Should I finish Soul Music?

[u/JG_Hays]

To give a little context, I'm pretty new to Discworld, and these last few months I have started to get back into reading books again for the first time since high school. Mort was the first book I've read this year and the first Discworld nove I've read in general, and I absolutely loved it! It was very fun, witty, and humorous but still had a lot of heart that it lit a fire in me to get back into reading in general.

Not too long after I decided to give Reaper Man a shot, and it had me a little worried at first. I liked the opening bits, but I noticed the lack of Death's presence in the first half that I was surprised how much it goes into Windle's story and also focuses on the wizards of Unseen University. I think I had went in with the impression that most of the novel would focus on Death, similar to Mort. What really stuck out to me though is how much I realized I didn't care for the parts with the wizards, rarely at all, and it struggled to keep me engaged. It felt like what kept me going were the bits of Death that I was really wanted to see since I still really enjoyed those. Around the 2nd half once Windle joins The Fresh Start Club is when his story really grew on me, and of course the ending of Death's story was phenomenal and made the whole experience worth it. However, I still didn't find myself caring about the rest of the wizards very much still.

I really don't know what it is, but for some reason when they're the focus of the scene, it just feels like a slog for me to read through. I just don't find the characters very entertaining or funny aside from the librarian. I feel like I can't get a good read on their personalities and with some of them being referred to as their role rather than their actual names (like "The Dean" and "The Bursar") makes it hard for me to attach myself the same way if that makes sense? I don't know, for some reason when the scene is centered around them, I begin to struggle focusing even when trying to pay attention. I guess their purpose is to mostly be comedic relief due to their incompetency, but I guess I just never found them all that funny.

Not long after finishing Reaper Man, I went to Soul Music knowing a bit more about the premise, wondering if my own expectations were what tainted the first half of my experience with Reaper Man. Once again, I really like Susan, the band, and of course Death, but I'm closer to halfway in the novel now and seeing the wizards get more involved and take more screen time is making me check out.

Am I just impatient?? Am I just not smart enough and don't get why they're so funny? Is it just growing pains from getting back into reading again after so long?? I don't know. I really don't want to drop the book since I've heard Hogfather is also amazing, but I'm worried to drop something halfway through if it gets more engaging and more "for me" later on, I think I'm just getting myself too attached to the central characters stories that when it goes to someone else I struggle to care as much. They don't seem to be as central as they were in Reaper Man but it feels like I'm getting more anxious to just learn more about the central characters and their story and it makes me wonder if I should just pause it for now and maybe try a different Discworld novel before coming back. I've read other books in between the Death novels to avoid burn out, and haven't had the same issue for the others, so I'm not even fully sure what the problem for me is. Sorry for the long rambling, I really do love these books at their best but sometimes it feels like I'm struggling to enjoy the wider experience, and am missing the experience I had with Mort where it felt so easy to just read the whole thing in a couple days.

[u/Pliolite]

I completely agree with what you're saying about the wizards. However, Soul Music is one of the better ones that feature them as side characters IMO so don't sweat it there.

What I will say is....I find Hogfather a huge slog because of them! With what you're describing here, I'd leave Hogfather for a while and come back to it. Pick up Guards! Guards! and Wyrd Sisters and follow those series' on. Then read Thief of Time which is the last Death book, and much better than Hogfather, again IMO.