Guards! Guards!

This book really got me in a reading slump. Perhaps because it's lighthearted it feels like there are no stakes. And so the story is very slow because I am not really at the edge of my seat in any way. It was very well and funny written. But comparing it to the first Discworld novel this was just too low or too slow. 

I did like the story tho some of the characters seemed extremely similar and I found it hard to keep them apart. Both Nobby and Colon are just so the same. The big conflict being resolved by some dragons going off to fuck tho is some solid comedy. I again had some problems with some descriptions but I acknowledge that this book is about 30 years old. 

Satire of the fantasy genre that also happens to provide adventure, an intriguing story, well developed character arcs, and a fully realized world for it all to take place in! It also had legitimately intense moments to balance out the constant stream of humour.

This was my first Terry Pratchett novel (aside from Good Omens) and he's a joy to read! I'm looking forward to the next.... 40(?!) books

I never read any Pratchett when I was younger, and tried out The Colour of Magic some years ago, never advancing beyond the early pages. Only this year I somehow found myself in the proper mood for it — I had read enough of Pratchett to kind of trust that he would probably be up my alley, only if I just had the patience.

I decided to give the series a go, and since I wanted to read all the books anyway, considered reading them chronologically to be the best approach. It would be interesting to see the development of the world and of Pratchett as a storyteller. And it would be nice to collect those beautiful hardcover editions in the Discworld Collector's Library.

I didn't think the first two were as bad as some have made them out to be, and Mort is an early classic I'll very likely revisit often. Sourcery was the one with which I lost my gusto and had to abandon the project for a while, and perhaps because I was reinvigorated doing other things, I was thoroughly impressed with Wyrd Sisters and what follow, namely Pyramids and Guards! Guards!. I'm only starting Eric next. With these books I felt I was somehow entering the world of Pratchett's fans in the sense where they so highly credit not only his wit and narrative abilities, but also the deep humanity and life he gives his characters. I think this last bit was obvious very early on, I'd say that now that I've advanced a bit further on along the journey through all the novels, The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Sourcery exhibit a certain streamlined simplicity in how the story unravels that doesn't hold up well in comparison to these later books I've read.

I'd say I fell in love with his wit and how much he seems to care for his silly characters from the onset, but now his writing has reacher a level on which it's no longer so much work. The returns are imminent, and they are plentiful.

The more I think about this book the more frustrated I am. It's my first Terry Pratchett so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the blend of British “incompetent masses” humor with the oppressively cynical, Liberal politics was agonizing. The book's arc is about how the world is fucked but it's at least better than the alternative because the people in power are composed tyrants rather than openly killing people; learning that it's actually super fulfilling and good to be a cop if you take it seriously, giving up training dragons to be a proper aristocrat, etc.

Just aggressively bleak “return to normal” resolution that combined with the “people are naturally ignorant sheep who will adjust to anything people in power demand” feels super cynical about the possibility or need for political change. Everyone is the same selfish, ignorant drunk who immediately rationalize horrible actions when they realize it's in their financial favor. I get it's supposed to be a satire or whatever but it just feels unsophisticated and antisocial.

Probably not gonna read more Pratchett unless I get a compelling sell in the future. Can definitely see a through line from this to Wheaten to Marvel writing, which is unfortunate but I guess helpful for tracking this style of wink at the camera, a better world is not possible fantasy.

This is a good Discworld book, but not one of my personal favourites. It's an important one in the context of the whole series, because it introduces Samuel Vimes, Fred Colon, Nobby Nobbs, Carrot Ironfoundersson, and Sybil Ramkin. It also has good scenes for Lord Vetinari and the Librarian.I like the writing, but the overall plot fails to appeal to me. The main villain is rather unimpressive, and the character of Sam Vimes is not yet fully formed on his first outing; although Sybil makes a good debut.The connection between the younger watchmen shown in extended flashback in [b:Night Watch 47989 Night Watch (Discworld, #29; City Watch, #6) Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320518310l/47989.SY75.jpg 1712283] and the watchmen in this book is rather shaky; naturally enough, as [b:Night Watch 47989 Night Watch (Discworld, #29; City Watch, #6) Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320518310l/47989.SY75.jpg 1712283] was written much later and couldn't have been anticipated at this stage.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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It’s a metaphor of human bloody existence, a dragon. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it’s also a bloody great hot flying thing.

What’s Guards! Guards! About?

We start with a motley bunch of people who have been recruited by a mysterious figure to summon a dragon from another world—they don’t know this initially, but the purpose is to take over the city of Ankh-Morpork for less-than-benevolent reasons.

Meanwhile, a tall and naive young man is informed by his father that he’s not who he’s always thought he was. In fact, he’s been brought up by another species. Carrot had spent his whole life believing he was a dwarf like everyone he lived among, rather than a human. “It’s a terrible thing to be nearly sixteen and the wrong species.” Carrot has a hard time accepting this truth but does what his father tells him. He sets off for the city to become a member of the City Watch and will send his wages to his family. It’s impossible (for me, at least) to read Carrot and not think of Buddy the Elf. I don’t know if Ferrell and Favreau had this book in mind when they worked out the character—but they could’ve.

Like Buddy, Carrot doesn’t understand the human world and its nuances. He’s very literal, he’s a hard worker, doesn’t know how to be dishonest, and sees the world in black and white. So he goes about the business of the Watch like that—he’s a one-man anti-crime crusade. Arresting people the rest of the watch doesn’t have the energy to pursue—and those they’ve been told by the city leadership to leave alone.

His presence shakes up the Watch and awakens a sense of duty in them. So when they start finding traces of the dragon—and a corpse or two, this lethargic group gathers itself together and tries to save the city from the dragon, those behind it, and those who can’t be bothered to care.

And a whole bunch of other things transpire, are said, and whatnot. But that’s enough to get you started.

More Than Jokes

“Down there,” he said, “are people who will follow any dragon, worship any god, ignore any iniquity. All out of a kind of humdrum, everyday badness. Not the really high, creative loathesomeness of the great sinners, but a sort of mass-produced darkness of the soul. Sin, you might say, without a trace of originality. They accept evil not because they say yes, but because they don’t say no. I’m sorry if this offends you,”

All good novelists will work in things that have nothing to do with the characters (directly), their development, or the plot to their books. Some sort of commentary on the world, an observation about humanity or a portion of it, etc. If you ask me, the more comedic novelists are better at it than others—it’s probably that spoonful of sugar thing. That could just be my preference, I admit.

Some of the better moments in this book—at least some of the best sentences—come from moments like the above quotation. There’s some cheap cynicism to be found in these lines—but there’s some well-earned cynicism, too, in Pratchett’s ideas about government, the people led by that government, and so on. But there’s some great stuff on love and hope to be found in here, too. Pratchett’s cup is half-full at least as often as it’s half-empty.

The one-liners; the satire of Fantasy tropes, humanity in general; and the overall comedy of his world might be what he’s known for—but at least here (and likely in general), Pratchett’s observations of and commentaries on humanity are just as noteworthy.

The Library/Librarian

The truth is that even big collections of ordinary books distort space, as can readily be proved by anyone who has been around a really old-fashioned secondhand bookshop, one that looks as though they were designed by M. Escher on a bad day and has more stairways than storeys and those rows of shelves which end in little doors that are surely too small for a full-sized human to enter. The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read.

I don’t have the time to write the essay I want to write about the Librarian, the Library, what the Librarian did to save the day, and so on. But I really wish I did (besides, I’m pretty sure someone else has—several someone elses). It’s not the—or a—main focus of the novel, but it really could be. Instead, I’ll just note that the Librarian was a highlight for me, and I hope we get a lot more of him in the future.

So, what did I think about Guards! Guards!?

“I mean, [the dragon] wouldn’t want us to go around killing its own kind, would it?”

“Well, sir, people do, sir,” said the guard sulkily.

“Ah, well,” said the captain. “That’s different.” He tapped the side of his helmet meaningfully. “That’s ’cos we’re intelligent.”

One of the things I like to ask when thinking of a comedic novel is, would it hold up if you took the jokes out and played it straight? It’s hard to answer that for Guards! Guards! because of the satirical and ridiculous aspects of the novel. But…on the whole, yeah…it’d work. Thankfully, it’s not a question we really need to spend too much time on because it’s so funny that you don’t notice parts of the story/plot/characters that might not work—and with the comedy this book is so successful it doesn’t matter.

It took very little time for me to get invested in the story—maybe not the characters (as much as I enjoyed watching Carrot fumble through his new life), but the story and the storytelling carried me until the point that I started to see the various members of the City Watch as anything other than comedy delivery systems (although that’s primarily what they were). I was entertained throughout, so much so that I didn’t really spend much time thinking about comparing this to other Pratchett books or other Fantasy comedies I’ve read—I just wanted to have fun with this. Maybe I’ll do the other stuff with later reads.

My journey to this book—and to giving Pratchett another chance—is pretty well documented. It’s not that I disliked The Color of Magic or The Light Fantastic, but I didn’t get the fuss over Pratchett after reading them. After reading Guards! Guards!? I think I get it. After reading less than a third of Guards! Guards!, I was pretty sure I got it, actually. I’m so relieved…I wondered what was wrong with me that I missed what everyone else saw in his work. There’s this great combination of jokes, situational/character-based comedy, a skewed way of depicting the world that’s honest and true while capturing the absurdities—and wonder—of the world. Pratchett respects the reader enough to not have to spell everything he’s doing out for us, but not so much that he will avoid slapstick or bodily humor.

I’m sold. If you haven’t gotten around to trying this mega-series (and surely there are like 5 of you reading this who haven’t), stick your foot in. If you’re unsure where to start, here’s a great place.

I’ll be back for more soon.

I am so tempted to give this a perfect score on the basis of that ending alone - it is a perfect summation of everything this book has been building towards, with the perfect amount of rancor and optimistic satire. One of the few times I felt like clapping at the end of the book for just how happy it made me feel, somehow turning all the bizarre circumstances that happened into the book into something poignant.

It's just that there is a lull in the middle - with pacing issues that really took away from my enjoyment. It feels as if there was a lot of wheel turning at the expense of characters. Some of the humor also really misses due to the cultural barriers, with the use of British slang and an overuse of Casablanca references (which I love, but man...). It has so much to say but at the same time, it gets a little lost in the plot.

However, if the rest of the books somehow surpass the quality of this - I am ready to read the rest of the series. It takes itself seriously just enough that it doesn't become a full blown farce, while keeping the levity needed for a story this absurd.

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.

12th May 2023:

I throughly enjoyed myself so so much. The well timed hits at cliched trope and even then the clever usage of them. Every story that starts with unlikeliest of heroes has that point to make, ‘don't underestimate what you don't know about well' but Guards Guards is so much more than just unlikelist of heroes. It brings the characters to life so much. 

They're lame, they're annoying, angsty, thieving even. But there's things only some can do when even their betters fail. And yet people themselves are not outright villains, not counting some exceptions. Everyone's just angry and scared.

It's all so clevery put that I couldn't have enough of it. 


Final rating: 5/5

I remember years ago trying to get into Pratchett after finishing Good Omens so I picked up the first book in the Discworld series, The Colour of Magic. I wasn't really feeling it so I gave up, then every Terry Pratchett fan told me nobody should start with the first book of the Discworld series because it's probably the worst book in the series and isn't really indicative of why it resonates with so many people. After reading Guards, Guards, I'm inclined to agree.

Either this was not the ideal book to read at 6 am on the train each morning, or perhaps my expectations were just a bit too high. Which is weird, because I normally appreciate humor like this, and I found characters like Carrot and Vimes very endearing, and I also found it clever at times. Yet for some reason I just didn't connect that much with it, or at least not as much as I would have liked. Which is pretty frustrating for me as I can't exactly pinpoint why that is.

I don't think I've ever had a Fantasy book have me laugh aloud, never mind guffaw every few pages. Absolutely love Carrot - what a sweetie, his letters are the best.

I really enjoyed Pratchett's wry writing style and his tongue in cheek commentary towards well worn Fantasy tropes. Very good, very funny. Looking forward to reading more!

This was my very first Discworld novel. I've been meaning to start the series for decades, but never could decide where to start (there is a lot of advice on the internet NOT to start with book 1 - The Colour of Magic). I decided to start with the City Watch based on several of these recommendations.

In short, I really enjoyed this novel. The characters are absolutely fantastic. The world-building is awesome. And while you may at first think you're reading simple, light hearty fare, by the end of the book, you'll realize the degree of depth is HUGE. The cynicism that turns out to run to the very core of Discworld society. I can't describe how well this is done. And with the characters Pratchett uses to do it.

Simply brilliant.
Incredibly fun.
Some of the best characters I've read in a long time.
Truly unique world-building.