Rating: 
Summary: A great book -- but not for the Discworld novice
Review: "Interesting Times" was the first full Discworld book I read, having been introduced to Pratchett through the "Legends" anthology, and while I liked it well enough, I enjoyed it a heck of a lot more the second time around. Pratchett prides himself on making each Discworld novel a work that can stand on its own, apart from the rest of the series, and while he is mostly successful in this, it can't be denied that familiarity with the older books makes the newer ones go down easier.In "Interesting Times" Rincewind, the world's worst Wizard, gets transported to a far-off continent where people expect him to be some sort of magical genius. While there he encounters Cohen the Barbarian, a geriatric marauder, who has assembled a small "Silver Horde" of wizened old warriors to conquer the Empire. People discount the old barbarians. What they don't take into account is that most barbarians don't LIVE to be the old kind... It was a funny book the first time I read it. It was even cute. But after having read the books prior to this one, especially "The Color of Magic," "Sourcery" and "Eric," this book took on a whole new dimension. I now grasped the prior relationships between Rincewind, Cohen and Twoflower, and I no longer read each luggage passage wondering what the heck was going on. It was, simply put, a better book. So this is a great book and a worthy addition to the Discworld series, but if you haven't read it yet, I suggest reading those other three I mentioned first.
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