Night Watch - Terry Pratchett

I am currently working my way through the Discworld. This one, I had not read before, which is always fun, because I tend to forget till I am several pages in whether or not I have read any given Discworld book.

I love Sam Vimes as a character. I love that he changes and grows through the books, while at the same time retaining this core of Vimesness. This book is great because we get to see Vimes meet his own younger self. And how many of us would love that opportunity? Go back and tell your own young self everything you've learnt since then. Of course, he doesn't. He can't. Because that would change things. But it is still good fun to watch.

This book also gives us a look at Ankh-Morpork before the time of Vetinari, which we are more familiar with. And that's fun too. Especially since we get to meet a young Vetinari, and get a feel for what it is that drives him and turns him into who he becomes.

I'm not sure this would be a good gateway Discworld book. They do generally stand alone well, but I think a lot of the joy of this one are the little nods to the long time readers who will spot the references or beginnings of things that are tropes in the other Watch books.

And did anyone else notice the Les Mis thing going on? I didn't imagine that, right? There was a Les Mis thing going on there?

I'd recommend this to people who have read the other Watch books and enjoyed them. But if you're new to the Disc, this may not be the best place to start.

The Neverending Story.

OK, I know this movie is as old as time, (or at least the 80s), but it is such a classic. A whole generation of kids traumatised by That Thing With the Horse!

Fact is, I absolutely loved this film as a kid. Unashamedly. I loved the whole 'geeky bookish kid gets his revenge on the bullies' thing, I loved the dragon, I loved the magic and the adventure. And then I watched it as an adult, and all I could think is "The book is so much better".



You've all read the book right? It's sprawling, and coherent in a way the movie doesn't quite achieve. And the movie does that very 80s revenge thing with the shoutiness and the cheering, and the self-congratulatory stuff. And the dragon has FUR, which he doesn't in the book, and as a dragonny soul, that kind of bugs me.

And oh my but how po-faced is that little empress lass?

But I think the thing that bugs me the most is that the movie leaves out the bit of the story from which the book GETS ITS TITLE. The actual reason for it being called "The Neverending Story"? Not in the movie.

But you know, there is still a part of me that is 8 and loves it. It's kind of strange to re-encounter something you adored as a child, and the adult part of your brain that has a masters in narrative theory is seeing all the plotholes and flaws, while the 8 year old part of your brain is clapping gleefully as the dragon soars through the sky.

And there is something to be said for that.