Snuff

I know it's been out for a while but I've just finished reading Terry Pratchett's Snuff. I received it for Christmas and was looking forward to reading it.

I'm a long term fan of Terry Pratchett and especially of Sam Vimes. He is a great character; well developed and still interesting despite having a staring role in many books so far. I imagine it is quite difficult to achieve this but Pratchett pulls it off with aplomb.

I felt that in Snuff quite a bit of the early book was retreading old ground. Did we really need reminding quite so often that Wilikins is rather blood thirsty for a butler? I already know Vimes' backstory so I was left waiting patiently for the meat of the story to start, but I appreciate that you have to make allowances to people just picking up the series.

Due to this it was a slow burner. However I really enjoyed it. Taking Vimes out of his comfort zone is always a great way to get the best out of the character. Upon finding out that Vimes was going to the Ramkim family estate in the country I was afraid we'd end up with “Vimes at Downton Abby”. Fortunately this was avoided and we got a much richer story.

I love reading Pratchett novels but I'm always left slightly depressed afterwards. If I went to write for a hundred years I doubt I'd be half as good as he is. I'd settle for a tenth though.