336 pages
Published Nov. 28, 2017 by Doubleday UK.
In Discworld, time is a resource managed by the highly capable Monks of History. Everybody wants more time, which is why on Discworld only the experts can manage it. While everyone always talks about slowing down, one young horologist is about to do the unthinkable. He's going to stop. Well, stop time that is, by building the world's first truly accurate clock. Which means esteemed History Monk Lu-Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd have to put on some speed to stop the timepiece before it starts. For if the perfect clock starts ticking, time, as we know it, will end. And then the trouble will really begin.
I loved this book, it's amazing to see Susan as an adult. A ton of stuff going on, including an exploration of totalitarian societies and, as usual, human nature.
if there were rules, then they applied to everyone, even her. Otherwise they were merely tyranny.
Después de varios libros que me gustaron especialmente porque Pratchett puso especial énfasis en llevar al Mundodisco problemas claramente basados en nuestro Mundobola ahora tocaba una entrega más fantástica. No voy a decir que sea malo ni mucho menos (dudo que haya nada escrito por El hombre del sombrero que no me guste), pero sí es cierto que lo he disfrutado un poquito menos que los anteriores. Aún así tiene personajes memorables como los Auditores, El Quinto Jinete y, sobre todo, una Susan que va cogiendo cada vez más relevancia.
It was great to see Susan again and follow her development. She continues to amusingly try to be 'normal'. While I struggled with most of the "side plots" from the previous Death books, both the monks and the auditors were incredibly compelling. This book has a lot of quotable lines as usual, but they fit very well within the story.
Myria is a great character, and I do like the name Myria. I also have to say that I ended up eating a whole lot of chocolate thanks to this book.
I didn't have great expectations from this book, but it's now one of my favourites in the Discworld series.
2023 re-read: still one of my favourite books in the Discworld universe.
I seem to have a particular fondness for the history monks, because, as with "Small Gods", this is one of my favourite Discworld novels.
It's been a long time since I really laughed out loud while reading a book (which caused some strange looks on the train). But contrary to some previous books where the search for "the perfect joke" pushed the story to the back a bit, here the jokes seem to be there "by coincidence", because the story just went down that route.
The characters are strong and you always want to know more: is Lu-Tze a hack or is he really that good? Will Lady LeJean turn on "her people"? Who is Ronny really?
And of course: will everybody remember rule number one?
One of the best I've read. Pratchett is always great juggling so many factors: underlying philosophy, well rounded characters, brilliant dialogue, engaging plot, thematic cohesiveness and worldbuilding.
At the same time, whilst always great, often there may be a teeny tiny dip in one of those areas compared to others.
This book nails them all.
Still love it, ones of the best books ever written.
And death by chocolate? What a stroke of genius.
Another gem from Sir Terry. He had such a unique, insightful, compassionate voice. This one is charming, joyful, tense, and deceptively profound.
This book brought back to me everything I ever thought was good about Discworld.
I love Terry Pratchett. I read this book in a day. I couldnt put it down.
