The Flying Squad (Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: Nomad

Product:	Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett
Date:	23/06/04 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compelling plot and characters, Very very funny, The Brethren

Disadvantages: Nothing, I can, think of

The Discworld is a flat, disc like world, carried through space on the back of four giant elephants who are in turn supported by the great space turtle A?Tuin. It?s a land flooded with magic and, like all natural resources, magic is as likely to be used for evil as well as good.

Ankh Morpork is the Discworlds largest city and it?s fair to say that it?s not the most wonderful of places. Essentially it?s two cities with the murky river Ankh running between them. The streets are dirty and dangerous, filled with thieves and assassins. And those are the better parts of town.

The city is ruled by Lord Vetinari and under him the city operates. Perhaps not in a just, fair or democratic way but his belief in not letting any one group become powerful enough to tip the balance keeps things ticking along.

There remains a certain structure to life in the city. It is as much the home to Unseen university, the premier college of wizardry, as it is the thieves and assassins guild. Another such establishment is the Watch House, home of the night watch guards. Essentially redundant, the Patrician now keeps the unit primarily for show.

Into this town comes Carrot Ironfoundersson, six foot tall, massively strong and human. The human bit came as something as a shock to him when he recently discovered that he was not a dwarf like those around him but was, in fact, adopted.

So he is sent out to see something of the Discworld, and his own kind, with only a sword, a woolly vest, a codpiece and a rather battered copy of the Ankh Morpork law book to his name. His family has arranged for him to work at the city watch as a volunteer, a prospect that fortunately he finds quite appealing.

Ankh Morpork is also home to any number of groups and sects, one of which currently has some very ambitious plans
for the city. Wishing to overthrow the patrician and replace him with a more easily manipulated ruler the supreme grandmaster of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night is forging a plan.

According to an old prophecy one day the rightful heir to the throne will return, save the kingdom and rule the land. But this is an old story, there aren?t that many long lost rightful rulers of the kingdom lying around and of the few who have heard of the prophecy most do not believe in it. Finding someone to play the role of the King shouldn?t be too difficult. Any strong, young man who is easily manipulated and looks good waving a sword around while on horseback will do. The trick is ensuring he turns up when the Kingdom is under threat, and to achieve this the grandmaster has a cunning plan.

Elsewhere in town, on this dark, wet night a magic book is being stolen from the library. The book in question is used to summon dragons, dragons that can be used to terrorise a city. A city that will no doubt then look for a hero to slay the dragon. Cue the arrival of the long lost King. It all sounds very straightforward to the grandmaster. What could possibly go wrong?

So begins ?Guards Guards,? Terry Pratchetts eighth book in his constantly expanding Discworld series. One of the strengths of the Discworld novels has been Mr P?s desire not to rely on the same handful of characters for every entry in the series. Instead we?ve encountered a variety of distinct characters; some have only appeared in one tale while others have had more frequent adventures. The more regular characters include the wizards, the witches and, of course, Death. Well, now we can add the City Watch to this list.

During the previous seven instalments the watch have received little more than a passing mention, mostly pointing out tha
t whenever there was trouble they were nowhere to be seen. They may not seem like the most exciting group of characters but you?ll soon discover that there is a lot more to them than meets the eye.

With the thieves and assassins guild doing a more effective job of controlling crime than the watch (after all, if the guild need to cut crime all they need to do is not work as hard) the watch has been reduced from hundreds of guards to just three.

They are led by Captain Samuel Vimes, a man usually found drowning his sorrows in the nearest public house. His latest excuse is a failed relationship but deeper than that is a desire for the watch to be respected, for it to stand for something. Next up is Sergeant Colon. A family man who, some have assumed, owes thirty years of happy marriage to the fact that Mrs Colon works all day and he works all night. Last and extremely least is corporal Nobbs, or Nobby for short, who ?had survived any number of famous massacres by not being there?. A sorry bunch to be sure but as with the beginning of all good stories things are about to change.

Initially it?s the arrival of Carrot that sets the cat among the pigeons as, having absorbed every piece of information in his ancient Law Book he proceeds to go on a one man crimefighting campaign. But it?s when people start to disappear leaving behind only human shaped scorch marks, that Vimes realizes that he got a real mystery on his hands and takes it upon himself (and of course the rest of the watch) to find out what?s happening.

?Guards Guards? gets into its stride early on. Initially we follow the journey of Brother Fingers of the Elucidated Brethren and he is late for a meeting. Now I don?t know if it?s just me but I found this opening section hysterical, like a sketch that wouldn?t be out of place in a Monty P
;ython show.

What should be a sinister secret society plotting to seize power is skilfully picked at and played with. First it?s the late arrival then it?s the manipulative grandmaster trying to influence his gullible flock into carrying out his wicked plans, all the while having to put up with life?s little annoyances such as people who have wandered into the wrong meeting and a stuck door amongst other things.

When the attention turns to the city watch it?s with no little amount of relief that you realize while the jokes may have spread out a little more the story is still completely engaging as you?re introduced to Carrot and the watch guards.

Mr P has again crafted some endearing characters, creating their backgrounds quickly but skilfully. Immediately you know they are the underdogs but vitally they are instantly likeable.

The supporting characters are also well fleshed out, not least the Brethren and it?s manipulative Grand master, who comes over as a cross between your standard James Bond nemesis and Basil Fawlty. We also get to meet Sybil Ranking who runs the local swamp dragon shelter (swamp dragons being the only dragons naturally found on the Discworld and much smaller than the huge fire-breathing monsters the grandmaster is hoping to summon), the Patrician and his scheming secretary Lupine Wonse. Smaller appearances of note include that of Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler, a sort of Discworld version of Del-boy seizing every opportunity to make some cash.

The interplay between these characters is perhaps some of the best of the eight books so far. Fortunately this is all backed up by a compelling story and a suitably menacing threat to the city. Yes, we may have seen the entire Discworld face destruction before but here the threat feels darker and more menacing and this is mostly due to that fa
ct that this time our heroes don?t have magical powers to fall back on. They are more vulnerable, more human.

?Guards Guards? has a tight plot with plenty of twists and turns and it powers on at a fair pace. It?s something that a few of the previous books have perhaps lacked and makes this a very tough book to put down. It?s also a very difficult book to criticize. I?ve found the Discworld series generally to be very good but a couple of the previous entries have failed to hit the mark dead-on. But ?Guards? is damn near perfect.

Although the humour may slow a little after the opening sequence it?s still as funny as any of the previous books. From throwaway lines to more elaborate sequences the wide grin you?ll develop rarely disappears altogether. And between the jokes we get a compelling tale with characters that you genuinely care about.

It?s a somewhat darker and more serious tale than the previous seven but don?t be put off by this. For me I found this helped to emphasise the danger facing our heroes.

Having read all of the series so far I found a familiarity with the ways and characters of the land made me appreciate some of the background jokes, however this is as good a stand-alone Discworld novel as you?ll get with all the main players only now stepping to the forefront of the stage. No previous knowledge is required or assumed.

I though it would be a long time coming but I have to admit that Guards has just taken the top spot away from Mort as my favourite Disworld book (so far). Quite frankly you?d be a fool to ignore this. ?Guards Guards? is an absolute joy to read. It?s well paced and thoroughly entertaining. It?s a great introduction to the City Watch and it?s nice to have a group of heroes who only have their brains and courage to fall back on for a change.

As with an
y fantasy like this some people just won?t get it and however much I rave about it this book simply isn?t for them. You?ll know if this is your cup of tea. Dragons, magic and a generous helping of humour awaiting you and if you?re inclined, I can guarantee you won?t regret it.

Roll on the next City Watch instalment



Thanks for reading.
© Nomad 2004



Book information
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?Guards Guards? by Terry Pratchett
412 pages, published by Corgi, £6.99
ISBN : 0-552-13462-7

Some Discworld related websites worth a look
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The L Space Web - http://www.ie.lspace.org/
Discworld monthly - http://www.ufbs.co.uk/dwm/
Terry Pratchett Books - http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/

Other Discworld book reviews by me
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'Destination Discworld' an opinion on Book 1 - 'The Colour Of Magic'
'Fantastical Magical' an opinion on Book 2 - 'The Light Fantastic'
'Men Only' an opinion on Book 3 - 'Equal Rites'
'A Life Of Death' an opinion on Book 4 - 'Mort'
'It's A Kind Of Magic' an opinion on Book 5 - 'Sourcery'
'Is This A Discworld Novel I See Before Me?' an opinion on Book 6 - 'Wyrd Sisters'
'Time After Time' an opinion on Book 7 - 'Pyramids'


A little taster
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He knocked. The little barred hatch shot back.
"Yes?"
"
Look, 'The significant owl hoots in the night', all right?"
" 'Yet many grey lords go sadly to the masterless men.' "
" 'Hooray, hooray for the spinster's sister's daugh-ter', okay?' "
" 'To the axeman, all supplicants are the same height.' "
" 'Yet verily, the rose is within the thorn.' It's piss-ing down out here. You do know that, don't you?"
"Yes," said the voice, in the tones of one who in-deed does know it, and is not the one standing in it.

Summary: