Johnny Trilogy

Marky Lazer

Marky Lazer

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What's with the Johnny trilogy? Is it any good. I know I've said many a time not to judge a book by its cover, but I saw a cover of "Only you can save mankind" and felt really silly about it... Any thoughts?
 
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This is that cover, by the way...
 
I've read that one a few times. I loved it.

You might find it a bit young for your tastes, but it's still a good read.

I haven't read the other Johnny books yet.
 
It was one of my first Pratchetts, I think i read it about four years ago when i was eight, so it didn't seem too young for me, and I really enjoyed it, but then my tastes were less refined, and I should probably reread it sometime to give you a proper opinion.

It's a Pratchett-just read it anyway! You could do much worse
 
I guess I won't pick it up before I got all the other stuff out of my way then :D
 
I enjoyed it since it had pTerry's trademark "How can anyone make this stuff up?!" feel to it, and it is definately entertaining and well written.
That said, it wasn't as good as the discworld books, but then, that's comparing Pratchett to Pratchett, and we all know that just ends up with us reading all of them :p
 
yes they are children's books but they are still well written and can be enjoyed by adults alike :D
 
"Of all the things I've done, I'm proudest of Johnny and the Dead. The whole philosophy of Terry Pratchett is in Johnny and the Dead."

- Terry Pratchett, SF site interview, 2000.
 
Hmph. Who does this Prachtett guy think he is knowing what his-- oh, yeah. Never mind...
 
High Eight said:
"Of all the things I've done, I'm proudest of Johnny and the Dead. The whole philosophy of Terry Pratchett is in Johnny and the Dead."

- Terry Pratchett, SF site interview, 2000.
Click to expand...
Ouch, that was a little unfortunate, it seems to me. Johnny and the Dead was by far the weakest of the series. And if that's the philosophy of Pratchett - well. What it seemed to me that the book was about was a criticism of capitalism. Unfortunately, Pratchett does not do that very well. His capitalist "bad guys" are strawmen without interest or plausibility, a problem which hampered Going Postal as well.

Terry does so much great criticism, and greatest of all is his work on ethnicity and nationalism, as seen in Thud!, Jingo, and Monstrous Regiment, where he seems to have insights way beyond any other Fantasy writer I've read. Especially British writers.
 
Perhaps it was what he thought at the time - the interview was over seven years ago, after all.
 
Thadlerian said:
Ouch, that was a little unfortunate, it seems to me. Johnny and the Dead was by far the weakest of the series. And if that's the philosophy of Pratchett - well. What it seemed to me that the book was about was a criticism of capitalism. Unfortunately, Pratchett does not do that very well. His capitalist "bad guys" are strawmen without interest or plausibility, a problem which hampered Going Postal as well.

Terry does so much great criticism, and greatest of all is his work on ethnicity and nationalism, as seen in Thud!, Jingo, and Monstrous Regiment, where he seems to have insights way beyond any other Fantasy writer I've read. Especially British writers.
Click to expand...

Well, yes. PTerry is a socialist, a republican, an atheist, a pacifist, not a patriot (At least not the flag-waving type) and certainly not a nationalist. (The TV series of Johnny and the Dead was, if possible, even more left-wing than the book).

Personally, I like 'Dead'. It's not really capitalism that comes under the hammer here but Thatcherite capitalism, i.e. "grab all that you can and it doesn't matter who you step on to do it". And that deserves thumping.

I found the whole bit about the Blackbury Pals regiment deeply moving and PTerry obviously had more to say on military madness - witness Monstrous Regiment.
 
The Sweeper said:
It was one of my first Pratchetts, I think i read it about four years ago when i was eight, so it didn't seem too young for me, and I really enjoyed it, but then my tastes were less refined, and I should probably reread it sometime to give you a proper opinion.

It's a Pratchett-just read it anyway! You could do much worse
Click to expand...

I read them longer ago and when I was rather a lot older than eight - and still found them funny, charming and a lot more engaging than any of the Discworld books...
 
I enjoyed the Johnny books considering the fact that they're aimed at young teenagers. I prefer them to the 'young peoples' discworld novels but not as good as the Truckers books.
 
It's what happens next. If you liked the story in the first book, the other two bring them up against harder and more thrilling challenges; not to mention some great dialogue between the gnomes themselves :)
 
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