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Jane's Great Re-Read: Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett – a review
Carpe Jugulum is the last of the first wave of witches novels. This time GRanny and the rest of the Lancre coven are faced with invading vampires from Uberwald. There are now four witches in Lancre, Granny, Nanny Magrat and Agnes but covens work best with three, you know: the maiden, the mother and the other one. A lot of this novel is about how roles change over time and what its like to feel out of place in the world. Magrat has given birth to a daughter and is keeping the name secret until the naming ceremony. King Verence has summoned an Omnian Priest and sent invitations out to…
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Jane's Great Re-read: Maskerade by Terry Pratchett – a review
This is possibly my favourite Witches novel so I have to warn you I am biased on this one. I shall declare my interests here. 1. Agnes Nitt was the first time I saw myself represented so completely in a novel. I will explain more fully later but at 15 I was Agnes Nitt. 2. If you know me at all you know I take part in a lot of amateur musical theatre. The jokes and references in this one come thick and fast 3. Greebo gets his human on again. Aw yeah! Reading Maskerade was the first time that Agnes takes centre stage in a story and it was…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Lords and Ladies By Terry Pratchett a Review
Lords and Ladies is the fourth Granny Weatherwax and the witches book. If Wyrd Sisters is Macbeth, Lords and Ladies is a Midsummer’s Night Dream. This picks up post Witches Abroad just when the trio have arrived back from Genua and sprints off into the distance. This book is about belief; it is about susperstition; it is about quantum and iron.
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Rolling Dice in Anger
Heromeet takes place in bar uno at Bangor university it is part games soc reunion part games fest. I’d been invited to go along by friends who are long time gamers, we boardgame with them quite regularly and had been told that we would be very welcome to join them at this meet. Friday night was spent playing board games, Ticket To Ride, Seven Wonders at least that’s all that I remember playing there was a lot of general catching up with folks we knew and general merriment. But Saturday was mainly taken up with playing Dungeons and Dragons. Oh my freaking squee. Its worth pointing out at this point…
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Wherein I come out.
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Here we go again.
Things have been rather busy the last couple of months. My partner and I have had to move house which was the hugest upheaval plus exceedingly busy at work. Followed by the absolute joy that was Nine Worlds. I’ve been thinking and I need to shake the blog up a little bit again. How I’m not one hundred percent sure but I’m going to make it a bit more vibrant and be a bit more varied in what I do here. Basically watch this space for some changes over the coming weeks. Look out for the long overdue review of Lords and Ladies, Maskerade and Carpe Jugulum as well as…
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Review: Shattered Minds by Laura Lam
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Book Review: Phoenix Rising by Bryony Pearce
Phoenix Rising is the first novel in a brand new dystopian YA series about Pirates. The main character is Toby, chief engineer aboard the Phoenix. The novel is very fast paced. The main character,Toby, moves from saving the ship’s engines to discovering a stowaway. The action never stops, it is a very wild ride, with the enemy ship the Banshee captained by Nell and her daughter Ayla as well as prison breaks, epic battles and explosions. I love that the world is well realised, an environmental calamity has changed the world and governments have collapsed new states have sprung up with pirates scavenging resources from the floating junkyards that the…
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Jane's Great Re-read: Witches Abroad – Review
Witches abroad is the third in Granny Weatherwax sequence and one of my personal favourites in a strong field. Terry Pratchett’s books are like onions there are layers. The basic plot is Magrat is left a Magic wand by one of the ramptops witches who also happens to be a fairy godmother. There is a girl in Genua who is going to a marry a prince and this being Discworld it needs to be stopped. Let me take a minute there with my proud feminist hat on and punch the air. Women fighting against the established narrative that a young girl must be wanting to marry the prince. Anyhoo, something…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Wyrd Sisters, the next in the Granny Weatherwax sequel. This is where we get all Shakespearean as Terry Pratchett takes on the Scottish Play with a good dollup of humour at all theatre. This is where Granny comes into her own as part of the coven with Magrat the Maiden, Nanny Ogg the Mother and Granny as well the other one. This was my first Discworld Novel and as such it does feel rather much like an old friend. There are some wonderful passages, not least the Storm that has been practising and random Andrew LLoyd Webber References. And that’s one of the reasons I really love Terry Pratchett, the…
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On Fandom, snobbery and other ills
I’ve been thinking about fandom and the arbitrary hierarchies that are constructed by the tribes within. I’ve written before about how I find it problematic and one thing I really dislike is the way some people like to laugh at ‘lower/less worthy’ fandoms. I’ve been guilty of it myself I have rolled my eyes at someone else’s and I have come to the conclusion that it really is just not on to harsh on someone else’s squee. Which brings me to Twilight. I read the books and the first film and decided it was not for me. It made me feel all kinds of wrong. However, an awful lot of…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: Equal Rites – Review
Another old friend to back and visit. My relationship with the Discworld novels is avid reader but not necessarily a re-reader They are novels to be inhaled and enjoyed and to laugh out loud and make others want to know just what has made you guffaw. Most folks will not send you to Equal Rites as a first port of call. The Discworld novels have various streams you can follow based on various characters. Rincewind, Death and Susan, Sam Vimes, Granny WEatherwax, Moist Von Lipwig, Tiffany Aching and there are a few true stand alones. Equal Rites is the first novel to contain Granny Weatherwax, but at this point she’s…
