Well this arrived yesterday afternoon and if I had seen it first I wouldn't have let this in the house. The 'illustrations' appear to have been done by a 4 year old having a bad day at nursery school and as for the text it is such infantile rubbish it makes the whole book unreadable. Whoever thought they could do a better job at writing than Terry was clearly delusional. I haven't gone far and frankly won't read any more of it but I will illustrate what has been done with the following extract from the conversation between Lu-Tze and the Abbot right at the beginning of the book.
As you can see there is plenty of dialogue in this section so adapting it shouldn't be a problem however this becomes
Yoohoo, Cooeee! where does that come from? Or the cigarette or use of 'fella', also that last bit about god speed, the Abbot wouldn't have said anything like that. The lowercase ossory and the invented word todo are straight from the text not spelling mistakes on my part by the way. Has the adapter actually read the book or any of Terry's other works featuring these characters?
Flicking through the entire book continues in this dumbed down style with very odd illustrations, Death's eyes are apparently fitted with blue torches that shine about 6 inches out of his sockets for example.
Terry Pratchett said:
The 493rd Abbot folded his wrinkled hands and addressed Lu-Tze, one of his most senior monks. The clear air and untroubled life of the secret valley was such that all the monks were senior; besides, when you work with Time every day, some of it tends to rub off.
"The place is Omnia," said the abbot, "on the Klatchian coast."
"I remember," said Lu-Tze. "Young fellow called Ossory, wasn't there?"
"Things must be . . . carefully observed," said the abbot. "There are pressures. Free will, predestination . . . the power of symbols . . . turning-point . . . you know all about this."
"Haven't been to Omnia for, oh, must be seven hundred years," said Lu-Tze. "Dry place. Shouldn't think there's a ton of good soil in the whole country, either."
"Off you go, then," said the abbot.
"I shall take my mountains," said Lu-Tze. "The climate will be good for them."
And he also took his broom and his sleeping mat. The history monks don't go in for possessions. They find most things wear out in a century or two.
"The place is Omnia," said the abbot, "on the Klatchian coast."
"I remember," said Lu-Tze. "Young fellow called Ossory, wasn't there?"
"Things must be . . . carefully observed," said the abbot. "There are pressures. Free will, predestination . . . the power of symbols . . . turning-point . . . you know all about this."
"Haven't been to Omnia for, oh, must be seven hundred years," said Lu-Tze. "Dry place. Shouldn't think there's a ton of good soil in the whole country, either."
"Off you go, then," said the abbot.
"I shall take my mountains," said Lu-Tze. "The climate will be good for them."
And he also took his broom and his sleeping mat. The history monks don't go in for possessions. They find most things wear out in a century or two.
Ray Friesen drew and said:
{picture - monk in entrance to large room, another person drinking from a cup}
Monk "Yoohoo! Grand Abbot? Cooeee!"
Abbot "Sip"
{picture - monk drawn 4 times making and lighting a rollup cigarette}
Monk "COUGH! AHEM! COUGH!
{picture - monk bowing}
Abbot "Ah, Lu-Tze"
Monk "Wotcha, your Veneraboleishness. You sent for me?"
{picture - Abbot talking to L-Tze}
Abbot "I am sending you to Omnia, on the Klatchian coast"
Lu-Tze "Haven't been there since the business with that Ossory fella, what, 700 years back"
{picture - close up of Abbot and odd drawing of map of the Disc}
Abbot "The Prophet ossory Assignment was 696 years ago. Now, there are some very tense pressures at work, free will and predestination are colliding. Much todo about the power of symbols. The situation must be observed very . . . carefully"
{picture - close up of Lu-Tze}
Lu-Tze "I shall take my broom of course and my bonsai mountains. The climate will be good for them"
{picture - back view of Abbot, Lu-Tze leaving"
Abott "God speed to you"
Lu-Tze "Which God did you have in mind? One of the zippier sort with wings on their sandals, I should hope"
Monk "Yoohoo! Grand Abbot? Cooeee!"
Abbot "Sip"
{picture - monk drawn 4 times making and lighting a rollup cigarette}
Monk "COUGH! AHEM! COUGH!
{picture - monk bowing}
Abbot "Ah, Lu-Tze"
Monk "Wotcha, your Veneraboleishness. You sent for me?"
{picture - Abbot talking to L-Tze}
Abbot "I am sending you to Omnia, on the Klatchian coast"
Lu-Tze "Haven't been there since the business with that Ossory fella, what, 700 years back"
{picture - close up of Abbot and odd drawing of map of the Disc}
Abbot "The Prophet ossory Assignment was 696 years ago. Now, there are some very tense pressures at work, free will and predestination are colliding. Much todo about the power of symbols. The situation must be observed very . . . carefully"
{picture - close up of Lu-Tze}
Lu-Tze "I shall take my broom of course and my bonsai mountains. The climate will be good for them"
{picture - back view of Abbot, Lu-Tze leaving"
Abott "God speed to you"
Lu-Tze "Which God did you have in mind? One of the zippier sort with wings on their sandals, I should hope"
Flicking through the entire book continues in this dumbed down style with very odd illustrations, Death's eyes are apparently fitted with blue torches that shine about 6 inches out of his sockets for example.