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xander78 's review for:
Guards! Guards!
by Terry Pratchett
I must say that I really struggled with my opinion of this book. There were moments in it that were so cleverly written ("His sister had been sent down to the village to ask Mistress Garlick the witch how you stopped spelling recommendation.") while others were your basic stereotypical slapstick gags. Granted this was published in 1989 so perhaps back then much of the slapstick wasn't already done to death. I feel that the audience for which this was written was fans of Monty Python and The Three Stooges, sadly, of which, I am neither.
There were many little twists and turns of phrase in the story that got me smiling, but then it would lag on into many pages of filler. I kept asking myself, "Am I enjoying this?" Of course, if you have to ask, you probably aren't, hence the two stars.
The story itself sounded entertaining: A dragon is unleashed in a town where there have not been dragons for centuries and it is up to the Night's Watch to get rid of it. The Night's Watch being three and then four men who do little more than ring a bell at midnight and quietly say, "All's Well." But the characters, while all distinct, were never all that interesting to me to get me to care. There were some that I liked, but if something bad befell them I wouldn't have been too troubled either.
Talking about it with a friend brought about a delicious conversation highlighting all the positives (and there are many of them) along with the negatives (unfortunately quite a few of them too). Too long for a quick humourous read, but more importantly it was one note throughout. I didn't feel the stakes getting higher or lower and I didn't feel like I was taken on an adventure.
Overall I felt that it gets a shoulder shrug and a 'meh.'
There were many little twists and turns of phrase in the story that got me smiling, but then it would lag on into many pages of filler. I kept asking myself, "Am I enjoying this?" Of course, if you have to ask, you probably aren't, hence the two stars.
The story itself sounded entertaining: A dragon is unleashed in a town where there have not been dragons for centuries and it is up to the Night's Watch to get rid of it. The Night's Watch being three and then four men who do little more than ring a bell at midnight and quietly say, "All's Well." But the characters, while all distinct, were never all that interesting to me to get me to care. There were some that I liked, but if something bad befell them I wouldn't have been too troubled either.
Talking about it with a friend brought about a delicious conversation highlighting all the positives (and there are many of them) along with the negatives (unfortunately quite a few of them too). Too long for a quick humourous read, but more importantly it was one note throughout. I didn't feel the stakes getting higher or lower and I didn't feel like I was taken on an adventure.
Overall I felt that it gets a shoulder shrug and a 'meh.'