Where's my Cow? (Thud! - Terry Pratchett)

Member Name: andrewl

Product:	Thud! - Terry Pratchett
Date:	21/07/09 (49 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: One of my favourite Discworld novels

Disadvantages: Fans of the earlier books may be put off at the more mature style

For the past hundred years or so, Mr Terrance Pratchett of Wiltshire has been producing a whimsical series of novels concerning the exploits of divers personages upon a celestial body which resembles in many ways our own Terra, save but for the trifling datum that it is a flat disc carried by four mighty elephants, who labour under their not inconsiderable burden whilst being borne through the firmament by a giant turtle.

Readers have matured alongside this giant of prolificness as these merry adventures have developed from joke-a-minute fantasy spoofs into challenging tracts for our times which happen to contain trolls and vampires.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the development of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch. Going from a ragtag crew of misfits and petty criminals in 'Guards! Guards!', the Watch has gone from being a one-note gag about crap guards in fantasy novels, through a phase of detective fiction parody and has finally developed into an exploration of the Discworld's most psychologically real character, Sam Vimes.

Next to the cowardly wizard Rincewind, and even the grumpy possibly evil witch Granny Weatherwax, Vimes looks like Hamlet taking a wee over Simba from the Lion King. A recovering alcoholic full of murderous rage and bitterness held in check by his allegiance to the cause of justice. It sounds like any number of stock literary detectives, but Sam Vimes stands out by being a truly nasty piece of work. He is very much a product of the crime-infested streets he seeks to protect.
In Thud, Vimes comes up against the ingrained prejudice between Dwarfs and Trolls, encapsulated by Koom Valley. Referenced in several earlier Discworld novels, this is the battle where both armies managed to ambush each other. Like much of Discworld lore though, this little throwaway quip has escalated to become a surprisingly subversive plot element. With references to civil war between extremist minority groups and parades through the other group's turf this can only be the Discworld's answer to the darkest days of sectarian-torn Belfast, not to mention religious tensions that threaten peace throughout cities all over the world, but the point is never nailed home and so the novel can be enjoyed agenda-free.

The annual Koom Valley protests and marches and riots are a bit intense this year, possibly provoked by the presence of hard-line 'deep down' Dwarfs who are excavating beneath the city and don't recognise Ankh-Morpork law. Vimes has to deal with a Watch falling apart from the inside as its trollish and dwarfish members struggle to reconcile their racial and professional identities, as well as the usual business of solving a politically-charged murder. This time round, however, Vimes's crime-busting is impeded by the presence of Young Sam, his toddler son who demands to be read to every evening on the stroke of six.
Young Sam is important because it shows a human side to a character that occasionally veers a little too close to being Judge Dredd in tights. Although Vimes has been happily married since the end of his second adventure, his relationship with his wife was perhaps unwisely summed up as 'Love was a dicey word for the over 40s'. While a lot is left unsaid between our hero and Lady Sybil Ramkin, her blind acceptance of her husband's devotion to duty means that she never really casts much light on his character. A comfortable marriage is very boring for readers, but a young baby who will make a workaholic lawman charge across town, leaving chaos in his wake... that creates conflict, which is the essence of drama, as any GCSE theatre studies student will tell you.

The Watch wouldn't be complete without its coppers though. Carrot the almost-Dwarf (he's seven foot tall, but apparently that doesn't matter) and rightful King of Ankh-Morpork bobs along for the ride but doesn't do a huge amount considering the story centres on the dwarfs - a slight hint that Pratchett is a bit bored of this character, I felt. Instead, his werewolf girlfriend gets a nice little subplot getting to know a new vampire copper, Sally.
At the same time, Detritus the troll forms a paternal bond with troll junkie Brick. This largely consists of hitting him. Nobby Nobbs has also got a girlfriend in the improbably beautiful shape of a Discworld lapdancer.

These subplots are a little more, well, SUB than usual. The reader is never left in any doubt that this is Vimes's story, and it's a rare moment where we are in anyone's head but Vimes. To me, this increasing adoption of Sam Vimes as the preferred central character tells you all you need to know about Pratchett as an author. In the early days of pastiche and spoofery, you had Rincewind the wizard reacting against the genre and being terribly cutting about all the cliches around him. The witches were a step up, commendably solid characters sending up their fantastic surroundings by prodding them with distinctly earthy logic. But Vimes is a bad-tempered man with a family and a devotion to justice. He skewers the fantastic things around him with caustic wit and bitterness, but purely from his professional perspective as a policeman. It's just better writing, God damn it.
Thud is a fine entry in the Discworld canon, although in some respects it has been overlooked in favour of newer characters in Going Postal and Making Money. It bears repeated readings, and for added enjoyment, you can also get a copy of 'Where's My Cow?', the picture book that Sam reads to his young son throughout the novel - the illustrations to which make it abundantly clear that actor Pete Postlethwaite (Brassed Off, Jurassic Park 2) is the physical inspiration for Vimes.

Read. Enjoy. Read again.

Summary: One of my favourite Discworld novels