[amphibian]

Pratchett's Alzheimer's was making significant impacts on the writing around Making Money. I recall that he shifted to dictating and having fewer editing passes as time went on. He did what he could and we were lucky to have these books.

[Werthead]

Discworld #38: I Shall Wear Midnight

Quote

Tiffany Aching is almost sixteen and is now a respected witch across the Chalk. She is taken aback when the death of a local dignitary seems to spark off a burst of hatred and fear towards witches. Her investigation reveals the return of an ancient force of evil, which unleashes bigotry and invective even from mild-mannered people, even from Tiffany's oldest friends and allies. Fortunately the Nac Mac Feegle are unaffected, and with their help Tiffany sets about restoring her reputation.

I Shall Wear Midnight is the thirty-eighth Discworld novel and the fourth to focus on the character of Tiffany Aching, ostensibly the protagonist of a series of books "for younger readers." It's also one of the darker Discworld novels, tapping into the idea that there is a coil of communal hatred in people that can be periodically unleashed for no real reason, and a canny operator can direct that bile towards their own ends.

The book is something of a Greatest Hits of the Ramtops, bringing in Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, though with tremendous restraint Pratchett does not allow them to overwhelm proceedings. We also get a flying visit to Ankh-Morpork (complete with cameos from several Ankh-Morpork regulars), a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by Magrat, and even the return of one of the major protagonists of one of the very first Discworld books and has been puzzlingly MIA for the thirty-five books since. It's the largest-scaled Tiffany book and the one that seems to make the most effort to make her books feel connected to the larger Discworld setting, which it is successful at.

But for all that, the story is focused a lot on Tiffany's personal story. She has found acceptance and respect, but that is suddenly endangered by people deciding they hate her for almost no reason whatsoever. Anyone who has been the victim of bigotry, for whatever reason, especially from people they've known for a long time, can identify with this idea. Pratchett explores the metaphor by making the source of this inexplicable hatred an actual entity, the Cunning Man, but also reinforces it by having it that the Cunning Man can only be defeated, not destroyed totally.

The book alternates between obvious in-your-face humour - the Mac Feegles would be getting tiresome if Pratchett wasn't so good at giving them development, as individuals and a species - and more subtle gags and vigorous poking of the human condition. Like Unseen Academicals before it, this book was written shortly after Pratchett learned of his early-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis. Whilst Unseen Academicals ended up feeling unfocused and distracted, I Shall Wear Midnight feels focused and angry, like Pratchett had decided if he was on his way out, he was going to go out kicking and screaming at the injustices of the world. And as we know from Small Gods, Night Watch and Monstrous Regiment (among others), nothing is more glorious than an angry, articulate Pratchett.

I Shall Wear Midnight (****) is not perfect, it's mildly overlong and the final confrontation with the Cunning Man is vague at best, but this is otherwise a roaring return form for Pratchett after arguably the weakest book in the series. It's also the strongest outing for Tiffany Aching.

[Werthead]

Discworld #39: Snuff

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Commander Samuel Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch has faced down some of the greatest perils anyone can think of: dragons, guns, magic, time travel and Ankh-Morpork street food. But now he faces a challenge that he cannot escape, avoid or resist through force: a holiday. Relocating to the Ramkin rural estate, Vimes has to relax, eat good food and perform other hideous tasks like socialising, but his mood improves markedly when the dead bodies start showing up.

Snuff (2011) is the thirty-ninth Discworld novel and the last to feature Commander Sam Vimes in a starring role. The character originated in the eighth Discworld novel, Guards! Guards!, originally published in 1989, and Pratchett carefully developed his character over the course of twenty-two years and multiple books, making him one of the most popular Discworld characters and also the only one to have his own theory of macroeconomics that is often quoted in the real world.

For his swansong, Pratchett gives him a starring role with the rest of the City Watch relegated to brief, background appearances. The plot is nothing spectacularly new, with shades of The Wicker Man and Hot Fuzz here (not to mention a sprinkling of light Jane Austen) as Vimes becomes a fish-out-of-water in the countryside where the rules are different and his normal resources are not available. One of the reasons for Vimes's popularity is his impressive competence, with opponents getting the upper hand through surprise or genuine innovation rather than because the protagonist is given an idiot ball to hold for a while, and that holds true here. Vimes may not know the inns and outs of countryside politics but he does know people and how they operate, and that gives him a strong advantage.

The novel is on the long side for Discworld but is not as egregiously long as Unseen Academicals, which spun its wheels so long it was surprising it could be extracted from the ruts to be published. It helps that Vimes's investigation is genuinely interesting, taking in as it does local economics and the inter-species relationship between humans and goblins, the last Discworld species it is still "okay to hate," something that Vimes sets about changing. We got a taster of this storyline in Unseen Academicals but here it is explored more in-depth, with goblin society explored in full. It's impressive that, almost forty books in, Pratchett was keen to explore more of the Disc and its people.

The book is also helped by its pacing and it furiously action-packed finale, one of Pratchett's stronger resolutions as Vimes and his squad of hand-picked friends have to race along the river to stop a huge injustice taking place. The novel also continues the immensely impressive city-building of Ankh-Morpork, with brief interludes to return to the city to find out what's up with the Patrician and some of the other Watch members.

Given this is a late Pratchett novel, written after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, it is impressive how optimistic it is (an improvement over Academicals). Vimes's investigation legitimises an entire species of people and changes the perception of them overnight, to the betterment of the world. Sergeant Colon, a popular character but one who has been excused for his limited world view and prejudices too long, gets an astonishing wake-up call. Nobby Nobbs finds happiness! Kind of. If that doesn't give you hope for humanity (or immediately adjacent sub-species), I don't know what else will.

On the negative side, we probably again get too many extended scenes with the Patrician, which dents his mystique a little. Pratchett also lets a few running gags (Vimes's son's obsession with excrement of any and all zoological origin; the Patrician's increasingly bitter, metaphorical battle-to-the-death with the Times crossword compiler) maybe run on a few times too long. But these are minor issues.

For late-stage Discworld, Snuff (****½) is a very solid book, packed with interesting ideas that make you think, and some good laughs.

[Slow Ben]

Bought my first Discworld book over the weekend. Finally diving in.

If anyone has any handy dandy reading order, if it’s other than publication, I’d appreciate it.

[JPK]

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:02 PM, said:

Bought my first Discworld book over the weekend. Finally diving in.

If anyone has any handy dandy reading order, if it’s other than publication, I’d appreciate it.

Which one did you get?

[Slow Ben]

 JPK, on 12 August 2026 - 04:18 PM, said:

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:02 PM, said:

Bought my first Discworld book over the weekend. Finally diving in.

If anyone has any handy dandy reading order, if it’s other than publication, I’d appreciate it.

Which one did you get?

Colour of Magic.

[JPK]

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:41 PM, said:

 JPK, on 12 August 2026 - 04:18 PM, said:

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:02 PM, said:

Bought my first Discworld book over the weekend. Finally diving in.

If anyone has any handy dandy reading order, if it’s other than publication, I’d appreciate it.

Which one did you get?

Colour of Magic.

Ok. Fair warning, that is one of the absolute weakest in the series. It's still enjoyable but doesn't have the satiric depth that Sir pTerry becomes famous for. My suggestion is stay with publication order for a few books until you get an idea of the different subseries (Witches, Watch, College, Death, ect) and then either stick with publication order or follow one of those specific storylines.

[Slow Ben]

 JPK, on 12 August 2026 - 04:59 PM, said:

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:41 PM, said:

 JPK, on 12 August 2026 - 04:18 PM, said:

 Slow Ben, on 12 August 2026 - 04:02 PM, said:

Bought my first Discworld book over the weekend. Finally diving in.

If anyone has any handy dandy reading order, if it’s other than publication, I’d appreciate it.

Which one did you get?

Colour of Magic.

Ok. Fair warning, that is one of the absolute weakest in the series. It's still enjoyable but doesn't have the satiric depth that Sir pTerry becomes famous for. My suggestion is stay with publication order for a few books until you get an idea of the different subseries (Witches, Watch, College, Death, ect) and then either stick with publication order or follow one of those specific storylines.

Sweet. Thanks!