The Light Fantastic (Discworld)

by Sir Terence David John Pratchett

[clq]

After reading this I'm getting a little nervous: what if I'm not the kind of person who loves Terry Pratchett books? I want to love Terry Pratchett books! I want to be the kind of person who loves Terry Pratchett books!

Yet The Light Fantastic feels like the kind of book I should have loved if I love Terry Pratchett, but... I didn't. Don't get me wrong - I love puns, and this book has some of the best puns I've read (I don't think I'll ever forget the one about the people stealing the musical instruments). It's also funny throughout, effortlessly so. I just never got on board with the story. It seemed disjointed in a way that didn't even seem whimsical, but just felt random and annoying to me. I can't actually remember much of it - I think I pretty much ignored in in order to enjoy the jokes, which I did.

I some times say that books are "a wonderful story told well" or something along those lines. In this case I'd probably have to say that this was "a bad story told brilliantly", or something like that. I'm still in early Pratchett days though. I hope and think that I'll like some of the later books more than I liked this one.