What are you reading in 2025?

[gban007]

It's not one of his better books, although it's Unseen University assembling in its final form (Ridcully is introduced in this one, right?). Things pick up with Wyrd Sister (#6) and especially Guards, Guards (#8).

Ridcully comes in later, I think Sourcery is the last one before the assembling to final form as such.

 

[overgeeked]

It's not one of his better books, although it's Unseen University assembling in its final form (Ridcully is introduced in this one, right?). Things pick up with Wyrd Sister (#6) and especially Guards, Guards (#8).

The name doesn’t sound familiar so I searched it. Ridcully the Archchancellor first appears in Moving Pictures (Discworld 10). Not sure what you mean about the university’s final form. The end of Sourcery made it crystal clear that just about everything returned to its normal old self. The magical version of “it was all a dream.”

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The name doesn’t sound familiar so I searched it. Ridcully the Archchancellor first appears in Moving Pictures (Discworld 10). Not sure what you mean about the university’s final form. The end of Sourcery made it crystal clear that just about everything returned to its normal old self. The magical version of “it was all a dream.”

I mean that the cast and department heads are all in place for future novels. Per @gban007, it sounds like it gels in a few more books. (The good news is that Archchancellor Ridcully is a great character and when he shows up for the first time, you get a whole lot of him. And Pratchett dials back the Rincewind stuff after that, happily.)

 

[prabe]

The Forest of Lost Souls - Dean Koontz.
I guess every so often you're going to deliver a clunker no matter all the great stuff you've done in the past. I haven't read the majority of Koontz's work but I'll tell you - I'm on the fence on whether or not he even wrote this. It's a pretty good book up until the ending chapters and then the wheels just come right off. It's like it was meant to be twice as long and then Something Happened and he had to end it right in the middle.

There's no overt supernatural element here no matter how often it's semi-teased save for The Old Fortuneteller, who might simply be amazingly perceptive about people. Some of the character work and background material is interesting and could serve for some character inspiration for your RPG.

Honestly I think I gave up on Koontz for good sometime in the 1990s, though I saw inside a couple-three of his books since, when I was working at a studio recording audiobooks. If you read one of his books, it's probably OK. If you read some number of his books, especially if he wrote them around the same time, you'll start to see the patterns to the point that it starts to feel like a checklist; and his concerns are ... basically his concerns, there hasn't been much change in his themes since like the mid-1980s, best I can tell.

 

[overgeeked]

I mean that the cast and department heads are all in place for future novels. Per @gban007, it sounds like it gels in a few more books. (The good news is that Archchancellor Ridcully is a great character and when he shows up for the first time, you get a whole lot of him. And Pratchett dials back the Rincewind stuff after that, happily.)

Ah. Definitely not then. None of that is sorted. The only real character attached to the university is the Librarian. No department heads and no archchancellor. Rincewind is trapped in the Dungeon Dimension.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Rincewind is not great, but man I love the Luggage. I forget what that trope is called, where the apparent main character is a doofus, and is consistently saved by their ruthlessly efficient sidekick - but it's one I like. Jeeves and Wooster, Wallace and Gromit. Surprisingly, not mentioned on tvtropes.com hyper-competent sidekick site though...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Rincewind is trapped in the Dungeon Dimension.

Honestly, that's where he belongs.

 

[overgeeked]

Rincewind is not great, but man I love the Luggage. I forget what that trope is called, where the apparent main character is a doofus, and is consistently saved by their ruthlessly efficient sidekick - but it's one I like. Jeeves and Wooster, Wallace and Gromit. Surprisingly, not mentioned on tvtropes.com hyper-competent sidekick site though...

You nailed the trope. Hyper-Competent Sidekick. Jeeves is listed on the examples from literature page. The Jeeves is also its own trope.

 

[overgeeked]

Honestly, that's where he belongs.

Ouch. Does he get significantly worse as the novels go on? So far he's just a coward who blunders his way into trouble, can't cast spells, can't spell, and generally survives by GM...erm, author fiat.

 

[the Jester]

In the last week or week and a half, I have torn through Half a King and Half a World and am now working on Half a War, all by Joe Abercrombie- a trilogy not (AFAIK) related to his Blade Itself books. They're pretty great- light reading but really fun. Abercrombie is generally very enjoyable, although not super deep.