagination and brio.
And then... things started to change. The Tiffany Aching books were, increasingly, becoming just a little less vivid and gripping in their execution. The Moist von Lipwig books were pretty good, but a little too long and under-edited. 'Monstrous Regiment' was (to me!) muddled and the characterisation was weak. The lightness of touch that characterised earlier books was gone; the moralising in the stories became more blatant and heavy-handed.
'Unseen Academicals' - well I hate football so maybe some of the humour went over my head. Not bad, but not great.
Now, this book... well, it's ok. I like Vimes a lot, and thought he acquitted himself well in 'Snuff'. The plot was as usual fairly convoluted but worked well. The pacing was a little off - some passages went at a snail's pace, others seemed rushed and incomplete. Young Sam is a great character, developing nicely, and it was nice to see Willikins in all his bruiser glory.
The dialogue is the greatest change in Pratchett's style - where it used to zing off the page and allow you to really identify with the characters, it now seems a little stilted and over-complex.
Having said all this - even a substandard Pratchett is considerably better than most other writers' masterworks... I will always buy a new Terry Pratchett book and take what enjoyment I can - and there is always a great deal of enjoyment, just a little less than in the past. I still must have my regular Pratchett fix...
For a time in the 90s he spoiled me for other fantasy writers; his style was (to me) so accomplished that others couldn't begin to match him. The earlier Discworld books, from #01 'The Colour of Magic' to #10 'Moving Pictures' were wonderful romps with a hugely imaginative drive. 'Equal Rites,' 'Wyrd Sisters' and 'Guards! Guards!' were the absolute pinnacle of comic fantasy.
Later books (with occasional returns to the earlier broad humour) were darker, more thoughtful and with a more philosophical edge. Gradually the humour became less important to the story - the books were still funny in parts, but the Discworld became less magical and more a distortion of our own world, tackling in more detail real issues such as class, racism and sexism - prejudice in all its ugly forms. He even created a new 'ism' - speciesism. He was at his best in this period when he was angry about prejudice in books like 'Small Gods,' 'Lords and Ladies' and 'Feet of Clay'.
Even the 'lesser' works (again, to me! I know it's subjective) such as 'Soul Music', 'Hogfather' and 'The Last Continent' had enough of the classic Pratchett mix of wisdom and gags to satisfy most of us.
I feel the last great Discworld book (for adults) was 'Thief of Time'. The last great book for younger readers was 'The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents'. Both of these were classic Pratchett, filled with imagination and brio.
And then... things started to change. The Tiffany Aching books were, increasingly, becoming just a little less vivid and gripping in their execution. The Moist von Lipwig books were pretty good, but a little too long and under-edited. 'Monstrous Regiment' was (to me!) muddled and the characterisation was weak. The lightness of touch that characterised earlier books was gone; the moralising in the stories became more blatant and heavy-handed.
'Unseen Academicals' - well I hate football so maybe some of the humour went over my head. Not bad, but not great.
Now, this book... well, it's ok. I like Vimes a lot, and thought he acquitted himself well in 'Snuff'. The plot was as usual fairly convoluted but worked well. The pacing was a little off - some passages went at a snail's pace, others seemed rushed and incomplete. Young Sam is a great character, developing nicely, and it was nice to see Willikins in all his bruiser glory.
The dialogue is the greatest change in Pratchett's style - where it used to zing off the page and allow you to really identify with the characters, it now seems a little stilted and over-complex.
Having said all this - even a substandard Pratchett is considerably better than most other writers' masterworks... I will always buy a new Terry Pratchett book and take what enjoyment I can - and there is always a great deal of enjoyment, just a little less than in the past. I still must have my regular Pratchett fix...
45 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I've been a long-time fan of Pratchett ever since getting his first novel The Colour of Magic back in my early teens, and I can honestly say that it's a rare thing to come away with a slight sense of disappointment after finishing one of his books. The sheer fun and whimsy of the early Discworld novels seems to me to have given way to a slightly more darker more muted world, and where once you could expect gag after gag spilling off nearly every single page, now there is a bit more slightly heavy-handed moralising and exposition to get through before you find any gems to remind you of those earlier stories.
Don't get me wrong, I still liked Snuff and there is still much to enjoy in the characters, old favourites like Vimes in particular, but in terms of where I'd rank this in the Discworld series as a whole, I'd have to say somewhere around the middle of the list, tending towards the lower half.
My son is reading the book at the moment and appears to be enjoying it (though some of the more adult ideas pass him by) so even if Snuff is slightly below par for Pratchett, it's still got plenty to offer and, if you're a fan of the series, still worth a read. If you're new to Pratchett, well you're probably better off going right back to the beginning and enjoying the pure unadulterated fun of those early novels.
Don't get me wrong, I still liked Snuff and there is still much to enjoy in the characters, old favourites like Vimes in particular, but in terms of where I'd rank this in the Discworld series as a whole, I'd have to say somewhere around the middle of the list, tending towards the lower half.
My son is reading the book at the moment and appears to be enjoying it (though some of the more adult ideas pass him by) so even if Snuff is slightly below par for Pratchett, it's still got plenty to offer and, if you're a fan of the series, still worth a read. If you're new to Pratchett, well you're probably better off going right back to the beginning and enjoying the pure unadulterated fun of those early novels.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thumpingly good read
As usual TP delivers the goods. Commander Vimes steals the day and saves the countryside from uppity well heeled oiks with help from the very handy Willikins at his side. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Lynn Shanahan
Good, but not a highlight of the series for me
I got this with eager anticipation, having only discovered the Discworld about 18 months ago. Being a fan of the Night Watch story lines, I was particularly looking forward to... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Olaf
Snuff via Cotwood
Not so much about the book but a comment on the providers. After much dragging of feet over joining Amazon due to chronic unawareness of anything to do with computers I joined and... Read more
Published 19 days ago by mike b
pratchett at his best
I read it in only a handful of sessions over two days. Sam Vimes, Willikins and Lady Sybil did not disappoint, and the various aspects of the story were all detailed and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by alan millington
A Great Pleasure to read
I have been with Discworld right from the beginning, and now, with the knowledge that Pratchett is not a well man, I find myself looking for signs in the novels. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
Cool
The book was delivered promptly and was in excellent condition when it arrived. Its a good book too, well worth a read. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Not happy
Taken with a pinch of...
Sir Terry's genius lies in his ability to create worlds within worlds with a seemingly endless supply of imagination and skill. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Scaroth, Last of the Jagaroth
Worth reading
I enjoyed this book although I didn't think that it was anywhere near as good as some of the earlier Disc-world novels. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steve
It's Terry Pratchett. It's Discworld. Enough said really
Like others, I conceed that this isn't his best work, but it's better than Unseen Academicals and it's still brilliant. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Reader
Really struggling with this one
As a young teenager, early one Saturday morning, I was in my local bookshop in Newcastle just after opening looking for something new to read and browsing round the shelves when... Read more
Published 2 months ago by SteveS
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
