Men at Arms

Absolutely loved this, wow... the characters are delightful, and I love the newer additions a lot more than some of the regular cast from Guards! Guards! However I do love that the orangutan made a return even if it's brief... My favourite characters by far were Lance-Corporals Cuddy and Detritus (really reminded me of Legolas and Gimli and I ship them now) and I will curse Terry Pratchett till the day I die and invent an AU in my head where they're stuck underground for 5 days and forced to huddle for warmth or something and then they kiss and escape and then it becomes awkward on the surface and then they have to grapple with their emotions and whether they care more about tradition or each other and then they pick each other and have show more a gay city watch wedding or something idk

Anyway the actual book was great, I loved the mystery and I was too slow to figure it out unfortunately, and it was also hilarious! I'm ngl, british humour can be very hit or miss for me (very unpatriotic of me) but Pratchett got it perfect here! I also like that he's not afraid to kill major characters, and I'm honestly so in love with the worldbuilding of the city itself. This book has invested me in the series a lot more than the last one did and I'll definitely pick up the next one ASAP. This review is all over the place whatever idc anymore I need to start reading something else bye show less

I continue my intermittent re-reading of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series with the second of the City Watch books. And, man. One thing I'm noticing as I read through these as sub-series, rather than in publication order as I originally read them, is that I'll pick up the first one and find myself saying things like, "Well, this is still pretty early on, but you can tell Pratchett has already hit his stride, because it's great." And then I'll read the next one and realize that, of course, that wasn't remotely Pratchett at full stride, no matter how great it was, because he just gets better.

That's certainly the case for this one. The writing is just so sharp. And I find myself constantly in awe of how Pratchett can do so many very show more different things at once. He's funny, in ways that range from groan-worth puns to subtle satiric wit. He also spins a good story, in this case a murder mystery that starts with a dead clown, throws in an interesting twist or two, and ends with a climax that gave me all kinds of feelings. And his social commentary and insights on human nature are always so well-observed and such a surprising but satisfying combination of cynical and genuinely good-hearted. The themes in this one, somewhat depressingly, feel perhaps more relevant than ever, as they include racial prejudice and racial tension made worse by the actions of the police, the corrupting influence of too much power, and the dark side of progress. How Pratchett managed to write so forthrightly about those kinds of things and still make it all feel fun, I don't know, but I'll love him for it forever. show less

Разбира се, както подобава за част от най-силната поредица на Пратчет - тази за капитан Ваймс - Въоръжени мъже е пълна с екшън и натъпкана с метафори. Анкх-Морпорк е събирателен образ на големия град и на съвременната Западна цивилизация като цяло, където всички се конкурират, мразят, надлъгват и незнайно защо и как (невидимата ръка :Р) всичко някак успява да работи може би не перфектно, може би не дори добре, show more но все пак работи.

Темата за властта, характерна за почти всички книги на Пратчет е основна и тук, като в случая говорим за това как властта покварява. По-специално за абсолютната власт, която покварява абсолютно (Той хвана Исчезналото. Бам! "-Ти си мой!"), за добрите и благородни намерения и предлози, заради които хората се стремят към абсолютна власт и за резултатите от комбинацията от двете, които винаги са много трупове (виж резултатите от всяка "хуманна" идеология в историята, която се е опитала да подобри из основи общество).

Ако някой не е схванал, гилдията на уличните кучета е описание на неонацистките движения, събиращи боклука на отхвърлените от обществото лумпени, невротично попръцкващия й лидер Големия Фидо е Хитлер ("Да си луд е да имаш пяна на устата. Да си психичноболен е да имаш пяна на мозъка."), а идеологията му за вълците и разликата и с реалността е препратка към митологията относно викингите и третата римска империя на които много от нацистите и неонацистите се опират. show less

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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“You see," said Colon, "thieves are organized here. I mean, it's official They're allowed a certain amount of thieving. Not that they do much these days, mind you. If you pay them a little premium every year they give you a card and leave you alone. Saves time and effort all around."

"And all thieves are members?" said Angua.

"Oh, yes," said Carrot. "Can't go thieving in Ankh-Morpork without a Guild permit. Not unless you've got a special talent."

"Why? What happens? What talent?" she said.

"Well, being able to survive being hung upside down from one of the gates with your ears nailed to your knees," said Carrot.”

WHAT'S MEN AT ARMS ABOUT?
The Night Watch is in flux—Captain show more Vimes is on the verge of retiring, and there are questions about who his successor will be. There's a class of recruits that need to be trained—including a (gasp) woman. Our friends from the first book are trying to navigate this, train these recruits—and get their job done.

The job is made a bit more complicated when a murder victim shows up—killed by some sort of weapon no one on Discworld has seen before. Two guilds are implicated in this, the tensions between two non-human races are stoked due to the investigation, and the Night Watch has only a little time to get to the bottom of this all.

FANTASY RACES

It was a state of permanent inter-species vendetta and, like all good vendettas, didn't really need a reason any more. It was enough that it had always existed. Dwarfs hated trolls because trolls hated dwarfs, and vice versa.

I don't remember Guards! Guards! doing a lot with the whole fantasy race thing—there were humans and dwarves, right? Maybe some mentions of others, but I don't recall it being that big of a deal.

Here we have more dwarves and trolls—and a lot of animosity between the two races. We also have plenty of reasons to see how ridiculous expressions of this animosity (and probably even the grounds for it) really are.

I really found this a compelling aspect of the book, particularly the way that two of the Watch's trainees (one from each race) learned to work together—it's not in an after-school special way, but one that felt genuine.

THE GONNE
A handheld firearm has found its way into Discworld, and the results are devastating.

Several people want it destroyed—and definitely don't want it replicated. But when they get it into their possession, they can't seem to destroy it. In fact, many become obsessed with it, it's like they start to take orders from it.

Back in 1993 (original date of publication), Terry Pratchett saw the attraction of the power that comes from wielding a handgun and depicted it in a way that feels incredibly of the moment. Obviously, this has been something humans have been dealing with for a long time—it's nothing new—but I don't remember coming across something so clear, so incisive along these lines until more recently.*

* Sure, this may say more about what I've read than it does about Pratchett...but even the more sensitive treatments I read that are older than this don't seem to get it as well.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT MEN AT ARMS?

Colon thought Carrot was simple. Carrot often struck people as simple. And he was. Where people went wrong was thinking that simple meant the same thing as stupid.

I didn’t find this as funny as Guards! Guards!. It was quirky, and odd, and amusing—yes. Which isn't to say that it wasn't riddled with great lines. It was entertaining as all get out—and I enjoyed it almost as much. But it was more focused on character development, story, and social commentary than yucks and guffaws. It’s probably a better novel over all, honestly. But not as fun.

So it really wasn’t what I expected, which is a shade disappointing. But what I got instead is a superior product—with some great avenues for future stories. I didn’t expect to have emotional reactions to what happens to characters in a fantasy novel that I expected to laugh my way through! (the reactions might have been small since I didn’t know them that well, but still, it was outsized for how many pages I’d known them for)

As much as I enjoyed Captain Samuel Vimes and what happened with him—I really didn’t appreciate Sybil Ramkin. I thought she was great in Guards! Guards!, but she was a giant let-down here. I expect that to change in the future. I’m really excited about the possibilities for Vimes going forward.

Carrot…good ol’ Carrot. As great a character as I thought he was coming into this—he was far, far better throughout. Especially what we got to see of him through the eyes of other characters—particularly Lance-constable Angua von Überwald (who's just a great addition regardless). It’s one thing to give us things from his perspective, or from the omniscient narrator’s point of view—but for us to see what others see in him, particularly the intangible stuff, and how they’re confused by his success—utterly fantastic.

Whatever my issues with Pratchett were before Guards! Guards!, they are well and truly dead and buried. I’m going to work on devoting more time to him in 2026 (if not before). This was a great read with depth I didn't expect (but maybe should've) in one of the strangest fantasy worlds I've encountered. Funny, thoughtful, deep (in the right ways), absolutely silly (in the right ways). show less

Yet another very funny and thoughtful Discworld novel, this one a mystery in the Guards subseries, riffing on cop drama conventions (among others). But really it's a novel about racism* and about guns, and Pratchett is delightfully pissed off about both. I don't read cop fiction or, really, mysteries, but I am angry about racism and guns, and anyway I do give my less-favored genres a go if it's Pratchett. 'Cause it's Pratchett.

I just love Carrot, good-hearted "simple" Carrot, and was happy to get to spend more time with Vimes and (though too briefly by my standards) Lady Rankin and her pitiable little swamp dragons. The troll Detritus and the dwarf Cuddy are a fantastic pair here; with them, Pratchett does my favorite thing he does, show more which is being hilarious in an (excuse the speciesism) deeply human way. They're slapstick, but they also have heart.

Oh, and we get to see a lot more of the Patrician here, in interesting ways.

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* In the Discworld, of course, the existence of multiple species of people renders race per se pretty insignificant. But still. show less

Yet another fantastic entry in the Discworld series. You'd think, fifteen books in, that the characters, the plots, the settings, and the jokes would be getting a touch lame by now.

It's a testament to Pratchett's genius that, if anything, all are getting better. Corporal Carrot, initially a one-note joke, has real depth now, and the reader can't help both empathizing with him, and loving him. Detritus and Cubby, both new characters, are simply a blast.

And now, Pratchett gives us a murder mystery, while still applying his shockingly sharp wit to a variety of topics.

God, I love this series.

The recruitment poster said: “The City Watche Needs Men! Be A Man In the City Watche!” But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (“about two metres tall” but raised by dwarfs), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman… most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (“disqualified from the human race for shoving”.) And the captain is planning to retire and people keep requesting that the Watch not investigate recent murders.

I consistently enjoyed this one. I enjoyed the mystery, and the word play, and the social commentary in the depiction of the animosity between dwarfs and trolls. I liked Carrot’s sheer likeableness, and the funny details like Vimes using one of show more Sybil’s dragons to light his cigar... This book has fewer dragons than Guards! Guards!. However, the Watch’s attempts to diversity mean their numbers now include a woman. Like Sybil Ramkin’s arrival in Guards! Guards!, Angua turned up almost as soon as I’d started thinking Yes, this is all very well but what about some female characters? Angua is great.

I listened to the audiobook and I’d intended to mostly save it for times when I need an audiobook (like when it’s my turn to cook) but the other day, when I was about halfway through, I kept thinking I’ll just listen to a bit more and then I’d finished it by tea time.

There were such things as dwarf gods [...] Besides, when you hit your thumb with an eight-pound hammer it’s nice to be able to blaspheme. It takes a very special and strong-minded kind of atheist to jump up and down with their hand clasped under their other armpit and shout ‘Oh, random-fluctuations-in-the-space-time-continuum!’ show less