Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Guards! Guards!
Book Review: Beware Dragons Who Eat Their Pot
Summary: 5 Stars
Terry Pratchett is so prolific an author that I keep thinking that I've read everything only to discover I missed something. This last visit to the shelves revealed that I had managed to overlook Guards! Guards! -- possibly by believing that I had already read it. Chalk it up to a senior moment or two. This is embarrassing, because this particular volume provides the background for several story arcs that became increasingly important in the ensuing history of Ankh Morpork.
The first of these is the appearance of Carrot Ironfoundersson who would one day become Captain Carrot. Carrot has been raised as a dwarf, but at 6'5" his parents can no longer pretend to not notice his differences (and dating issues were coming up). The decision is made to send Carrot to Ankh Morpork to enlist as a City Guard. Carrot makes his appearance, and, to everyone's embarrassment, starts to actually arrest people who are breaking the law. The second newcomer is Lady Sybil Ramkin, who is to become Mrs. Sam Vimes one day. In Guards! Guards! her dedication to the raising of swamp dragons provided Vimes with vital information about the real problem -- the impossibility of a giant, fire breathing dragon in the sky (and on the throne) of the grubbiest city to ever float over a turtle's back.
An evil plot is hatched in the city, a book is stolen from the University Library, and in the meeting room of a tiny cult a dragon is summoned from the alternate universe where they have been tidily packed away. Four times summoned, then a pretend slaying puts an impostor on the empty throne, the head of the cult becomes the chief advisor, and Lord Vetinari is deposited in his own prison. But dragons, once summoned are not so easily gotten rid of, and Ankh Morpork finds itself desperately looking for virgins. It's up Vimes, and Lady Sybil, and Carrot, and the rest of guards to find a solution. I shouldn't leave out the presence of a really angry ape and an omnivorous supersonic reptile, either.
In the spectrum of Pratchett's writing, Guard! Guards! is well above average, but for all its imaginative plotting and details it doesn't quite click the was a book like Small Gods does. Even so, it covers so much material important to the series as a whole that it is a must read. An eminently readably must read at that, probably rereadable as well. The comedy is good, with Carrot's innocence and literal nature providing yards of material for puns and sight gags. Anyone planning to conjure a dragon will find it just the remedy for all those hours spent poring over a stolen spellbook.
Book Review: Combining humor with great storytelling
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Discworld book, because it is the most complete. Pratchett's humor is here, as always, poking fun at society, people and fantasy, but Terry has also put together a great cast of characters and a solid story, which he doesn't always do.Book Review: Discworld
Summary: 5 Stars
I've decided he's too good and too prolific for me to write a brand new review every single time I read one of his books. Discworld currently has 34 titles and every one of them will probably knock your socks off. His mind bubbles and flashes like a boiling pot of electric eels, and I simply can't get enough of his writing.
A reviewer has compared him to Geoffrey Chaucer. He reminds me more of Douglas Adams, or perhaps S Morgenstern. Great company, isn't it? He's an extremely skillful and imaginative writer, damn funny, clever and observant to boot. He's also very easy to read. A master of characterization, and if there's anything else you like about reading that I didn't mention here, assume I simply forgot. He's awesome.
Another reviewer mentioned Jonathan Swift and PG Wodehouse. Why such hallowed company? Because Pratchett belongs there! Truly, I'm enjoying my quest to read every book in the series. You should do the same, and begin your quest at the library because he's got to be there. He's awesome!
Yet another reviewer said Jerome K Jerome meets Lord of the Rings. Yeah, that works too.
Why do we, as reviewers, compare authors to other authors? Because it's easier than thinking. In the case of Terry Pratchett, it's probably because we'd otherwise wind up quoting the guy. He's so unique that we just don't know how else to cope with his greatness. Even this paragraph sounds like foamy drool raving, doesn't it? That's how all readers react to Pratchett. Reviewers simply don't have the good sense to keep it to themselves.
I could call his writing fantasy, but I could likewise call what Douglas Adams wrote science fiction. In both cases, I wouldn't be wrong, but I'd be neglecting so much and just totally missing the point. A rare few authors transcend a genre to such a degree that you know they're shouting out, loud and proud, a big fat "Bite me!"
I love Terry Pratchett's writing, and I completely understand why some folks refer to him as their favorite author. Or favourite, I should say, since we're being British. He's one of those authors that makes you want to grab whoever's in hearing range and start reading passages aloud. I'm simply thrilled that there's such an extremely talented and prolific author who's been working for years without me being aware of him. Now I have much catching up to do, and I will love it.
Book Review: Dragons, Drunkards, and the Paths to Power
Summary: 5 Stars
A foul and eldritch plot is afoot in Anhk-Morpork! A clever hidden hand is attempting a coup d'etat against the Patrician, manipulating disgruntled secret societies, stolen magic, and popular opinion to replace him with a figure head king who will front the hidden power behind the throne. The plotter summons a great dragon (long believed extinct) in an attempt to control it to create a panicked situation in the city where the sham king can ride in to save the day, and thus be swept into power by popular acclaim, replacing the discredited Patrician. Once loosed, however, the dragon demonstrates that it has its own agenda, and the situation rapidly spirals out of control. Scariest of all, only the beleaguered Captain Sam Vimes and the ranks of his pathetic, despised, and largely ineffectual Night Watch can save the city from its doom.
Thus begins another Discworld adventure, as Terry Pratchett once again uses his wickedly sharp wit and insight to skewer real world foibles and pretensions with the mirror of his fantasy world. This time around he targets the myriad ways in which public opinion and action is manipulated by those in power, those seeking power, and those resisting power. We grin as he shows us the plotter manipulating the petty jealousies of small men into the service of his cause, all the while making them feel that they are great men serving noble ends. We chuckle knowingly as we see the crowds of Anhk-Morpork easily swayed by staged events and spectacle, jumping herd-like onto the monarchy band wagon. And we fall apart in stitches as he shows us the absurdity of sloganeering resistance to real, ruthless power (chanting "The people united will never be ignited!" to a dragon). Along the way, he makes us smile as Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler shows how certain commercial interest don't give a wit for who is in power so long as they can still make a buck, and Lady Ramkin illustrates the peculiar tendency of the aristocracy to immerse and lose themselves within a world they create out of odd hobbies and odder causes.
Pratchett is at his most insightful when creating the dynamic tension between Sam Vimes, Captain of the Watch, and the Patrician, ruler of the city. Vimes is a good man, who wants to make the world (or at least his city) a good place, but despairs at his lack of power to accomplish that goal, and is often driven to the bottle by that despair. The Patrician is a clever man who has gained power through shrewdly manipulating the world as he finds it, using a practical cynicism about the nature of how things are in order to make his city work rather than making it good. In `Guards! Guards!', Pratchett shows us how these two men sometimes need each other, illustrating the value of both attitudes and approaches, depending on the circumstances.
`Guards! Guards!' is among the best of Pratchett's Discworld series that I have yet read. The characters he creates or revisits here are outstandingly well done and memorable. Also, he begins to come into his matured voice here, as he shifts from the light lampooning he used in previous Discworld books into a fully fledged satirical style that may be the sharpest and funniest we have seen since Swift. If you have not yet been introduced to Pratchett's Discworld, this is a fine place to begin, and if you are already a fan, you must not miss this one!
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Book Review: Excellent Book -- Introduces the Watch, Vimes, and Carrot
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the 8th in Pratchett's Discworld. Alternatively, it's the 1st book in the Watch subseries ("Guards! Guards," "Men at Arms," "Feet of Clay," "Jingo," "The Fifth Elephant," "Night Watch," and "Thud!"). An excellent book which introduces the Watch (specifically, and most importantly, Carrot and Vimes). It also fleshes out both the Librarian and the Patrician some more. All of these become very important in later books, so reading this one is not only great fun, it's also essential to the series. I rate it at 5 stars out of 5.