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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
literally always a pleasure! and probably the best description of an orangutang saluting you’ll ever read
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Like many, I made the mistake of starting my Terry Pratchett/Discworld experience with The Colour of Magic. Despite a few entertaining moments, it didn't really compel me to read more of his novels. At some point, however, I must have picked up another and enjoyed it, for as a teen I read about eight or nine Discworld stories. The mix of wonderful pastiche with entertaining plots, plus the witty footnotes, left me with fond memories.
Guards! Guards! is my first Discworld novel as an adult, and I was pleased to find that it stands up well. As a teen I appreciated the gentle mocking of fantasy tropes, but now I find it is the societal satire that tickles me more. Pratchett provides us with a great cast of characters including Carrot, who is learning about metaphor, and the amoral Patrician, who is under no illusions about what running a city actually entails.
Just when you think you know where the plot is going Pratchett will perform a sleight of hand, and the jokes come thick and fast. What I enjoyed most of all is the freshness and vibrancy of his language, however: there are sentences in here that have never come close to existing before:
Charred and blazing wreckage rained down around the distillery. The pond was a swamp of debris, covered with a coating of ash. Out of it, dripping slime, rose Sergeant Colon.
He clawed his way to the bank and pulled himself up, like some sea-dwelling lifeform that was anxious to get the whole evolution thing over with in one go.
Nobby was already there, spread out like a frog, leaking water.
'Is that you, Nobby?' said Sergeant Colon anxiously.
'It's me, Sergeant.'
I'm glad about that, Nobby,' said Colon fervently.
'I wish it wasn't me, Sergeant.'
I look forward to reading more of these quirky, memorable books.
Guards! Guards! is my first Discworld novel as an adult, and I was pleased to find that it stands up well. As a teen I appreciated the gentle mocking of fantasy tropes, but now I find it is the societal satire that tickles me more. Pratchett provides us with a great cast of characters including Carrot, who is learning about metaphor, and the amoral Patrician, who is under no illusions about what running a city actually entails.
Just when you think you know where the plot is going Pratchett will perform a sleight of hand, and the jokes come thick and fast. What I enjoyed most of all is the freshness and vibrancy of his language, however: there are sentences in here that have never come close to existing before:
Charred and blazing wreckage rained down around the distillery. The pond was a swamp of debris, covered with a coating of ash. Out of it, dripping slime, rose Sergeant Colon.
He clawed his way to the bank and pulled himself up, like some sea-dwelling lifeform that was anxious to get the whole evolution thing over with in one go.
Nobby was already there, spread out like a frog, leaking water.
'Is that you, Nobby?' said Sergeant Colon anxiously.
'It's me, Sergeant.'
I'm glad about that, Nobby,' said Colon fervently.
'I wish it wasn't me, Sergeant.'
I look forward to reading more of these quirky, memorable books.
This was an entertaining novel. Some of the plot points were predictable, but most of them weren’t.
Funny, full of action, and very entertaining: Guards! Guards! is one of the best Disc World tales I've heard.
Maybe a little too long and plotty for its own good, but so full of vibrant, moronic, whimsical characters that I was utterly delighted from start to finish. Pratchett might be the guy who finally gets me to come around on big expansive fantasy worlds.
I think the plan going forward is to stick with the City Watch books, with perhaps a little dalliance with the Moist Von Lipwig trilogy (of which I have a copy of the first book), and see where we go from there. My partner swears by the Wizards series, but I think I'd like to chart my own course through Discworld and see where it takes me.
I think the plan going forward is to stick with the City Watch books, with perhaps a little dalliance with the Moist Von Lipwig trilogy (of which I have a copy of the first book), and see where we go from there. My partner swears by the Wizards series, but I think I'd like to chart my own course through Discworld and see where it takes me.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I fear I have overdosed a bit on Terry Pratchett. I tore through The Colour of Magic and was eager to give Guards! Guards! a try because I read that the City Watch books are superior.
I'm happy to acknowledge that the Internet was right on that score, but it became a real slog after the first third or so of the novel. Pratchett writes with wit and imagination, but he doesn't achieve much in the way of depth.
This is fine, if that's what you're looking for, but I feel like I need to sprinkle more serious reading onto my shelves before a revisit Pratchett again. But I imagine I will, and I think I will elect to follow through with The City Watch series.
I'm happy to acknowledge that the Internet was right on that score, but it became a real slog after the first third or so of the novel. Pratchett writes with wit and imagination, but he doesn't achieve much in the way of depth.
This is fine, if that's what you're looking for, but I feel like I need to sprinkle more serious reading onto my shelves before a revisit Pratchett again. But I imagine I will, and I think I will elect to follow through with The City Watch series.