Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

1. Brilliant, if a bit lacking in critical direction. Let me explain: Moving Pictures squarely aimed at Hollywood, discussing very little outside of that; Mort meditated on Death and Employment; Jingo hit on the various themes of the Cold War, but all of its various themes were tied into the Cold War itself. Here, Pratchett’s themes are legion, but they only coalesce in a plot, and the plot doesn’t really carry them all because it’s jangled.
—Kung Fu Films: The plot loosely follows the tropes of kung fu films—save the world through superior fighting, get the girl, and discover a philosophy that guides your life. There are critiques of these tropes throughout—you don’t need kung fu to save the world, just your brain and the right opportunity; getting the girl might not be realistic and the girl might be different than you imagine; and the philosophy that guides your life might be based on simply paying attention to your surroundings.
—Chaos Theory: Much is made of chaos theory, especially how it relates to time and Pratchett’s consistent view that time's speed is inconsistent.
—Philosophy of Time: Yeah, it’s fantasy so I don’t know how applicable it is to our world. But I appreciate people who think about time.
—What Makes Humans Human: Emotions, ego, desire. He believes pain and pleasure are the result of these? Or maybe they’re premising factors.
—Apocalypse: Tied into the theme of humanity’s humanity, the apocalyptic storyline is built on the premise that humanity will murder itself through curiosity and petty disagreements.
—Heores: When saving the world, can a hero afford to stop and help an old man? Well, video games and movies often answer “yes.” But Pratchett seems to imply “no,” before the plot resolves it to a modified “yes.” Essentially, the hero can still save the world, but it’s a lot harder and more complicated.
—So, he’s got a lot of interesting ideas, but they fit together a little discordantly. The one that drew me in the most was the discussion of humanity’s defining characteristics, but that seems like more my place in life than anything Pratchett did.

The first words that are read by seekers of enlightenment in the secret, gong-banging, yeti-haunted valleys near the hub of the world, are when they look into The Life of Wen the Eternally Surprised.

The first question they ask is: 'Why was he eternally surprised?'

And they are told: 'Wen considered the nature of time and understood that the universe is, instant by instant, recreated anew. Therefore, he understood, there is in truth no past, only a memory of the past. Blink your eyes, and the world you see next did not exist when you closed them. Therefore, he said, the only appropriate state of the mind is surprise. The only appropriate state of the heart is joy. The sky you see now, you have never seen before. The perfect moment is now. Be glad of it.'

The first words read by the young Lu-Tze when he sought perplexity in the dark, teeming, rain-soaked city of Ankh-Morpork were: 'Rooms For Rent, Very Reasonable.' And he was glad of it.

2. The most noticeable difference between this and his other novels is that he lets up on the humor a little bit. It’s not as fast and furious as earlier books, where almost every line is a joke. The whole thing is an extended, absurd joke about kung fu, but this book lacks the one-liner after one-liner that defines a lot of Pratchett’s work. In other words, he’s trying to get in depth to the characters and themes, rather than using them just to make his jokes. And it works. Despite the unfocused nature of this novel, the tone of this book is brilliant. I adore this change and hope some of his later stuff is comedically dramatic philosophy like this, rather than just comedic.
—However, this refocusing on the drama and themes instead of the comedy is also a part of why he spends more time there, allowing the themes to meander a little, as mentioned above. So, it’s the flip side of the same coin: in order to turn the comedy down a notch, he focuses on the themes, and the themes aren’t focused enough to allow this to be pulled off perfectly.

Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying 'End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH', the paint wouldn't even have time to dry.

3. So that’s it on this book. Short notes, sure, but I’m bored writing the same stuff about every Pratchett novel, so I’m trying this new tactic of focusing my notes more to what I found worked and didn’t work the most. Hopefully this shift in tactics for my notes will be as profitable as Pratchett’s shift in comedic density here. I love this book. It may be one of my favorite Pratchett novels, and that’s saying something.

No other species anywhere in the world had invented boredom. Perhaps it was boredom, not intelligence, that had propelled them up to the evolutionary ladder.