In the twentieth and final part of Thief of Time<\/i>, Lobsang and Unity bid goodbye. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was a solid book, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve liked a lot of the recent ones more than this one, but it really came together in the end in terms of characterization. What I needed in this last section was closure of some sort, especially since I never really know if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll ever see some of these characters again. How do their stories end? What does it say about the story as a whole?<\/p>\n
Lobsang<\/b><\/p>\n
One of the truly great treasures of this book was getting to see Lu-Tze as a protagonist instead of a bit character or someone who only made a very brief appearance. Lobsang was another surprise, not only because of who he really was (I imagine y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all will never let me forget that, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine), but because he grew into such a fascinating character. Throughout Thief of Time<\/i>, he thirsted for knowledge: about himself, about the world, about his powers. He just wanted to know<\/i> things, and that sometimes meant he was frustrated by Lu-Tze, who appeared to know everything<\/i> but wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always forthcoming with details. Though, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that Lu-Tze constantly<\/i> taught Lobsang, even if Lobsang didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that was happening.<\/p>\n
You can still see that here, as Lobsang materializes to beg Lu-Tze to tell him the fifth surprise in his garden. Rule One comes up again, but only after one hell of an introduction, in which Lu-Tze urges Lobsang to defeat him in the Iron Dojo so that he, as the master, cannot refuse to tell Lobsang anything. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s precisely the kind of convoluted set-up that seems absurd and pointless on the surface, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the point. Lu-Tze exploits the misconceptions that people develop all the time, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to get one last major lesson in before Lobsang moves on. Appearances can be deceiving, and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing to suggest that you shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use that to your advantage. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a fancier and more general way of summarizing Rule One, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how Lu-Tze takes out Time in the Iron Dojo, only to then reveal that the fifth surprise is:<\/p>\n
The sweeper produced a cheap carnival mask. It was one of those that consisted of a fake pair of glasses, glued above a big pink nose, and a heavy black mustache.<\/p>\n
He put it on and wiggled his ears once or twice.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Boo,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Lobsang, bewildered.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Boo,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Lu-Tze repeated. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I never said it was a particularly imaginative <\/i>surprise, did I?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lesson, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s utterly ridiculous. Sounds like Lu-Tze, doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? Thus, it was fitting that Lobsang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ceremony, in which he officially transitions out of his apprenticeship, was just as ridiculous, at least to the other officials. It was also symbolic that he decided to take the robe and broom of a sweeper rather than the official yellow robe that other graduates got. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a touching tribute, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? As were the cherries that ripened as Lobsang left Lu-Tze behind! These two developed an incredible respect for one another within Thief of Time<\/i>, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just happy that the text respects that.<\/p>\n
Unity<\/b><\/p>\n
If you were going to choose the manner of your death, I think death by chocolate is a pretty good way to go. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a poetic ending for Unity, who believed that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d outlasted her experience within a human body. Maybe it was all just too overwhelming for her, you know? Yet her death was so decadent<\/i>, along with it being entirely her choice. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a dignity in that, but what happens afterwards is what pleased me the most. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, which Unity got to experience in a relatively minuscule amount of time. But the other part of being human is Death, and now, she gets to experience that.<\/p>\n
Susan<\/b><\/p>\n
I have hope that there will be another Susan book before I complete reading the Discworld<\/i> series, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m even more excited about the mere idea that Susan and Time might become a thing<\/i>. EVEN JUST FRIENDS WHO KEEP IN CONTACT. THAT WOULD BE GREAT. At the very least, they are part human, part immortal beings who probably will always<\/i> have something in common.<\/p>\n
So how does Susan return to such normality after the experience she just went through? Slowly, it seems, though as much as she talks a lot of shit about the Death of Rats, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a craving for the kind of adventures he brings her. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just glad that Lobsang appears to Susan at the end of the book. Yes, it would have been lovely to get their conversation on the page, but the way Pratchett leaves this hanging suggests possibility. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hoping there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, because their friendship was a fantastic part of Thief of Time<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m moving on to The Science of Discworld<\/i> next! IT HAS REAL CHAPTERS, HOLY SHIT. I hope you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll join me!<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/D5qq3U7HOTo<\/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":"
In the twentieth and final part of Thief of Time, Lobsang and Unity bid goodbye. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,531],"class_list":["post-4303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-thief-of-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}