Pratchett Plays it Safe
There was a time when I was such a Pratchett fan that I even went to a Discworld Convention; after his last few books, it seems those times are past. The current Discworld novel, Thud!, was the first one I failed to finish, and I actually returned it to the shop to get a refund. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before.
The problem I have with the last half-dozen Discworld books or so is that Pratchett just won’t take any risks with his stories or characters, and the stories have become predictable and samey as a result. Take the character of the Patrician, for instance; once, this character was an intimidating, Machiavellian individual who had Ankh-Morpork under his thumb. He was always one step ahead of everyone else, always in control and in charge of whatever situation he found himself in. And he still is, but after you’ve seen him survive yet another attempt to depose, kill, or otherwise remove him from power it’s not interesting any more, it’s just boring. You know he’ll survive because he always does, and the potentially-interesting story that could arise from his removal is never seen.
Or take Vimes, a down-to-earth man of the people who’s ended up in a position of power far removed from the gutter in which we first met him. Vimes is, as far as I can tell, immortal. Like the Patrician, the reader knows that no matter what happens to him, no matter the odds, he’ll survive. I actually thought Pratchett was going to kill him off in Night Watch, and it would have worked really well. Everything in the story suggested that it was going to happen, but then Pratchett throws in a deus ex machina plot device and Vimes survives to star in the next book, again, again, again.
Every recent book suggests to me that Pratchett is unwilling to take risks with his creation. Even when he introduced an entirely new cast of characters and new locations in Monstrous Regiment — something he’s not done since, I think, Interesting Times back in 1996 or thereabouts — he undermined all their heroic exploits by having Vimes et al pulling strings in the background, just to have some familiar people in the story. Why even bother making the effort to explore new locations and people if they can’t be made strong enough to stand alone?
The Discworld used to be full of unexplored potential, and it still is — Pratchett’s never gone back to explore the worlds seen in Pyramids, Small Gods, The Lost Continent or Interesting Times, for instance. He recycles invulnerable characters who hog the centre stage and it all feels so safe, so easy, so comfortable. It’s a routine.
If he ever tries something new in a future book, will somebody please let me know?
Ouch! This is quite unfortunate. I am a huge Pratchett fan and to hear that it was like that actaully upsets me. I haven’t read all his books, i haven’t even started really but… Its a shame.
On the other hand, I picked up Thud in a bookshop the other day and begun reading. A chapter in, I had to leave and I am now living with the tremendous frustration of not knowing any mad Pratchett fans locally who can lend it to me.* (St Pauls, Bristol, if you are out there).
I like Vimes. I like the way Pratchett’s characters have grown and developed and changed, as have their relationships with each other. And yes, of course I’d love to see a brand new cast etc (Going Postal was great for that reason), but I can’t disparage his quality of writing for the lack of it.
*Paul, I know I’m *meant* to forgive you for not giving me your copy. But it’s hard work.
“I like Vimes. I like the way Pratchett’s characters have grown and developed and changed, as have their relationships with each other.”
But Vimes stopped developing ages ago. His story was over and done with — he’d recovered from his alcoholism, he’d turned the Night Watch from a joke into a formidable and ever-expanding force, he’d got married, he’d gained status…he’s done with now. When he nearly died in Night Watch it felt like it was actually going to be an ending, but of course it eventually wasn’t.
“And yes, of course I’d love to see a brand new cast etc (Going Postal was great for that reason)”
Going Postal still managed to feature the regular Watch characters, though. As did The Truth, I think, and any book that takes place in Ankh-Morpork. There’s no good reason for this, particularly as Pratchett’s spent so long reminding us that the Watch is now a large force. They’re in there for familiarity, just as they were in Monstrous Regiment.
I actually saw Pratchett walking along Aldwych the other day, looking every inch the beardy sellout he seems to have become.
May I recommend George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Its not comedy, but its very heavy on character development and the author certainly isn’t afraid of taking many many risks with his characters.
Hmmm Interesting how people are making comment on Vimes character, without having read THUD all the way through! I’ve read Thud from Start to FINISH and, yes, at the start I thought “Oh here we go again with the Vimes/Watch scenario, but by the end I wanted to read it again!
I’ve just finished reading Thud! and I broadly agree that Pratchett has stopped developing his characters, and now seems to desperately shoehorn the plot round a knowing reference(1) to his stock characters. Reading some parts of the book was kind of like watching Clarkson on Top Gear scratching around for a ‘witty’ metaphor. When it works, it works well, when it doesn’t it just feels laboured.
(1) complete with humourous footnote.