Discworld

[vilakins]

I should talk about the books I've read lately, but I'll just mention the Discworld ones.

Going Postal was great, and against all my expectations, mostly caused by his name, I liked Moist von Lipwig a lot. Yes, he did remind me of a certain thief with his particular brand of ethics and charm. :-)

Thud however I have mixed feelings about. There's a lot of Vimes and this is good, and I suppose I can just believe that he might get a bit obsessive about getting home by 6pm to read his kid a story if I try hard, but WTH, Terry Pratchett? You can tell which dwarfs are female by their reaction to babies? In my case, Vimes would assume by the speed at which I left the room that I'm very much male. Also, what's with the sudden introduction of millions-of-years-old recording devices that will survive anything? This plot does not feel well thought out, and the exploding cabbages during the fast ride almost made my brain explode too. Internal consistency is a good thing, even in invented worlds, and those things didn't seem to fit into the universe I've got to know.

As an aside, Willikins' name still unnerves me every time I see it. He's a very cool character though, with his very correct and dignified butler speech combined with a deadly facility with anything he can turn into a weapon. :-) I'd like to read more of him. He and Vimes make an excellent team.

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I'm convinced Moist is being groomed by Vetinari as the next Patrician.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

ME TOO. *high fives*

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Go us!

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

I doubt this, myself. One thing we know about Moist is that he can't bear tedium and routine, and the Patrician's job is about 98% tedium and routine and only 2% improvisation and danger. Mostly, Vetinari sits behind a desk all day doing paperwork, which is exactly what drives Moist crazy and makes him invent stupid risks for himself. Vetinari's very aware that keeping Moist in the same job for long is a problem--there's no way he'd want Moist as Patrician.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I don't think, though, that Vetinari would expect the next Patrician to have the same style as himself. Yes, he's a penpusher, but most Patricians haven't been. What makes me suspicious of Vetinari's intentions towards Moist is that Moist can run systems. He gets the post office to work so that in the end it more or less runs itself. Ditto with the Mint. Of course, he'd constantly need some new challenge to move on to, but I doubt Ankh-Morpork would have any trouble supplying those.

*Happily imagines Patrician von Lipwig tackling the Reform of the Guilds*

[kindkit.livejournal.com]

he's a penpusher, but most Patricians haven't been

Most Patricians also haven't been any good at actually running the city. Generally they haven't even tried, being content to get rich and torture people for fun and profit.

I agree the Moist is an excellent problem-solver. I just don't think he's got the patience (or the ruthlessness) to be Patrician.

On the other hand, it's not impossible that Vetinari is trying to reduce the future role of the Patricianship; he's been building up civil society (e.g. the press) and a solid infrastructure that, as you said, more or less runs itself. A government that's running fairly smoothly can be handled by bureaucrats; in that case, if Moist did become Patrician he wouldn't have to bore himself with the day-to-day routine. He'd do what he's good at, which is handling a crisis.

My own theory is that Vetinari is grooming Drumknott (with the assistance of Vetinari's growing team of clerks) to handle a lot of routine government business. That will provide stability and free up the next Patrician for more of a statesman/crisis manager role. I think Carrot is the most logical choice for the Patricianship; he doesn't want it, but he'd accept it if he thought the city needed him.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ah, now this is an idea that sounds a lot more Vetinari. Drumknott is the closest to knowing how Vetinari thinks and would be very good at handling the day-to-day collation of intelligence etc, while Moist would be good at dreaming up solutions to problems and bizarre crises and drawing the flak away from Drumknott. They'd be a good team.

[the-summoning-d.livejournal.com]

\o/ I approve of this theory!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Really! Interesting thought! He's certainly clever enough, but does he have the ruthlessness? Not so far, anyway, but he does have the loyalty and sense of responsibility to those who depend on him as he found at the PO. He'd be a flamboyant ruler, preferring to hide his real self behind the dazzling image.

I'm beginning to see this.