Saturday 20 June 2009

OuaT III wrap-up

Going through a particularly busy spell at the moment so my reading is really suffering - I've hardly read a word in several days. Back to normal next week so am hoping to make a bit of headway with Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. It's very good and deserves more attention than I'm able to give it just now.

My final read for Carl's Once Upon a Time III challenge was Wings by Terry Pratchett.



This is the third book in the Bromeliad trilogy and tells what happened to the nome, Masklin, and his companions, Gurder and Angalo, while Grimma was fighting her battles in the quarry in book two.

The three nomes travel first to the airport in search of Grandson 39, and, in pursuit of him, board a Concorde flight to Florida. They're hoping he'll help them to get into space somehow and thus onto the spacecraft belonging to their ancestors that they know is out there somewhere. But first they have to negotiate the foreign landscape that is Florida, make peace with the natives, and somehow get to NASA in time for the next shuttle launch. And as if that weren't enough to cope with, they have many questions to ponder - about the nature of the universe and their place in it. Masklin almost looks back with fondness to more simple times when he lived in a hole and only had to try to eat, each day, without being eaten - these days he has more responsibilities and problems than he knows what to do with - and no sign of it ending any time soon.

An excellent end to a delightful trilogy. From start to finish this YA series has been consistant in its quality and Pratchett's peculiarly British sense of humour lights up and enhances all three stories. If you've never read anything by this author and don't know where to start, this would be a very good place; such a gentle introduction to his work would suit nearly everyone I would think. Children, teens, adults - there's something for all in these books. Highly recommended.

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Carl's Once Upon a Time III challenge finished yesterday I believe. I'm quite pleased with how I've done this time, having read nine books:

Larklight - Philip Reeve
Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper
Daughter of the Blood - Anne Bishop
Here, There Be Dragons - James A. Owen
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Morrigan's Cross - Nora Roberts
Truckers - Terry Pratchett
Diggers - Terry Pratchett
Wings - Terry Pratchett

My favourite was Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop but, to tell the truth, practically all of the books were very good. Only the Nora Roberts was a bit average and even that was not truly terrible. All in all, a really enjoyable challenge and thank you to Carl for hosting it again this year.

7 comments:

DesLily said...

*sigh* I need to do a wrap up too!! I know I just posted a review but I finished it 2 days ago so I'm gunna count it lol/

Shanra said...

Congratulations, Cath! It sounds like a wonderful stack of books was read, and that's what it's about, ne? ^-^

Cath said...

Hi Pat. I think you did very well with this challenge considering how many challenges you have in your life at the moment. Look forward to your wrap-up.

Shanra, I think this is the best bunch of books I've read for any of Carl's challenges. I'm really pleased with the quality of the books I chose to read and yeah, I agree, that *is* what it's all about. :-)

Kailana said...

Congrats on finishing! You read a lot of good looking books. :)

Cath said...

Kailana: Thanks! I think it's the best bunch of books I've read so far for any of Carl's challenges.

Shanra said...

Yaaaaaaay! I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed them all so!

Cath said...

I really, really did, Shanra. Sadly I didn't get to all of those I wanted to read so will probably keep reading! lol.