I've read it! I liked it much more than Unseen Academicals, though like most Discworld books I think I need to read it again (I was underwhelmed by Night Watch on first reading, and it's now my favourite of the whole series).

I did think the subplot back at the city could have used more work or been dropped entirely, since it was hastily wrapped up with basically no connection to the main story. I'd have liked more of the Jane Austen/Bennet sisters expys, too.

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Hence my second read through already.

I think it started off very slow, but once Vimes stumbled across the blood and found out about the murders it picked up the pace. And I agree that more should have been done with the city plot - I really enjoyed everything that happened in Ankh-Morpork, but I think it need a bit more oomph as a separate sub-plot.

The Gordon sisters were fun, yes. The jokes in the end with them were classic, really.

...I sort of want fic about them, now.

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I had to change reading-gears a bit midway, as I avoided spoilers/reviews and from the set-up I thought it was going to be an Agatha Christie country house whodunnit. Then I briefly thought it was going to be Pride and Prejudice. (I'm glad we got the Gordon sisters back at the end, I was worried they'd been forgotten about - yes, fic about them would be great. I'd like to see their Ankh-Morpork hat shop adventures.)

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I had heard enough spoilers to know the goblins were involved there somewhere - though the opening made that rather obvious - and sort of had the vibe that the whole thing was going to end up as one of those "one murder leads to the clever detective discovering a horrible old secret" thing.

I think the biggest surprise that was that the goblin slavery ended up being not just a dark secret, but ongoing.

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I've read it.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. It had some great bits, but some of the plots didn't feel connect and something was weird about the writing style. It felt... Different, it's hard to explain.

Gonna have to reread it to make up my mind.

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From what I've heard, Pratchett has (reasonably) recently gone from typing his novels to having to dictate them with a speech to text program. Which may explain some of the writing style issues. Instead of being able to line-edit his own work, Pratchett has to leave that up to others.

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Ah yeah, that would probably explain it. It did read as very spoken at times, with run-on sentences mote than crafted sentences, if that makes sense. Speaking and writing engages slightly different parts of the brain as well, so there can be differences in tone.

I'm still sad about him having Altzheimer's. :(

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Yeah, I got that vibe. All the Pratchetty ideas where there, they just hadn't gone through quite as much refinement, I suppose, as they used to.

I know. ;_;

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Well, the Goblins are sort of the main point of the plot, so it figures that when they make their major appearances, that's when things really get a move on.

And I do wonder just what "Pride and Extreme Prejudice" would be like to read.

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I think we'd just read it.

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I managed to accidentally and unknowingly buy the ebook early -- I saw it one day, bought it, went back the next to see how much I spent on it and saw it was now "released [date]!"

I liked it, but didn't love it. The lack of Death was very strange, and I found the whole set-up of goblins as metaphor for African slaves very awkward, given the way the narrative dwells on their horrible physical aspects and apparent inability to save themselves.

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I hadn't even realized that - Sam has a near-Death experience and no Death? Wouldn't this make it the first Discworld book without him?

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I think it must be!

I mean, maybe I just missed it? The one downside of ebooks is that they're not skim-friendly. But there was a hell of a lot of death in this one, and no TINY ALLCAPS.

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I don't think both of us would miss it, esp. As I half listened to it and Briggs does a distinctive voice for Death. Wow. I'm quite sad over the nocaps. Death is one of my favorite characters.

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I noticed that Death didn't seem to make an appearance. Mistake or statement, do you think?

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Death's been in every book. Mistake?

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I read it. I'm still digesting to some degree... I wonder where he's going overall with the goblins. Usually when he's got an issue underlying the main text I can figure it out; this time, I'm not sure what he's trying to say with the last two books goblin-wise.

Little Sam, though, is a delight. And Sybil rules.

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Yes, little Sam is lovely - all the Vimes family stuff was great. I wonder where the drift is going for Young Sam with all that stuff about his naturalist "talents" - just for the gag, or subtext for the future (ish).

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I think he's going to grow up and do forensics, personally.

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That could indeed work.

Young Sam: The CSI of Discworld.

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Seriously! I can't see him as a wizard; his father's disdain will rub off. I think that despite what Willikins said, there's no other place for Sam to go except into the police. Add in his budding science-y side, and forensics it is!

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