Unseen before

I'm currently reading Sir Terry Pratchett's newest Discworld book, the Unseen Academicals. And I find it lacking, as sad as I am to say.

It seems like the old ones were written for European readers, and this one has been written for an American audience mostly. Why? Simple. Europeans are used to reading books you had to decipher, you had to look a bit deeper to finally get that "aha" moment and for all the pieces to fall together. This book simply lacks it.

Somehow, I feel the characters have been made more... nice, easily understood and there is too much explanation. The hinted relationship between Vetinari and Lady Margalotta is addressed in length, Vetinari is being kind and nice and there are no cloaks and daggers and snide remarks and and and... all the things that kept me on my toes all the time. Now it's all explained as it happens, Vetinari is kind and nice and everything is so very very simple.

I feel like crying! It's like an old childhood dream of mine has been sullied. Pratchett is shedding light on every last little bit of mystery, like the plotting and maneuvering Vetinari is doing to Ankh-Morpork and his strange relationship with "The Dark Lady" Margalotta. There is no suspense, there are no unanswered questions, no mysteries to ponder, no "whodunnit" feeling, nothing!!!

All we get is a goblin in the middle as some half-assed riddle, a few romance novel-esque stories stuffed in, a bunch of wizards running around and Vetinari doing the Machiavelli for the very dumb. It feels like the Discworld version for 5 year olds.

I'm beyond words with despair! I loved the Discworld because it was brilliant, sarcastic, played puns on everything from racism to politics, vampires, zombies and yes, fantasy above all else. What Pratchett made of the elves and pixies was brilliant, absolutely brilliant! But this is nothing anymore. It's like someone crapped into your grandma's priceless antique china bowl. Or better yet, swapped your grandma's priceless antique china bowl for some modern, ugly, misshapen art that's tasteless and useless and said there, it's your bowl, the very same. And it's not.

I wonder if this is because Sir Pratchett's Alzheimer is playing up or because he wants to endear himself to the American public. The idea, that he might be trying to tie up lose ends has crossed my mind, but I'm sure he could have done that better, so no, I don't think so.

I wonder if this was a one-time mistake. If no... I'll be even more sad. But as of today, I'm very, very disappointed.