Thud!
by Terry Pratchett
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Book Summary Information
Author: Terry PratchettEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-29
ISBN: 0060815310
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: HarperTorch
Book Reviews of Thud!
Book Review: A 21st Century Jonathan Swift
Summary: 5 Stars
To the modern reader "Gulliver's Travels" is an engaging fairy tale. To Swift's contemporaries it was also a biting satire on the state of English civilization. To the superficial reader "Thud" is an engaging fairy tale. To the discerning reader it is a biting satire on the state of Western civilization. Only time will tell whether "Thud" will have the staying power of "Gulliver's Travels."
Sam Vimes, commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, confronts racism, "religionism," and organized violence in the name of Tak. Centuries before, Trolls and Dwarfs fought a monumental battle at Koom Valley; and as its anniversary looms, both Trolls and Dwarfs prepare to make the streets of Ankh-Morpork run red with blood.
When the greatest rabble rouser among the Dwarfish clerics is found murdered and all the evidence points to a Troll, Vimes must take the bull by the horns, bend a few rules, and maintain the peace. And accomplish all this while always making it home by 6:00pm to read "Where's My Cow" as his young son's bedtime story.
Vimes, of course, has help from a recurring repertory cast of Watchmen (or is it Watchbeings?). Captain Carrot, the 6'6" Dwarf, may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but he gets things done. Detritus the Troll is definitely the dimmest bulb, but he has his trusty super-crossbow which shoots a cluster of arrows so forcefully that they disintegrate in flight. Angua the werewolf keeps her nose to the ground as she sniffs out crime. And Sgt. Colon and Nobby Nobbs provide the Watch's continuity with its checkered past.
The book also has as a central theme the play of a boardgame known as "Thud." Thud is played with unequal armies of 8 Trolls on one side and 32 Dwarfs on the other. It isn't described well enough for the reader to sit down and play it, but it is described well enough for the game enthusiast to recognize that it is based on an old Scandinavian game which pitted Muscovites against Swedes. Anyone interested in reading about the game can find it described in R.C. Bell's "Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations," also available from Amazon.com.
FOOTNOTE: You can imagine my surprise when I learned that Pratchett had published a boardgame named "Thud," which bears some resemblance to the Scandinavian game I described above, but which seems to be more of a wargame than a boardgame. It doesn't seem to be available from Amazon.com, but Amazon.co.uk carries it.
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