A Thread to discuss _Nation_: Spoilers are present!

I just read Nation yesterday, and loved it. I love the way Pratchett's mind works, but here it is applied to the issues of emotion vs. thinking, life and death, the meaning of it all, happy endings--all in the context of his diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer's. I think it is true art to take pain and fear and transform it as he has done here, with grace and humor. I've read the reviews on Amazon, and wonder if I react the way I do because I am the same age as Pterry. I'd like to hear from others about their reactions to the book.

I enjoyed it, not as much as some of his best discworld books, but more than pyramids,for example.
I found the fact they don't see each other again sad but as Pratchett always reminds us, in another universe something different happens.
What I think he does really well is inventing whole mythologies, I've always thought that through the discworld series and here's another believable, thoughtful one.

I found the epilogue a touch didactic, which is a tone Pratchett is usually good at avoiding. Besides that, and the never-quite-fully-explained plot twist that had me persistently wondering whether it was meant as an Atlantis reference, I enjoyed it, especially the characterisation, which he has down to a fine art by now.

I actually didn't really enjoy this latest effort by Pratchett. It was not bad, but it was not as good as his recent Discworld books, either. There didn't seem to be as much humour as his other books, and the ideas about religion and the origins of people I have seen often enough before, so it wasn't interesting in that regard, although it was presented in an interesting manner, as Pratchett is so skilled at doing.

I did enjoy how Pratchett showed the cultural and linguistic communication barriers between Mau and Daphne, the lifestyle of the islanders was interesting, and I did enjoy the skeptical and inquisitive characters at the forefront of the story, who actually examined the myths they were given and came up with logical, rational answers to what was occuring.

I believe Nation is written for a different audience to the Discworld series, and so does a very good job for children and young adult readers.

I know that Nation was written for a slightly different audience, but it did not appeal to me as much as some of his other young-adult novels, like the Johnny Maxwell trilogy, or the Bromeliad Trilogy.