The Shepherd's Crown

Many reviewers comment or acknowledge that in some senses "The Shepherd's Crown" is unfinished or perhaps more accurately unrefined. Though this is true I feel it is to some degrees irrelevant. The emotional power is there, burning in the text and I think produces a novel more representative of Terry Pratchett than we have any right to expect for an author in the final stages of posterior cortical atrophy. His attitude to death, especially in the opening chapters, and to living a life as best as you are able shines through brightly. There are moments where the plot seems abbreviated and I would have loved the finale to go on longer but ultimately it is a book that makes me simultaneously sad and joyous. That is the finest compliment I can give. Goodbye Terry, though I've still got the long earth books to read so that farewell may be premature.