This is a "Terry Pratchett Presents" book, which indicates that it's one of the Discworld offshoots (from the book "Raising Steam") and written by others in the Discworld Emporium collective. It's no bad thing for all that, and presents a nice little addendum that is actually more absorbing than such a slim book could usually warrant.

Written by one Mrs Bradshaw, this is a traveliing guide a la Bradshaws, Lonely Planet etc, which gives a description of the various stops along the line and a brief summary of the guest houses, primary local events etc. I have seen some complaints about how boring it is to get the same repatitive style of 2 line entries for each stop across the line, but this is a throwback to the types of travel guides I was brought up with, long before the internet allowed to you to compile your own travel guide!

This has maps and pictures galore! It's easy to skim pages, but you run the risk of missing the odd fabulous joke lurking in the middle of the page - the Effing Great Tit, an inhabitant of Effing Forest, being one such example.

You will either love this book or think "why did I spend my time"?

This didn't make a big impression on me. But I think I read it when I was back home for my dad's funeral, so it was just distracting me for a couple of hours. ( )

För den läsare som händelsevis skulle vilja ge sig ut på tågresa runt Ankh-Morpork finns nu den excellenta Mrs Bradshaw's handbook to travelling upon the Ankh-Morpork & Sto plains hygienic railway, en Baedecker för Skivvärlden, med praktisk information om sevärdheter, övernattning och utskänkning. Man får lära sig om olika prisklasser på denna nybildade institution, sevärdheter i Quirm, shopping i Sto Helit, tips på var man skall bo om man planerar besöka Brassica world med familjen.

På omslaget står Terry Pratchett som författare, vilket troligen är, för att inte vara alltför finkänslig, en lögn. Visst, han har förmodligen godkänt allt, och det är onekligen Skivvärlden som behandlas, men det är troligen andra som fört pennan. Även om de gjort det med viss skicklighet, och undviker att bli pinsamt flåsiga, till skillnad från vissa andra böcker som också knyter an till livet ovan Store A'tuin, så är humorn ganska mild och bygger i stort sett helt på konceptet: en reseguide skriven för en värld som är fylld med olikartade medvetna varelser, och med en del annan underlig biologi. Det är roande för stunden, men i stort sett harmlöst. ( )

Cute. ( )

Taking it's cue from Bradshaw's Guide (which I had only heard of because of the TV series with Michael Portillo) but this is a woman guiding as only Terry Pratchet can, a traveller through the train service of the Disk. She comes across as one of those classic British women travllers like Gertrude Bell. It's also lavishly illustrated by Peter Dennis.

it's a good filler title in the Diskworld. ( )