Rotten Rats Choir

Young Mort, short for Mortimer, is at this age where his father starts thinking he needs a job. Coincidentally, it happens that Death, The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, Thief of Years, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind.... Well, Death is currently looking for an apprentice.

This is actually the first Terry Pratchett I read, a few years ago, but as I'm reading the whole serie in order of publication, here we are.
I appreciated this volume much more this time than on my first reading, when I hadn't read any Discworld volume before (octarine? Rincewind? The monkey librarian? Where am I and who are these people?)
As for the previous books, I'm not a huge fan of the ending, which always feels a bit rushed to me, and I'm not 100% sold on the relationship between Mort and Ysabel... But the story on a whole was great, the characters felt more psychologically complex than in the previous books, and I really like Death. What a loveable and touching character, I hope to see more of him in the future.
(I debated rating this book four stars but it's not as good as Monstrous Regiment in my eyes, hence the three stars. Maybe those ratings will change once I've read the whole serie...)

"This is a story about magic and where it goes and perhaps more importantly where it comes from and why, although it doesn't pretend to answer all or any of these questions."

Sensing Death approaching, wizard Drum Billet chooses the eighth son of an eighth son to become his successor and send him to the Unseen University to learn magic, as is a tradition amongst wizards. There's only one small problem: he kind of forgot to check the sex of the newborn before his final breath. Inheriting a stubborn wooden staff and strange magical powers no one around her seems to understand, little Eskarina Smith will have to find her place in a world where, everyone knows it, girls can't become wizards!

Third volume in the Discworld serie, this one had much more of a plot than the two precedent volumes. I think I liked the journey to the University and the eccentric set of characters it brought along more than the resolution of the story, it felt a bit rushed.
The characters were delightful tho, and I appreciated the cast of women, something the two first books of the serie were clearly lacking. I wish there was more of Esk: I enjoyed her innocent cleverness and the way she would constantly challenge the status-quo. The brief Death cameo was a fun bonus, he is such a great character and I can't wait to read his subserie.

The Light Fantastic picks up where The Colour of Magic left off, following cowardly wizard Rincewind and naive tourist Twoflower. This time, the Discworld is headed towards a very red and very dangerous star, facing a collision that would highly seemingly destroy everything and everyone, and Rincewind might be the only candidate to prevent it...

It seems I've been on a Terry Pratchett frenzy these last few days. I've decided to read all of the Discworld serie in order of publication, and I've had quite a good time so far. Even if most of these books can be read as stand-alones, they're all part of the same serie and I find it a rewarding experience to get a joke or a reference from a previous book. And man, does Pratchett loves jokes. I found myself chuckling quite a few times at puns reading this one. I enjoyed it slightly better than the previous one, even if it has the same flaws in my opinion.

Failed and cynical wizard Rincewind is tasked against his will to escort naive Twoflower, the first ever tourist of the Discworld, through the dangerous streets of Ankh-Morpork. Their little expedition will lead them to flee the city and explore the Discworld, much to Rincewind's disarray, up to the edge of the world...

I enjoyed this book, but it was definitely weaker than the other Pratchett works I read. I can totally get why people tell new Discworld readers to not start by this one, even though it's the first in the serie. It's still very fun but the characters felt a bit too passive for me, I guess? It was just a serie of misadventures with no plot tying them together. And it felt more like a parody than a satire, compared to what I read previously. I'm not a huge fantasy fan, so I probably missed a lot of tropes that Pratchett was playing with too. But it was still a good read!

"Just because it feels good doesn't mean it's wrong."

I have no idea how to comment on that book, because it made me feel so much at the same time: disgust, fondness, embarassment, catharsis, a sprinkle of lust also, all intertwined through the sentences, leaving me confused.
The first part was definitely a tough read, as we're immersed in the mind of Rachel, the main character, a self-hating young woman struggling with an eating disorder. We become one with her and the twisted rules she (or her mother before her) established for herself, and I could feel old habits resurface under my skin as I was watching her count the calories, fighting with her body to achieve an idealized femininity.
I think Melissa Broder did well at crafting this tale of appetite and self-discovery, but I also have to admit the romance part left a sour taste in my mouth. Rachel spends the whole book testing the limits, crossing the lines, trying to manipulate others to avoid being rejected or worse abandoned. To me her obsession with Myriam bordered on fetishization, and the description of her body sometimes felt more like dehumanization rather than worship.
I can't make up my mind about what I thought of this book, but it definitely left an impression on me.