Book Review - Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

 

Books Read in 2024 - No. 3

Hey Book Dragons!

At last I've finished Guards! Guard's! By Sir Terry Pratchett.  

I started the novel on the 8th of March of 2024.  That's almost 7 months ago.

I have to admit as much as TP is one of my favourite authors, I don't always get his novels.  I couldn't get into The Colour of Magic and only read a couple of chapters.

I've read Mort and Hogfather years ago. Hogfather was fine but with Mort it was a struggle.

My favourite book of the Discworld so far is The Truth.  I took it on holiday and it's great. I was laughing so much and read it in 4 days.

I was then stuck with the question, which Terry Pratchett book do I read now?

After many recommendations and watching Booktube channels I decided on Guard's Guard's and the City Watch series set in the Discworld.  Although, I've gone crazy and collected most of the City Watch books before finishing Guard's Guard's.

The book introduces Sam Vimes, Captain of the Watch.  He's a drunken loser at the beginning of the book.  In charge of a mostly forgotten and ignored law enforcement with only two other members. 

They are Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobby.  They are joined by Carrot near the beginning of the book who is a tall guy who thinks he is a dwarf.  This is because he has been raised by them in the mines.  He's obsessed with joining the City Watch and has studied the laws.

 A sinister cult who are wanting change and to take over the city of Ankh-Morpork, summon a dragon to wreck the city and put in charge a hero to slain the dragon, who they can then control as a King.

This is when the City Watch must act and save the day.  But will Vimes stay sober long enough?

Overall -

Guards! Guards! is now my second favourite Terry Pratchett novel. It's funny and made me chuckle quite a few times.  It's also superbly written.  Saying that, it is written unconventionally with no chapters.  A paragraph can switch to a different POV without warning, but it works.

The characters are three dimensional and in future books I hope to see more of Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobby.

As ever with TP, his world building is fantastic and reflects our own.  With themes of royalty and class and how people always want more until they have it. Plus how some people are happy as they are in society. 

I did enjoy the book a lot but could be hard going in places.  I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't taken so long and read it through quickly.  When I started reading Guards! Guards!, I read the first 40 pages in an hour.  Sadly with going back to work from sick this tailed off.

I now know, I need a better reading (and writing) routine.

Score -  8.5/10