Thief of Time (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (MOBI)

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Ebook Info

  • Published: 2002
  • Number of pages: 384 pages
  • Format: MOBI
  • File Size: 1.43 MB
  • Authors: Terry Pratchett

Description

Everybody wants more time, which is why on Discworld only the experts can manage it — the venerable Monks of History who store it and pump it from where it’s wasted, like underwater (how much time does a codfish really need?), to places like cities, where busy denizens lament, “Oh where does the time go?”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…

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review More gloriously uproarious doings from Discworld. Pratchett’s humor is international, satirical, devious, knowing, irreverent, unsparing and, above all, funny. — Kirkus (Starred Review) About the Author Sir Terry Pratchett was the internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books, including his phenomenally successful Discworld series. His young adult novel, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal, and Where’s My Cow?, his Discworld book for “readers of all ages,” was a New York Times bestseller. His novels have sold more than seventy five million (give or take a few million) copies worldwide. Named an Officer of the British Empire “for services to literature,” Pratchett lived in England. He died in 2015 at the age of sixty-six.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I am devoted to Pratchett novels because of their wonderful tongue-in-the cheek originality.”Thief Of Time” is a multi-threaded “end of time crisis” story involving several characters developed in previous novels that converge at the critical moment to save Discworld’s human population.He uses the story as a platform for everything from serious thoughtful ideas to blatantly ridiculous humor-pretty much standard form for his work.

⭐The last few weeks, my reading has been monopolized by the mind of Terry Pratchett. I have been sucked into the Discworld, and I am just fine with that. I sought out experts on which order to read the books, since there is no one straight linear way to read the books.I read the entire sequence centered on Death (and his extended family) first, since my introduction to the world of the Disc was the movie version of _Hogfather_.I bought the first one, _Mort_, just to see if I would like it. I liked it well enough; I bought the next two books in the series on the Death story-arc. A quarter of the way through the second book, I bought the final two books of the arc.I neared the end of one of those books and I bought the first three books from the “Guards” story-arc. At this point, I have only read one of those books, the first _Guards, Guards_. I was pleased, since I have to admit that I was a bit worried about the continuity of quality between story-arcs. Was I just interested in the character of Death, or did I like the world as a whole?It turns out that I like the world as a whole, and this is a huge strength of Pratchett. I want to learn about all the inhabitants and read all the stories, no matter how tangential. I don’t usually keep many books in my wish list, but it is now filled up with Discworld books. He builds a world like Vonnegut did. There are many familiar elements of the world we inhabit but there is the magic element that rips from genre fiction: what Vonnegut did with science-fiction, Pratchett does with fantasy elements.There are a couple of things about the series generally that I really enjoyed. The first is what you try to develop as a writer, a unique voice. I’ve been struggling on finding the right word to really describe what I would characterize as Pratchett’s voice. It is arch and tongue-in-cheek and just fun if you’ve read enough. He’s a post-modern Tolkien, but that’s a little off.Secondly, he is funny, and he’s not afraid to go for the easy joke. There are puns-galore, if you like that sort of thing. I happen to. There is one very memorable one that he just sort of sneaks in during _Soul Music_. He takes the reader 90% of the way to the pay-off but allows the slow dawning to set on the reader, so that a bad pun feels like it was done masterfully. Which it is, it really is.If I had to make a critique of the books in the series that I have read so far is that I have read them too fast. My wife often tells me to slow down and enjoy the books you like, but I seldom listen to her. I should have here. There have been a couple of times that I enjoying the ride so much, I didn’t even bother to remember what I had just read. I had to go and reread the last 50 pages of _Guards, Guards_ because of this. I enjoyed it too much.Otherwise, this is an unqualified recommendation for the Discworld books. Spend some time there, you won’t regret it.

⭐What if time was living being? So many ideas are brought to life in these books and they make you wonder. The four horsemen we know, but what of the fifth? I really liked Lu Tze before and this one brings his story into focus. The Auditors remind me so much of the Watchers and their idea has been used in various ways before. This whole story is so much fun to be immersed in. As usual there is a great mix of characters both new and old. Some parts of the story prove that it is best if you read them in order and some of the facts are more understandable if you’ve read the previous books. And now I move on to the only story in this group that Is only available in a hardcopy.

⭐I love the Discworld series, and enjoyed this book but to be honest I wouldn’t recommend this particular one unless you’re reading them all. Even the worst Discworld book isn’t bad though!

⭐Wonderful characters. Humour to make me giggle in public. A story with feeling and depth. Unexpected hero’s and a tale that draws you into the Diskworld until you forget where you are in the real world. I loved every moment. Read 26 so far and this is my favorite to date!

⭐Rule #1: “Do not act incautiously when confronting little bald wrinkly smiling men!”When young, orphaned Lobsang Ludd of the Time Monks is apprenticed to the monastery’s little bald wrinkly smiling sweeper he is at first disappointed. Then he learns who Lu-Tze really is: a sweeper, yes; but also a renowned patcher-upper of time.Time has already been stopped once in the Universe, which had the effect of shattering history into millions of detached fragments. Only Lu-Tze and the Time Monks were able to patch the pieces back together again.Now someone else is once again building the perfect clock that will stop Time for good. This time the Universe will be destroyed if he is not caught. Unfortunately no one, not even Death seems to know where to find the clock-builder.Death calls on his fellow riders, War, Pestilence, and Famine to get ready for the Ride at the End of Time, and delegates the task of finding the clock maker to his daughter, Susan.Meanwhile Lu-Tze and his apprentice, Lobsang Ludd are also on the trail of the man who would stop the Universe.Will they find him in time? Or out of time?”Thief of Time” is crammed with word-play, sly shards of philosophy (see Rule #1), and countless subplots (there is a Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse named Ronnie, who runs a dairy in his spare time). It’s like reading a land mine. I’ll usually be a couple of sentences beyond the point where something blew up in my face, before I mutter, “what the hell happened?”For example, “it never rains but it pours.”A jug.Steal some time for Pratchett. This book is one of his best.

⭐Before reading “Thief of Time” you should probably have read both “Small Gods” and, at least, “Hogfather”, probably all the other books with Death/Susan as major characters. If you have read the rest of Discworld the themes of individual/collective responsibility and claiming/forming personal identity will not be new, but here these play out in a particularly wonderful way.Pratchett has always been a master of the montage, with small scenes adding up to a narrative. Here he combines the flashbacks to when Wen (pun intended) first realised that time could be manipulated, to the impending catastrophe of time being broken. There are nods to quantum theory and a load of sciencey, timey-wimey stuff that people smarter than me might get, but for me, the idea of chocolate as a weapon is the winner. The main characters are great, Susan and Lu-tze were already known when I first read this book, but the new characters are also engaging as they get to know themselves. The auditors are suitable heinous as the villains that are just grey, until they attempt to be human and become reservoir dogs versions of humanity.I bought this book in hardback many years ago and this new purchase was the kindle version, as I wanted some comfort reading. One of the great things about discworld as the multi-layered narrative, which reveals something new on each reading, although the chocolate references feel mouth-wateringly new everytime.

⭐This is the most intellectually challenging of the Discworld books, but none the less enjoyable for all that. The important lessons to learn are that there is always someone more important than you, that time is infinite -until it isn’t, and that chocolate is the greatest weapon known to mortals and immortals.

⭐Susan Sto Helit is a favourite character, as is Lu Tze, the Sweeper (an unconventional history monk). Aided by the four horsemen of the apocalypse (did you know there are actually five?) and with a walk on appearance of Nanny Ogg, they come together to defeat the evil Auditors as they plot to end the world by bringing time to a standstill.It’s a rollicking tale, rushed onwards on the amazing imagination and Discworld Science that the late Terry Pritchett excelled at.

⭐In “Thief of Time” we see the Auditors once again. They are still not satisfied with the chaos that follows humans and are setting out to change that by creating a clock to stop time.Young Jeremy is given the task (by the auditors) of creating a clock that needs to measure the tiniest increments of time. He is an especially gifted (though rather strange) clockmaker. He ends up with an Igor and a humanized auditor to help.Again we meet Death and his granddaughter Susan Sto Helit. Death draws an unwilling Susan into the difficult task of finding the clock maker and setting things right. All the time he rides off to gather the 4 horsemen (or was it 5) and ride off to the Apocalypse.All the while The Monks of History in the person of Lu-Tze and his apprentice Lobsang (who is also quite talented when it comes to time) are on their way to find out where The Clock is in order to stop its completion.Terry Pratchett’s books are wonderful. There is always action and fun and some deep thinking involved in his books. Pratchett’s books create a sense of satisfaction after reading them. “Thief of Time” is no exception.

⭐I have a particular liking for how it shows up part of Susan’s growth as a teacher, how it sets up the different End Time Propheciea and the martial-arts send-ups—and the only time we ever see Nanny Ogg as a beginner—still young enough to wear her pointy hat indoors, and waiting to do her first solo on a woman “built like a wardrobe”

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