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A review by gothhotel
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
4.0
4.5/5. Finished in a few hours of steady reading. First off this one is funny as hell, Pratchett can always make me do that and I needed it last night. It's also brutally accurate satire, almost hard to read, sidestepping cliches to make some canny observations about human nature, specifically why people are drawn in to supporting cynical schemers like the Supreme Grand Master, how those people will turn around and justify snivelling subservience to just about any evil to keep a position of relative power. I won't unpack the politics but you get the drift.
At any rate I'm keeping one star out for honesty about the fact that the writing style is sort of conversational and indirect. If you've read a Pratchett book you know how it is and it's part of the fun, but I can see some people not vibing with it. Also, Lady Ramkin's portrayal might come across as problematic at first but she's not written off as gag, she's got a clear character beyond "big intimidating man-lady" and it's surprisingly nuanced.
At any rate I'm keeping one star out for honesty about the fact that the writing style is sort of conversational and indirect. If you've read a Pratchett book you know how it is and it's part of the fun, but I can see some people not vibing with it. Also, Lady Ramkin's portrayal might come across as problematic at first but she's not written off as gag, she's got a clear character beyond "big intimidating man-lady" and it's surprisingly nuanced.