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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
Heartbreakingly unfinished, but still has all of the elements of a beautiful novel.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The last from Sir Pratchett: delightful and heartbreaking.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This review contains SPOILERS!
You have been warned!
OK, so this is a hard book to review, because my emotional reaction was different than my book reaction, if that makes sense. Emotionally, this is a beautiful send off for Terry Pratchett, for Discworld and for (SPOILER ALARM BLARING) Granny Weatherwax. In his beautiful depiction of how Granny calmly accepts Death, but her legacy permeates the book (she is "everywhere"), it's hard not to read a parallel to Pratchett himself - how he may be gone, but the Discworld and its various lovable denizens live on in the hearts of his millions of devoted readers. I'm not gonna lie, I was in floods while reading this book, the dedication alone was enough to break me.
As a book, once you disengage from the emotional reaction, 'The Shepherd's Crown' reads sketchily. It is not a completed book, but a draft, and there are various bits that you know Pratchett was intending to go back to to expand upon, if he had had the chance to. Such as the mysterious character Geoffrey and his goat - I can't figure out what was up with them, I just know something was! I also read an interview with Neil Gaiman which reveals more details about what Pratchett intended to do with the book, including a significant twist which is foreshadowed in the text we have, but I didn't see it coming at all. The style of the book is very much in keeping with Pratchett's later Discworld novels. I prefer middle-Discworld, sort of Reaper Man to about The Thief of Time - later Discworld is more lyrical and sombre.
I would not recommend this to someone who wasn't already emotionally connected to Pratchett and the Discworld. It would probably be an okay read for someone like that, but there are plenty of other Discworld novels which serve as a better introduction to the series; for me at least, the emotional impact of this novel was more about the fact that it functioned as a goodbye to the Discworld, a second home to me since I was a teenager.
Sorry, I have to go and be alone with my feels now.
You have been warned!
OK, so this is a hard book to review, because my emotional reaction was different than my book reaction, if that makes sense. Emotionally, this is a beautiful send off for Terry Pratchett, for Discworld and for (SPOILER ALARM BLARING) Granny Weatherwax. In his beautiful depiction of how Granny calmly accepts Death, but her legacy permeates the book (she is "everywhere"), it's hard not to read a parallel to Pratchett himself - how he may be gone, but the Discworld and its various lovable denizens live on in the hearts of his millions of devoted readers. I'm not gonna lie, I was in floods while reading this book, the dedication alone was enough to break me.
As a book, once you disengage from the emotional reaction, 'The Shepherd's Crown' reads sketchily. It is not a completed book, but a draft, and there are various bits that you know Pratchett was intending to go back to to expand upon, if he had had the chance to. Such as the mysterious character Geoffrey and his goat - I can't figure out what was up with them, I just know something was! I also read an interview with Neil Gaiman which reveals more details about what Pratchett intended to do with the book, including a significant twist which is foreshadowed in the text we have, but I didn't see it coming at all. The style of the book is very much in keeping with Pratchett's later Discworld novels. I prefer middle-Discworld, sort of Reaper Man to about The Thief of Time - later Discworld is more lyrical and sombre.
I would not recommend this to someone who wasn't already emotionally connected to Pratchett and the Discworld. It would probably be an okay read for someone like that, but there are plenty of other Discworld novels which serve as a better introduction to the series; for me at least, the emotional impact of this novel was more about the fact that it functioned as a goodbye to the Discworld, a second home to me since I was a teenager.
Sorry, I have to go and be alone with my feels now.
This was a very nice last book to get. The writing flowed as we are used to by Pratchett by now. The story featured loved charcters growing and wroking together to protect the world from the elves.
What stuck out to me more than once while reading was how Pratchett kept talking about change and that made me realize how much the Discworld had changed and how prejudices were overcome and I just could help wishing this for our own world too.
Don't start here, if you are new to the Discworld!
What stuck out to me more than once while reading was how Pratchett kept talking about change and that made me realize how much the Discworld had changed and how prejudices were overcome and I just could help wishing this for our own world too.
Don't start here, if you are new to the Discworld!
The last Discworld novel! :*( There isn't a ton here that wasn't in the previous Tiffany Aching books, but I enjoyed the little jokes and wordplay throughout and will definitely introduce the series to kids.
Well, I guess there's a sense of closure in reading this, but not my favourite - probably because he wasn't able to polish it before he died. :(
Due to the author's death, the book probably wasnt as finished as he wanted. You can tell that he knew the end was coming, so that was poigniant.