Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8) By Terry Pratchett
Se oyó un sonido resbaladizo tras él, y un par de tejas se estrellaron contra los adoquines de la calle.
Se dio la vuelta. Allí, en el tejado, estaba el dragón.
—¡Hay un dragón en el tejado! —se atragantó—. ¡Nobby, hay un dragón en el tejado! ¿Qué hago, Nobby? ¡Hay un dragón en el tejado! ¡Me está mirando, Nobby!
—Para empezar, podrías subirte los pantalones —sugirió el cabo desde detrás del muro más cercano
La ciudad de Ankh-Morpork está gobernada por un Patricio, Lord Vetinari, que ha legalizado los asesinatos, los robos, la mendicidad y la prostitución para tenerlos controlados. El Gremio de Asesinos y el de Ladrones reciben una cuota de asesinatos y robos 'razonables', y el sistema funciona con normalidad. Excepto para la Guardia Nocturna, que se ha visto reducida a tres hombres: el capitán Sam Vimes, el sargento Colon y el cabo Nobby Nobbs. La institución está degradada y envilecida.
Por otra parte, en las montañas, el rey de una mina de enanos decide enviar a su hijo adoptivo Zanahoria a ingresar en la Guardia para que se haga un hombre. Zanahoria mide dos metros, es simple, fuerte, y cree que todos somos capaces de llevarnos bien. Además, se ha estudiado las leyes de la ciudad. Zanahoria será capaz de revitalizar la Guardia, que deberá descubrir quién anda detrás de la misteriosa aparición de un dragón.
Terry Pratchett es sinónimo de sonreír es dar por sentado que pasando las páginas de esta saga sentiras muchas cosas, en estado puro. Pratchett adopta hábilmente todo tipo de humor, sarcasmo, ya sea burlesco, hiperbólico, juvenil, oscuro, crítico. Toca de manera especial el género fantástico, se rie de el y con el pues amaba la fantasía, rompe todas las paredes de la escritura y sobretodo nos muestra un ingenio astuto, especial y único. Pues Terry Pratchett es único e irrepetible. No habrá otro. Respeto y admiración.
¡Terry Pratchett, único y eterno!
Pero no solo disfrute del humor, disfruté de la divertida historia y disfruté de las reflexiones de Pratchett sobre el mal, el gobierno y la vida en general. Lo único que Pratchett mantiene como sagrado son los libros y las bibliotecas, todo lo demás es un juego limpio para morder el sarcasmo, reírte y reflexionar.
Dudo muchísimo que palabras como inteligente, ingenioso, cínico, hilarante, oscuro, desgarrador a la par que divertido realmente hagan justicia a su escritura, es una combinación maestra de todas esas palabras y obtienes esa escritura increíble que es a la vez divertida, inteligente, y debajo, todo es increíblemente oscuro y algo aleccionador.
Pero, de qué otra manera le señala a la gente todo lo que está mal con la humanidad. Nadie quiere escuchar qué le pasa a la humanidad sin que se le quiten las ganas. Así que lo hace de la única forma que conseguirá que la gente le escuche, lo disfraza de broma. Para que la gente pueda reír, suspirar y decir Eres jodidamente bueno zorro. Bravo, bravo y seguir con su día habiendo reflexionado. Pero con una sonrisa.
Si coges una ciudad y la pones patas arriba, pones a los criminales a cargo, y la gente respetable en la parte inferior, tendrás algo que se parece vagamente a Ankh Morpork. Cúbrelo con basura, alcohol y alguna cosilla nada higiénica y estarás mucho más cerca. Como cualquier fantasía, este libro tiene sus héroes, sus tiranos, sus aspirantes a reyes tratando de vencer a los tiranos, sociedades secretas, libros mágicos y, por supuesto, por último, pero nunca menos importante, dragones. Todo a su vez con ese humor hacia esos aspectos.
Vamos a una de sus calles para encontrar a nuestro antihéroe Samuel Vimes, Capitán de la Guardia Nocturna, un borracho deprimido abatido por una mujer. La mujer en este caso es la propia Ankh Morpork, su verdadero amor, su ciudad. Nuestro otro héroe es Zanahoria, un Enano mú grande que puede no ser un Enano, en absoluto, para la genética, en posesión de la espada menos mágica que existe. Y el resto de la guardia, gente toda a la que deberíais conocer ya de ya.. 🤔.. ¿Que hacéis aquí aún?..
Lleno de juegos de palabras, juegos de palabras y un cinismo humorístico tan aplaudible como impresionante. Gozada se queda corto.
Personajes exóticos, mágicos y únicos son los que crea Pratchett, se distinguen de todo lo leído y conocido. Son geniales. Lo importante que he aprendido de Terry Pratchett, para mí, es que lo serio no es precisamente lo opuesto a lo gracioso. Puedes reírte de algo, de uno mismo o de algunas cosas, pero a su vez todo esto te lo tomas en serio, con su respeto y reflexionando pero ¿Porqué no? Con una sonrisa, la vida es muy corta. Nos hace reír como reflexionar de tantos temas y lo impresionante es que lo hace de una manera que te hace sonreír. Vivir incluso lo malo, con una pequeña sonrisa y humor.
Para mí, esto convierte a Sir Terry Pratchett en uno de los autores más brillante que he leído. Único, genio y que logra transmitir tanto pero sobretodo felicidad. Mundodisco nos da muchas cosas y lo hace de muchas maneras.
Siguiente paso Brujerías.. Oook 🦧 Terry Pratchett De los mejores libros que he leído este año. Terry Pratchett First of all, my site has the videos that go with this: https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/...
But here's the lite version:
My Terry Pratchett Experience ™ is remarkably similar to my Month Python Experience.™ Fun and funny, but really best done in small doses. Say, 15 minute doses if I’m watching, longer if I’m reading.
It turns out, I haven’t read Guards!Guards! before, although I thought I had. Quite possibly, it is because I had not. Quite possibly, it’s because I had and forgot, but you’d think I’d remember the dragons. For future reference, it’s the one where the adopted dwarf Carrot goes to the big city of Ankh-Morpork and joins the Night Watch in hopes of Becoming a Man. Night Watch captain Sam Vines spends most of his days and nights in an alcoholic stupor, but the antics of Carrot in Enforcing Law and Order soon force Vines into involvement. Meanwhile, a secret society (the Elucidated Bethren of the Ebon Night) has decided to summon a dragon, intending on overthrowing the Patrician Lord Vetinari and replacing him with an old-fashioned monarchy. Some of the Brothers are quite sure they are being held down and need a monarchy to make things right:
“I get oppressed all the time,” said Brother Doorkeeper. “Mister Critchley, where I work, he oppresses me morning, noon and night, shouting at me and everything. And the woman in the vegetable shop, she oppresses me all the time.”
Like Monty Python, Pratchett specializes in absurdity, in mocking our perceptions, definitions and expectation. Clever and funny; a little bit of social commentary with an edge, both are particularly skilled in word games.
“‘But you’re my kind,’ said Carrot desperately. ‘In a manner of speaking, yes,’ said his father. ‘In another manner of speaking, which is a rather more precise and accurate manner of speaking, no.'”
Which puts me in mind of another famous sketch based on, you know, meaning and such:
“I wish to complain about this parrot I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s dead.”
“No, no; it’s resting.”
It is funny, but when it’s all clever wordplay–mocking villains in their thick dark cowls, and the general populace for being sheep, and Carrot for being So Earnest, and Lady Sybil for being such a hearty, large Englishwoman, and the only one who is really clever is the Patrician–well, it’s a bit hard to empathize. And honestly, rather tiring.
Then there’s the Librarian, an orangutan who runs the greatest library in the world. He’s trying to make Constable Carrot understand a serious crime has been committed:
“‘Ook.“
‘A book has been taken. A book has been taken? You summoned the Watch,’ Carrot drew himself up proudly, ‘because someone’s taken a book? You think that’s worse than murder?’
The librarian gave him the kind of look other people would reserve for people who said things like, ‘What’s so bad about genocide?’”
Which pretty much reminds me of the Albatross sketch. Both use the device of the straight man for maximum silliness:
The Albatross at Intermission:
At the end of the day, certainly fun. There’s certainly messages and social commentary that elevate it above simple romps, but it tends to be applied with heavy emphasis. Like Python, best enjoyed in short sketches.
Don’t worry, I’ll show myself out.
On the way to the Ministry of Silly Walks Terry Pratchett At the time of writing, Terry Pratchett passed away about a week ago. Beside making me sad, the news also triggered a sudden urge to read a Discworld book which needed to be satisfied immediately. I haven't read any Terry Pratchett books for years. I have always liked them but there are just so many books in the world and you know how it is, one thing led to another and somehow they didn't lead back to Sir Terry. In the meantime, I have been reading many inferior “flavor of the month” books like The Martian. I have been doing myself a disservice really.
Guards! Guards! is one of the most popular Discworld books and I have not read it, this makes it the ideal candidate for a reentry into this unique and wonderful series. Anyway it is nice to be back in Ankh-Morpork, the most chaotic city in fantasy fiction. At the most basic level Guards! Guards! is Pratchett’s take on the police procedural, but his imagination is too immense to constrain the book to just a single genre parody so there is much more to this book than just the City Watch, Ankh-Morpork’s feeble excuse for a police force. The Watch mean are happily doing a crappy job, which basically involve ringing bells at certain times of the night to announce that all is well in the city. It takes the arrival of an extremely honest and straight-laced human orphan raised by dwarves to remind the Watchmen what they are supposed to be; and a huge dragon summoned from another dimension burning up the citizens and half the city to spur them into action.
Art by SharksDen
One reason I only read Terry Pratchett occasionally is that I personally prefer books where humour is a minor element of the story rather than placed at the front and centre. After reading Guards! Guards! I have to admit this is my misconception of what Pratchett was doing with the Discworld series (after the first few straightforward fantasy parody books). The humour takes centre stage but underneath – not even far underneath – Pratchett was using Discworld as a mirror to explore, lampoon and critique our world with its many ills and injustice. Certainly Guards! Guards! explores the theme of the policemen’s duty and honor against personal safety and interest, what makes a good cop and a bad cop so to speak. He also skewers the masses’ tendency to blindly accept whoever has the biggest gun (or fire breathing talent). These and other serious issues are explored without ever missing a humorous beat. The book is a laugh fest from beginning to end, I don’t think there is a single page that did not make me at least chuckle.
I actually laughed out loud several times, my favorite joke involves the phrase “Bjorn Stronginthearm is my uncle” which highlights the bizarreness of the British phrase “Bob’s your uncle”. Also the patrician’s questioning of dragons’ penchant for sleeping on a huge pile of gold instead of a comfy mattress is brilliant. Don’t worry I have not spoiled the book for you, I am barely scratching the surface of the many ingenious satires, jokes and witticisms to be found in this book.
Captain Vimes (no idea who the artist is, sorry)
The characterization of the protagonists and antagonists is also very strong. Captain Vimes is silly and funny yet flawed, sympathetic, honorable and extremely likable. I am not surprised he one of Pratchett’s most beloved characters. The formidable Patrician Vetinari is another extremely vivid and lively creation, in a TV adaptation of another Discworld book he is perfectly portrayed by Charles Dance so you can imagine the dry wit and suavity of the man. His method of escaping from captivity in a dungeon is pure evil genius.
Guards! Guards! is effortlessly a five-star book and if I may leave you with a quote from this book that works perfectly even out of context:
“The reason that clichés become clichés is that they are the hammers and screwdrivers in the toolbox of communication.”
The irony is that there is not one cliché in this book, unless you count the ones that Pratchett turned on their heads.
R.I.P. Sir Terry, you were the best.
Credit celticwren
Note: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Might Be The Highest Form of Literature on the Planet - by Brandon Sanderson Terry Pratchett Terry Pratchett's first in the City Watch series proves to be a delightfully fun, silly, and entertaining reread for me. We are in the corrupt city of Ankh Morpork as we are introduced to the cynical cop Captain Sam Vines, whose unit is not doing the greatest of jobs, he is often to be found in a drunken stupor, that is until the newest recruit, an adopted over 6 foot dwarf, Lance Constable Carrot, turns out to be rather refreshingly keen on the idea of justice. This is a thought provoking and insightful satirical parody, with intelligent and clever perspectives on governments, injustice and humanity, delivered with oodles of hilarity, where there be dragons and threats to Ankh Morpork. The characterisations are stellar, drawing the reader in with ease into the fantastical world building. Just wonderful! Many thanks to the publisher. Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett ☆ 5 Download
Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis (noble dragon for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...). How did it get there? How is the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night involved? Can the Ankh-Morpork City Watch restore order – and the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork to power?
Magic, mayhem, and a marauding dragon...who could ask for anything more? Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8)
This is my favorite Discworld book.
I submit that the best way to rate a Discworld book is with a smile meter. As you read, imagine that there is a meter whose arrow jumps when you smile, moves further right when you chuckle and spikes into the red eleven when you laugh out loud.
Pratchett’s 1989 Discworld novel (his 8th in the series and 1st of the City Watch sub-series) made me smile all the way through the book, chuckle frequently and laugh out loud two or three times.
Set in Ankh-Morpork (inspired by Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar?) the City Watch is composed of those night watchmen who call out at midnight that “All’s well” and who would not want to catch anyone or run after someone too fast to avoid ruining the evening with an arrest. That is until six foot six dwarf foundling Carrot joins the force as a lance constable.
This novel also features dragons, described as only Sir Terry could. Long thought extinct, the draco nobilis was just somewhere else until a group of hooded and cowled miscreants steal a book from the Library (and YES! the left turn Clyde Orangutan Librarian is featured – perhaps my second favorite Discworld character) and summon one back to Ankh-Morpork. Things do not go as planned and the rest is Pratchett magic.
As my esteemed reviewer colleague Nataliya noted in her excellent review, the best part of Pratchett’s writing is that he depicts realistic human failings in a comic setting that softens the blow of the all too real criticism in a playful way. The Discworld is a lot of fun but it is also a comedic examination of humanity and civilization and it takes a master of Pratchett’s genius talent to pull it off successfully.
A MUST read for Discword fans and would actually be a great introduction to the series for any reader.
** 2019 - I've read them all and this still my favorite.
*** 2021 reread - Pratchett makes me smile. I've usually got two or three books going anyway and I think I'm just always going to be reading a Discworld, they're so much fun and a good source of literary healing on a bad day.
Vimes is introduced here, with even some foreshadowing about the kind of hero he will be throughout the series, but also so is Lady Sybil Ramkin. Pratchett's description of her as a -ahem - full figured woman with enough self assurance to float a warship was a joy to read.
We also spend time with Nobby (who is something of a peacock after-hours) Sergeant Colon and Carrot - who maybe should be the heir apparent to the kingdom of Ankh-Morpork, but is at home in the Watch.
I also loved the way Sir Terry wrote the part of the dragon, as an evil telepathic tyrant.
Still my favorite.
Terry Pratchett Reading Terry Pratchett’s “Guards! Guards!” was a joy for me. I don’t know why it took me so long to read a Discworld book, I’m a bit ashamed. I am a sucker for English humor, always have been. The good news is that I now have 40 more Discworld books to read. Honest reveal - I think I resisted because people said he was better than Douglas Adams and that rubbed me the wrong way. My view after reading one book, they are clearly in the same class, and while I still like Adams better that might be because I’m a bigger Science Fiction fan than Fantasy. In any case, it doesn’t matter, both are hilarious and talented. They both have layered humor and sneak in some wonderful insights on life.
Pratchett dedicated this book to Palace/City Guards/Patrols, noting that no one ever asks them if they want to rush into a room, one at a time to attack the hero. It’s this trope that the story is build upon. It’s the eighth book in the Discworld series and was published in 1989. Pratchett deftly takes on all sorts of humor; sarcasm, burlesque, hyperbolic, juvenile, dark, etc., etc. He pokes at the Fantasy genre, breaks writing walls, and displays crafty, crafty wit. Like Adams, it’s largely non-stop through the entire story, but somehow the story still moves along with great pace. There are quotable quotes on nearly every page. But I didn’t just enjoy the humor, I enjoyed the fun story, and I enjoyed Pratchett’s musing on evil, government, and life, in general. The only thing Pratchett keeps sacred is books and libraries, all else is fair game for biting sarcasm!
I think you at least need to be a passing fantasy reader to appreciate his books, and you must be tolerant of some occasional silliness, but if you pass those two simple hurdles, I can’t imagine not enjoying this book. A fun and entertaining romp through a twisted fantasy world that will make you laugh, but stealthily remind you of the underdog’s plight against the ridiculous rules of the, well, ruling class. Ahem.
Terry Pratchett „Hey officer, may you please not help me! Stay away, don´t investigate, please, we´ll do traditional, good old fashioned lynch justice with far fewer victims and collateral damages. Not necessary to call reinforcement. No, stop, my insurance doesn´t cover police incompetence reinduced destruction.“
There are certain stereotypes surrounding police, military, and manly militia, all to take with a grain of rice, but in many aspects true, especially if a lack of government funding, missing selection procedures, and escalating crime lead to a mixture or cynic, weird, up to just evil racist law enforcement agencies.
Here comes the City Watch series, circling around Captain Vimes, a patchwork rug of crime, thriller, and hard boiled detective protagonist characteristics, who goes through one of the longest character transformations, similar to Tiffany Aching. I am, at the moment, not really a friend of thrillers and the crime genre, but readers strongly invested in such literature might find much more innuendos and connotations.
Lord Vetinari is such an eclectic, badass, clinical antihero protagonist that it´s difficult to point the finger on if he´s evil, good, or just so extremely opportunistic and finetuning his plans to perfection that he can go with the citizens mental flow and preventively manipulate and indoctrinate. He is using his fine senses, and perfect surveillance state methods, to see trends and uses whatever good or evil methods to stay in power, a truly great Machiavellian sociopath leader.
What can be a hotter hobby than dragon breeding and thereby showing the crudeness and indirect woof woof elitism and pure breed racism that once was decent enough for humans too. Like so many harmless hobbies, the most flow intensive ones can escalate quickly and lead to absorbing most of free social and private life and time. Just take me, I´m doing nothing than reading and going out in nature in my free time for over 1 and a half decades now and it´s perfectly fine and totally normal, hehe.
But back to the dragons, these creatures have very different characteristics, depending on use in YA, dark, classic, comedy, setting and are hardly something to make fun of or with. But, what else, Pratchett surrounds them with eccentric characters and implements them as a long time running gag. And I want to have one too.
To reintegrate monarchy in a more or less functional system, some conservatives have the ridiculous plan Pratchett uses the scenery to show the ridiculousness of despotic government systems, especially the not only representative and powerless marionette kings, queens, and fairies, but the brutal enforcement behind them through the shadow government and hierarchies, making many monarchies the worst places to live.
Completely not understandable and facepalmy, people have the tribal roots that make them susceptible for admiration of any kind of stupid representative, be it a democratic voted, a self declared, inherited, or couped one. This having something to see and listen to is so much easier than thinking for themselves, that they prefer it and ignore or don´t even know about all the consequences of what is really going on while a smiling or shouting or hate trolling president, chancellor, or God emperor tells them what to do. The metaphor Pratchett uses to show what can happen in such cases should be internalized.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
This one is added to all Pratchettian reviews:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheibe...
The idea of the dissected motifs rocks, highlighting the main real world inspirational elements of fiction and satire is something usually done with so called higher literature, but a much more interesting field in readable literature, as it offers the joy of reading, subtle criticism, and feeling smart all together. Terry Pratchett I've been re-reading some of the older Pratchett novels. Partly because I simply enjoy them. Partly because they help keep me sane in an increasingly infuriating world. And partly because they are comfortable to me. The literary equivalent of a security blanket.
But I'll be honest, I'm also reading them so I can postpone reading the final Pratchett novel that came out a little while ago. It will be hard for me to read that, knowing that afterwards, there will be no more new Pratchett to read. Ever.
This is the book that introduces Vimes, perhaps my favorite Discworld character. And that's saying something, given the number of books in the series, and the number of truly delightful characters.
That said, on re-reading this, I was surprised to see where Vimes got his start. The Vimes in this first book is a good character, but it's not the character I grew to love. It's pretty obvious that Pratchett was planning on him being a Discworld version of the down-on-his-luck gumshoe detective. Hard-drinking and bitter. More stubborn than clever.
Don't get me wrong. Vimes is a good character in this book, but he's not particularly noteworthy. Carrot and the Patrician shine more.
As a writer, it's interesting for me to see how Pratchett started here, with a functional but not stellar character, who he then changed (rather abruptly) into one of my favorites in the whole series. It's nice for me to see that Pratchett didn't have it all planned out ahead of time, and that he was, in fact, just making it all up as he went along. Terry Pratchett What I love most about Pratchett's books is that under a thin layer of funny footnotes-peppered pun-heavy parody lies the core of deep seriousness rooted in the quite sobering understanding of the shallow pettiness of human mundanity fueled by jealousy, bile, spite, and closemindedness.
There was a thoughtful pause in the conversation as the assembled Brethren mentally divided the universe into the deserving and the undeserving, and put themselves on the appropriate side.In the end, the only thing that makes it possible to wake up in the morning is just a slight deviation from this depressing state of affairs that leads to the understanding and a bit of dignity and doing what's right - even when that's not quite expected. Because someone has to uphold what's right. Because someone needs to swim against the current.
He shrugged. They're just people, he said. They're just doing what people do. Sir.This is one of my favorite Discworld books and one of the best starting points for the Discworld newbies. It is the first book in the subcycle focusing on the City Watch of Ankh Morpork (the Pearl of Cities¹ on the Disc); the book that really takes a look into the inner workings of this crowded, dirty and despicable and yet lovably tenacious urban metropolis:
¹ Ankh-Morpork! Pearl of cities! This is not a completely accurate description, of course — it was not round and shiny — but even its worst enemies would agree that if you had to liken Ankh-Morpork to anything, then it might as well be a piece of rubbish covered with the diseased secretions of a dying mollusc.In Pratchett's tradition of deconstructing the tropes this one has its kings and tyrants and secret societies and dragons and maidens and heroes and heirs with birthmarks and magical swords, as well as million-to-one chances - except that things tend to not work out as planned. And all of it is woven into a neat tight plot that carries us through the dry humor and slapstick and sad seriousness to the unexpected depth as you allow the cogs and wheels of your brain turn contemplating Pratchett's intentions.
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I am a Sam Vimes girl through and through. And this book is our introduction to our cynical (anti)hero, uncompromising, grumpy and terrifyingly sober/knurd ('knurd' as in complete and utter opposite to drunk, beyond simple sobriety) Ankh-Morpork copper with the unsettling tendency to ask uncomfortable questions when others would much rather he didn't.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
This is the beginning of the Vimes we all know and love, the evolution from the down-in-the-gutter pessimistic drunk brung low by a woman¹ (the city itself, that is) to the equally pessimistic servant not of the King or the Patrician but the law, a thorn in the side of so many not-so-uncorrupt but quite respectably upstanding Ankh citizens.
¹ The city wasa, wasa, wasa wossname. Thing. Woman. That's what it was. Woman. Roaring, ancient, centuries old. Strung you along, let you fall in thingy, love, then kicked you inna, inna, thingy. Thingy, in your mouth. Tongue. Tonsils. Teeth. That's what it, she, did. She wasa ... thing, you know, lady dog. Puppy. Hen. Bitch. And then you hated her and, and just when you thought you'd got her, it, out of your whatever, then she opened her great booming rotten heart to you, caught you off bal, bal, bal, thing. Ance. Yeah. Thassit. Never knew where where you stood. Lay. Only one thing you were sure of, you couldn't let her go. Because, because she was yours, all you had, even in her gutters...
Reduced to almost-nothingness by the corruption in the city, spending his time in the gutter (literally), laughed at by everyone except his two colleagues - the thick but amiable Fred Colon and a disgrace to human race a.k.a. Nobby Nobbs - Vimes gets a bit of a wake-up call when the Watch gets its newest recruit: Lance Constable Carrot Ironfoundersson, a not-too-bright but earnest 6 foot 6 inches dwarf¹ (he's adopted, okay?) armed with a Book of Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork and a decidedly non-magical sword.
¹People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across the shoulders often have uneventful journeys. People jump out at them from behind rocks then say things like, Oh. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.And when the city is facing danger, Vimes bit by bit begins to think about it as HIS city. After all, 'Things like that shouldn't be allowed to happen. Not in *my* city.'
And once Vimes sets his single-minded nature to accomplish something (occasionally aided by the Librarian¹, who is a peanut-loving orangutan, and the imposing figure of Lady Sybil Ramkin, who breeds swamp dragons in her spare time) there is little that can stop him.
¹ The three rules of the Librarians of Time and Space are: 1) Silence; 2) Books must be returned no later than the date last shown; and 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality.The threat to Ankh-Morpork is real and quite substantial (), but ultimately it's brought along and fueled by the simple human greed, shallow-mindedness and jealousy, little pathetic mundanity of human existence that Pratchett so nonchalantly and non-preachily lets showcase itself. He, it seems, has an excellent ability of seeing the less-than-pleasant things that make people tick - and still manages to make these sad realizations both side-splittingly and laugh-through-tears funny. And I adore that.
Down there - he said - are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any inequity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathsomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don't say no.
Another prominent figure in this book, in addition to Vimes and Carrot, is, of course, Lord Havelock Vetinari, the enigmatic Patrician, the tyrant who is not quite, well, tyrannical; the man with his finger on the pulse of the city, the man who would not build a dungeon out of which he could not escape; the man resembling a predatory flamingo, who makes Ankh Morpork work and in cynicism can greatly rival Vimes himself. This is the beginning of the fascinating and not always so voluntary cooperation between Vimes and the one in power, and it's lovely to read about.
“You had to hand it to the Patrician, he admitted grudgingly. If you didn't, he sent men to come and take it away.”And, of course, some place of prominence is given to the Librarian (the aforementioned orangutan) who (no pun intended) will go bananas if you dare to call him the m-word (). The Librarian who knows how to navigate the L-space, that parallel dimension that exists between every library in the world created because of terrifying power of books.
Books bend space and time. One reason the owners of those aforesaid little rambling, poky secondhand bookshops always seem slightly unearthly is that many of them really are, having strayed into this world after taking a wrong turning in their own bookshops in worlds where it is considered commendable business practice to wear carpet slippers all the time and open your shop only when you feel like it.-----------------
There are many horrible sights in the multiverse. Somehow, though, to a soul attuned to the subtle rhythms of a library, there are few worse sights than a hole where a book ought to be.
I highly recommend this book to anyone as a perfect starting point on their Discworld journey. It is a perfect introduction to the world of intelligent humor peppered with allusions to almost everything you can think of and smart conclusions that make you think and even ask the uncomfortable questions of yourself and the society. It is a lovely way to spend several hours curled up in a chair on a rainy day, mesmerized by Pratchett's wit and wisdom. The audiobook version of it is wonderful, immersing you in the atmosphere of the story incredibly well. For all of it, I give it 5 stars - and, without much further ado embark on the rest on my Ankh Morpork City Watch reread.
They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they want to.
This book is dedicated to those fine men.
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2020 reread (audio):
Still wonderful, and gets even better with every revisit. The audio is rather good, although I do prefer Stephen Briggs as a narrator. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Pratchett’s storytelling and sense of humor. He understood people so well that it’s almost unsettling. Rest In Peace, Sir Terry. I miss you.
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My ever-expanding collection of Pratchett’s Discworld reviews:
- Guards! Guards!
- Men at Arms
- Thud!
- Lords and Ladies
- The Wee Free Men
- Hogfather
- Monstrous Regiment Terry Pratchett