Rating: 
Summary: This book saved my life!
Review: Okay maybe not but it sure saved my weekend!If you have never read Pratchett before... what can I say, start now before it is too late! Take a good helping of wry British humor, add a great story teller, wonderful characters, and an absolutely absurd world, and you have the makings of a classic series. I suggest staring with Mort, Small Gods, Pyramids or Witches Abroad. You can read them in any order but I think those three are the most accessible to people new to the series. If you are a Pratchett fan you have probably already read this book but just in case you were hesitating... BUY IT NOW!! This is his best book since "The Truth"! (Okay, that was his last book but it is still true.) On a scale of 1-10, this is an "8". You will love the History Monks and Susan is back! The shipping isn’t that much and I got mine in a week!
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Summary: Time Is On My Side
Review: Terry is back! Which is particularly amazing since he hasn't been away. Someone, somewhere a long time ago wrote "Terry Pratchett does for fantasy what Douglas Adams did for Science Fiction". On the basis of that description I read the first of these (now) 26 novels and I have NEVER looked back. With a series this large some books will be better than others, but they are all consistantly entertaining. Read them all! But particularly this one. Having a layman's interest in both Eastern philosophy and quantum mechanics I particularly enjoyed this book. (And only Terry could bring them together so entertainingly) I hope to see the History Monks sprinkled generously through future Discworld volumes. The past few Discworld tomes have been good, but they have been missing one special Pratchett element. As a longtime Pratchett reader it was an element that I had not see for awhile, but I just assumed I was getting more demanding. This made it doubly special when I found it again in this book. When you read this book you will know it. There will come a moment in reading Thief of Time when you will LAUGH OUT LOUD and that is the true magic of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
Rating: 
Summary: Terry just keeps on ticking...
Review: If you're interested enough in Discworld to sift through all the reviews of "Thief of Time" to read this one, you will buy the book. There's nothing I'd be able to say or do to influence your decision one way or the other. I was always going to buy it no matter what as well. I'll write this for the benefit of Pratchett starters. "Thief of Time" is... interesting. If it were a movie, you could imagine it with a lot of Matrix-style time-stopping special effects. That kind of interesting. Basically the kind of interesting you'd be bound to get when your main character is an 800-year old monk whose order lives in the belief that yesterday they weren't born. When your other main character is Death's grand-daughter Susan (who gets better every book she's in, IMHO). She's a damn fine schoolteacher - well, for starters, you'd imagine the kind of discipline she could wield... The kind of interesting you get where the word "when" has no meaning for large portions of the story. That kind of interesting. And if you were confused by this review, you _shouldn't_ buy Thief of Time, as it's at least that level all the way through. Hence only four stars. Pratchett beginners go get a City Watch novel, they're equally brilliant and usually easier to read. Sam Vimes is not a complicated man. Folks who are really into Pratchett have surely bought the book already.
Rating: 
Summary: Too much of a good thing
Review: With each successive Discworld novel, Terry Pratchett pushes the boundaries of his creation further and further - in Thief of Time, he tries to destroy it altogether. ... using the Auditors, the little papershufflers of the universe who crave order, and find humanity the source of way too much disorganization. The Auditors send an emissary to find a sympathetic human to unwittingly aid them by re-assembling the Glass Clock which imprisons Time. This plot to bring and end to chaos is discovered by Death, who brings iin hbis granddaughter Susan, who's been working as the hardest-working schoolteacher in Ankh-Morpork... ... already you can tell it's a little much, even for Terry Pratchett. The idea behind Thief of Time is good, but it almost might have made two books instead of just one. We get to spend some great, hilarious moments with Lu Tze (from Small Gods) the humble sweeper and rogue History Monk; Death, as always plays a role, but the really great bits go to Susan; and Nanny Ogg plays a bit part in the substory which, of course, merges with the main plot in the last 80 pages. While the subject matter of reversing time, editing history, "slicing time" is very inventive; it tends to make the reading a bit chaotic. The characters, as always are funny and warm, and resonate well with this enjoyable series - but the individual parts intereaction seemed a bit forced. Any one of the substories would have made a good story by itself: with Lu Tze and Lobsang, Susan and her students, and Lady LeJean and Jeremy Clockson you find youself wishing for only one thing - a little more time.
Rating:
Summary: Great book--funny, with just enough kick
Review: Terry Pratchett doesn't write complex character-driven novels. What he writes--what he is the master of--is funny and illogical books that make you think. Imagine a mix of Douglas Adams and J.R.R. Tolkien and you start to have an idea of what Pratchett delivers. He delivers again in THIEF OF TIME. The auditors (nice enough beings, perhaps, but they really would like to simplify their jobs by eliminating such complexities as living organisms) have come up with a plot to destroy time through a perfect clock. Only Death's granddaughter and an 800-year-old monk with his apprentice even know what's going on and they are certain to be too late. Pratchett deals with the concepts of time, uses a set of cliches from a boarding house matron to develop an intriguing philosophy, introduces the fifth rider of the apocalypse, and generally has a lot of fun. Trust me, you will too.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best Discworld book so far
Review: This book is fabulous, on a level with "Feet of Clay" or even better. I liked it much better than "The Truth". The Auditors return. Pratchett explores the nature of time and of what it means to be human. I felt the philosophical aspects were very well integrated into the overall story line and were definitely in the "make you think" category. There is a stronger magical fantasy aspect to Thief of Time than in many books of the series. The Monks of Time have awesome abilities and the enormous responsibility of ensuring that time flows properly on the Discworld. We also learn more about the "special" people, such as Death's "granddaughter" Susan Sto Helit. All in all, the book flowed beautifully, had intriguing interwoven plotlines, and really got me thinking about life and the nature of time (all while having a very enjoyable time). It's a "must" read for any Discworld fan.
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Summary: Complexity.
Review: If you read enough of Pratchett's books you get a feel for his structures of storyline. Before this book I considered Interesting Times an unsurpassed example of his storytelling intricacies, but this one beats them all, and to think that it comes so soon on the heels of the excellent The Truth. And to think that Death's granddaughter could actually become appealing.
Rating:
Summary: The best of a great series
Review: It's amazing. Pratchett keeps getting better. And thanks to his success in America, we diehard fans no longer have to send off to the UK for the latest volume. Witty and clever, with humor both subtle and broad, Pratchett raises profound questions about the human condition. From Susan (Death's granddaughter) to Igor with real hand-me-down-hands Pratchett succeeds in holding up a very twisted mirror to the world and showing us an all to familiar reflection. May he write for many years to come.
Rating:
Summary: The action movie equivalent of a novel
Review: More action-packed than most Pratchett's works, it's much more thought out than the previous "The Truth" or "The Fifth Elephant". Funnier? I'm not so sure. Death and Miss Susan, Death's granddaughter, again take a starring role, without even a guest appearance of wizards, The Watch or Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler. This book reads like a sequel to Hogfather for that reason alone. Nothing was laugh out loud, but plenty to catch the attention and make you crack a smile. I think every Pratchett book is worth buying. But if you're not an addict like me, wait until paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Wasted Time
Review: "Thief of Time" was my third visit to Discworld and my first disappointment. Pratchett's riffs on the subject of time do not show his usual comic panache. He has jettisoned his standard cast of characters from Ankh-Morpork -- if there is such a thing as standard Pratchett characters -- in favor of a collection of unfunny semi-superhumans. Death's granddaughter, the five horsemen of the Apocalypse, and the son of Time are arrayed against a host of extra-dimensional Auditors who want to catch time , not in a bottle, but in a glass clock. We are meant to see it as a struggle of human individuality versus bureaucratic conformity with the future of Discworld at stake. But "Thief of Time" fails to blend its jokes and satire smoothly with its Armageddon. The result is closer to Dr Who than to Tolkien or the late Douglas Adams. The central locus, if the story has one, is the monastery of Oi Dong where the History Monks keep time reeling smoothly between a graduated series of dredyls. Pratchett's funniest characters are "The Sweeper", a parody on all the unprepossessing, weirdly-wise martial arts masters from Kung Fu to Yoda, and his apprentice, Lobsang, formerly a member of the Thieve's Guild. A stray Igor from Uberwald who is helping build the glass clock also chips in some sorely-needed humor. Discworld, itself, seems to wobble in this story between its usual pre-industrial state and a more modern time. There is talk of lathes, an exotic alloy invar, acid batteries, and chocolate truffles. The currency alternates between pence and dollars. Books abound in this incarnation of Discworld -- even though the printing press put in its first appearance in Pratchett's last book, "The Truth". I suppose Pratchett would attribute this inconsistency to a mis-calibrated time spool. I have no quarrel with Pratchett exploring new literary turf, but in this novel he has gotten mired in some very sticky moralizing.
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