Guards! Guards!

Executive Summary: I've had numerous people tell me this is the Discworld book to start with, and now I know why. Easily my favorite so far. 4.5 stars.

Full Review
My Discworld read continues, and finally I come to infamous Guards! Guards! I know there are fancy diagrams and details on all the different ways you can read Discworld, but I prefer publish order. I've enjoyed all of the Discworld books so far, albeit some more than others. I generally seem to enjoy the Rincewind books less than I have the rest.

A popular consensuses among several of my friends who have been reading Discworld for years seems to be that the City Watch books are the best and I should have started with this book. I can see why now. I'm only one book in, but I suspect these may become my favorites as well.

Like all the Discworld books I've read so far, this one was very quotable and had numerous laugh out loud moments. However something about this book elevated it above the previous seven for me. I'm not exactly sure what.

I love that the guards hate to be guards, and prefer not to do their job if at all possible. All of the guards are pretty enjoyable, but I especially like Carrot. I'll be curious to see what sort of character development Mr. Pratchett has in store for him (if any). The contrast of the big hulking human raised among dwarves who is so naive as to the point of obliviousness is highly amusing. Especially the fact that he has to be told he's not a dwarf. I also love the hints as to his real identity that I suspect will never go anywhere, because he's perfectly content at being a guard.

The other highlights for me were the Librarian and the Patrician. They both had some great parts. We've seen some of the librarian in the previous books, but this is the first real interaction I recall with the Patrician. He's largely been mentioned in name only thus far.

The story of this one was really enjoyable as well. Some of the previous books were funny at times with memorable characters, but the story was slow or disjointed. I liked the investigation into the cult of idiots by a Captain who'd rather be drunk. There were some great surprises along the way.

Overall this book is clever, funny, and just downright enjoyable. I'm looking forward not only to the next Discworld book, but I'm especially looking forward to the next City Watch book.