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Any artist, or even craftsman in general. You only judge people by their masterpiece's standard. So anything lower will always have that meh feeling.

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I think that's generally true, but it can still be interesting to see early works from people who go on to hone their crafts. Sometimes just seeing how they progressed is worthwhile, sometimes the unpolished nature can emphasize brilliance, and sometimes the unintentional breaks from convention have engaging effects of their own.

And "Dragons of Crumbling Castle" is good for that. Like thinking of one of the stories in particular, is very clearly the kind of humor that he perfected in Discworld. But it's just too much, it's not sharp enough. It's a broad blade which he later turns into a scalpel.

And they're not bad stories, just most are a bit dull. There was one I especially loved though, so I'm glad I read them, and my kids liked them as I was reading them out loud.

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