{"id":4275,"date":"2017-08-01T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T12:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2017-07-30T09:41:34","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T16:41:34","slug":"mark-reads-thief-of-time-part-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2017\/08\/mark-reads-thief-of-time-part-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Thief of Time’: Part 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eighth part of Thief of Time<\/i>, Lu-Tze sets his plan into motion. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I did enjoy this section, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll also admit that there is a lot<\/i> of set-up for this book, way more than I expected. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re nearing the halfway mark for Thief of Time<\/i>, and two of the main characters still aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in the right city. Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that sounds awkward. I get the sense that all this stuff with the Procrastinators is going to be vitally important in the remainder of Thief of Time<\/i>, so they were<\/i> in the right place at the right time. But we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had an update on Jeremy in a while, Susan barely left her school, and we have spent a long<\/i> time inside this monastery. This whole section of the book takes place there, too, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to lead.<\/p>\n

Still, I was amused by what I read. Lu-Tze is an expert at a lot of things, yet watching him navigate the complicated politics of the culture he belongs to was a wonder. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strict hierarchy to the history monks, but Lu-Tze often knows that he can circumvent that, often by relying on other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perception of him. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s related to Rule One, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so unassuming as the Sweeper that people consistently underestimate him. And when they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, he still finds a way to trick them.<\/p>\n

I feel like these are the lessons that he hopes to impart on Lobsang. Lobsang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got something working in his favor that Lu-Tze does not: youth. And people will constantly<\/i> underestimate young people, so why not use that to one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s advantage? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Lu-Tze more or less manipulates the abbot into publicly banning him from traveling to Uberwald. Now, Lu-Tze has a perfect reason to explain why he went to Ankh-Morkpork to stop the glass clock from being built: he was told not to go to Uberwald<\/i>. So he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t breaking the rules at all<\/i>, right?<\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clever and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powerful<\/i>. Lu-Tze deliberately invokes the frustration he felt (which I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t doubt was real) when the last Glass Clock got built and he wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there in time to stop it. After doing this, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s assumed that this is now a very<\/i> personal vendetta of his. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s precisely how Lu-Tze gets the abbot to forbid him from going to Uberwald! BRILLIANT.<\/p>\n

So, with the other monks heading to Uberewald, Lu-Tze begins preparations for him and Lobsang to head to Ankh-Morpork. First: what is that reference to the opera house and the Dysk? WHAT HAPPENED THERE? Pratchett leaves it unexplained because of course he does<\/i>, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotta be important. I mean\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ankh-Morpork. Practically everything<\/i> happens there! So it shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised that this is the case with the Glass Clock. AGAIN. All roads lead to Ankh-Morpork, eh?<\/p>\n

WHO ELSE WAS SUPER ENAMORED WITH QU??? Oh, why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there be more of him? I say that because I expect we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see him again, but I love the idea that this dude just keeps making dangerous and absurd weapons because why not<\/i>? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re so specific<\/i>, like the bowl that spits blades as it flies through the air, is<\/i> a sharp blade itself, and then explodes into more blades after it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thrown. That is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that is just so much to put into one weapon, and I love<\/i> it.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m eager for them to join the action, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just because I want things to pick up. Lobsang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s insecurities surrounding his mentor are a meaningful part of his characterization, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m curious to see if he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start to understand that the lessons Lu-Tze is giving him are<\/i> important. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like they are now, but Lobsang also has a lot<\/i> to learn about life, and his expertise on manipulating time won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide him with the answers he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seeking.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/ULL2WYN0gMI?a<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

-\u00c2\u00a0Please visit my new site for all announcements<\/a>. If you’d rather not have to rely on checking a website regularly, sign up for my newsletter instead<\/a>! This will cover all news for Mark Reads, Mark Watches, and my fiction releases.\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"