Snuff

I feel terrible saying it, but I was disappointed by the lastest from Pratchett. I'm already forgetting much of the plot, and I only finished the book a few days ago. I didn't find many memorable lines this go around, nor did I find much humor - given that I consider "humorous" to be the defining characteristic of Pratchett's style, that's a pretty big miss for me. If you changed the character names, I wouldn't have known it was a Discworld novel.

It's not that it didn't have it's moments, but I honestly couldn't tell you what they were now. I can still remember, line for line, some of the best quotes from books like Mort that I read two years ago and have barely looked at since. I still read the book in two nights (typical for me and a Pratchett book), but I did feel like I was forcing myself a little out of some loyalty to Vimes, who gets some of the best books in the series. AND WHY WAS THERE NO DEATH CAMEO WHY DID THIS HAPPEN HOW COULD YOU.

There's also some confustion for me, which a friend will no doubt be able to clear if he ever gets on Skype again - goblins and orcs. Same thing? Different races? It's really not made that clear - in previous books we see one orc who has been raised up as not very orcish at all so I can't really draw a comparison. I recall from "Unseen Academicals" that they was some talk near the end of civilizing an entire race, though I can't remember if it was a reference to Nutt's culture or a seperate goblin culture. I also recall pastor Mightily Oats has some dealings with goblins and was the one that freed Nutt in the past. But I can't get around that I think that goblins and orcs were supposed to be different species.

But come to that, I don't really like that, if different, two new races have been introduced within three books. Dwarfs and trolls and werewolves and most of the other species have been given 40+ books to be fleshed out and developed as unique cultures. Goblins and orcs feel like caricatures in comparison. Nutt at least we got to see as a character; the entire point of his book was not letting others define him by what he is  and developing a sense of worth despite what others think of his species. We don't really get a chance to see any of the goblins as characters in that way. (I'd say the one with the harp was probably the most well done, even if the power of music felt like such a huge ass pull.) We get an overview of their way of life, their religion is breifly discussed (in the first pages in fact) and forgotten for the rest of the book and bears no significance on the plot is except to make one Watch officer go insane for a little while. It doesn't help that by making the entire goblin species so... helpless? Self-hating? it makes them feel like a plot device instead of actual characters. We get it - racism, xenophobia = bad. There's no need to beat us over the head with it. Not that it stopped him other books, but at least he was funny (and occasionally subtle) while beating us over the head.

And I don't know if I'm reading way too much into it, but given how little subtlety was in this book maybe not; but was the goblin mothers eating their young thing supposed to be a metaphor for abortion? Because seriously, if that's what it was I think I lost a little bit of respect for Pratchett. Unless it was supposed to be a reference to "A Modest Proposal," in which case it was rather botched.

I do like the idea of Vimes having to stop a crime that isn't in fact a crime, having to choose between the lawful thing and the right thing, but I really do think it could have better written. That theme barely raises its head in the book, held down by the plot device that is the goblin race. Pratchett spends so much time on racism, a theme we've seen in pretty much every Watch book so far. I'll conceed Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped, but  that anvil has been dropped at least five or six times in previous books. Better yet, those anvils actually merited thought - this time I felt like I was being talked down to.

I'd say the the Summoning Dark was the best part of the book, but it makes its presence known so few timesthat it practically doesn't count. I'd have loved to see that relationship expounded upon, but it looks like I'm going to have to dive back into FFN to get it. The relationship we do have between the two is ridiculosuly out of character - actually, a whole lot of things are out of character. What happened to the Vimes that was terriffied of losing his morality and sanity against this pseudo-demonic force in "Thud!"? The Vimes who would never depend on magic to solve a case now accepts said psudo-demonic thought-beings' witness testimony? The Vimes who hated being a nob now uses his aristocratic power shamelessly? The Vimes who was haunted with doubts and clung to the Law like a beacon has resolved all his doubts somewhere off-screen? This isn't Vimes. This isn't one of my favorite Discworld characters.

Similar thoughts for many of the others - Willikins is a thug. A very well dressed thug no doubt, but in "Jingo" for instance, he was still a gentleman's gentleman; his thuggish past only came into play during times of danger. Here, it's all tough guy, all the time. Sybil is awfully concerned with being prim and proper this go around, something she couldn't have cared less about a few books ago. What happened to the Sybil that raised dragons like a boss? Since when does she need her husband to tell everyone off for her? When did she go from "totally awesome supportive wife" to henpecking Vimes over every little thing?

Honestly, I do feel bad about saying the book is kindasortaokayit'sreallybadbyDiscworldstandards given what the author is dealing with. And I know for most authors it's difficult to maintain quality over a trilogy, nevermind however many Pratchett has churned out (what is it, like 45 books now?). I was really hoping the series was going to end on a high note, but if the books are going to continue on like this, perhaps it's time to quit while ahead. Of the Discworld books I've read, there are six I wouldn't but for my own collection. "Snuff" is one of them.