Nation seemed very far from his usual style to me. It surprised me that he included mysticism in a book that was supposedly set in the real world, and I thought that it was a lot darker and less funny than he usually is.
Well, it didn't surprise me that he included mysticism in a book that was supposedly set in the real world (or rather, an alternate real world with a slightly different geography and somewhat different history than ours which somehow ended up having Richard Dawkins in it anyway,) because he's written a number of non-Discworld books set in the real world and all of those have also had mystical elements in them.
I felt like he didn't try as hard to make Nation funny, but the humor, while less concentrated, felt fresher to me. It seems to me that my perception...
http://blastr.com/2011/06/terry-pratchett-begins-fo.php
Another great mind that will be needlessly lost forever. :(