Nếp Cũ - Hội Hè Đình Đám (Quyển Thượng) - Bìa Mềm tải về miễn phí cuốn sách

Carolyn Bellizzi cjbellizzi — I loved this one, some complain that it was predictable but I really liked it. I wasn't looking for a serious mystery and this is exactly what I got. It was funny and romantic! Just what I love!

Carol Clifford clffcdb6a — This is the manyeth time time that I have read this book and (Cori Celesti strike me) I am reading it out of sequence; I just happened to find it lying around, picked it up and reminded myself how much I loved it. It loses nothing in the re-reading, in fact it gets better because you can focus on the niceties of Terry Pratchett's writing. He is a man with a greatly extended vocabulary and his words are all chosen with care, following the tradition bequeathed by Douglas Adams, inherited by Neil Gaiman and Joe Abercrombie. The main character, Polly, joins the all male army to find her brother. This is partly out of self-interest because, as a mere girl, she will not be able to inherit the family pub. She is enlisted by the doughty, invincible sergeant Jackrum who will take his "Little Lads" and turn them into fighting men. The platoon is a motley of the dregs of the young men that are left in the country after years and years of pointless warfare and are joined by a vampire, a troll and an Igor. They are led by an officer (a rupert) who is more versed in the art of filing than warfare. Being the last recruiting party of the nation, they are of interest of everybody and, thereby, newsworthy. At what point does hommage become pastiche? There are multiple references to previous works from Ancient China and Rome to the anti-war war-films of the nineteen seventies and part of the joy of this book is the recognition of them. Furthermore there is the element of satire in which the subjugation of women and joy or warfare for warfare's sake are mercilessly exposed. Religion takes a severe beating as does the culture clash between entrenched views and modernism. All in all this book is one of TP's masterpieces (in my opinion) and I am probably being stingey in only awarding it four stars.