Guards! Guards!

a novel of Discworld , #8

Mass Market Paperback, 355 pages

English language

Published Aug. 10, 2001 by HarperTorch.

ISBN:
978-0-06-102064-3
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4 stars (4 reviews)

Here there be dragons...and th denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. 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...).

Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, an ancient and long-forgotten volume—The Summoning of Dragons—is missing from the Library's shelves. To the rescue come Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot, and the rest of the Night Watch who, along with other brave citizens, risk everything, including a good roasting, to dethrone the flying monarch and restore order to Ankh-Morpork (before being burned to a crisp). A rare tale, well done as only Terry Pratchett can.

13 editions

reviewed Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #8)

Guards! Guards! Brief Review

3 stars

This book came highly recommended as an entry point into Terry Pratchett's Discworld. I found the characters and story humorous, but it felt like a bit of a slog to get through. I eventually found the humour a bit repetitive, although the story was tied up somewhat nicely at the end.

I am curious if it is worth giving the DiscWorld City Watch series another shot. Are there any better entry points to the series as a whole?

reviewed Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #8)

The story is absolutely amazing and, yet again, investigation of civil compliance with the oppression and the nature of evil

5 stars

Recently I had a chat with my friend from China about moral relativism and absolute evil. There I said, perhaps verbatim, "there is no 100% right things, but there are 100% wrong things".

For Pratchett's Patrician, the statement is even stronger. There are no right things at all:

“I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people,” said the man. “You’re wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides.”

He waved his thin hand toward the city and walked over to the window.

“A great rolling sea of evil,” he said, almost proprietorially. “Shallower in some places, of course, but deeper, oh, so much deeper in others. But people like you put together little rafts of rules and vaguely good intentions and say, this is the opposite, this …

Subjects

  • Discworld (Imaginary place) -- Fiction
  • Guards troops -- Fiction