Book Review: Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #8)

When Sir Terry Pratchett passed away in March 2015, the literary world lose one of its brightest and finest authors. Terry Pratchett was a prolific author. He was most well known for his works on Discworld novels, a critically acclaimed fantasy series. For almost 3 decades, Discworld novels charmed legions of readers with good humor, memorable characters, and compelling stories.

Up to date, there are 40 Discworld novels. Each novel is a stand-alone story. This means, a new comer to Discworld can pick up any book in the series and still enjoy it. Within Discworld series, there are several “minor series”. Out of these “minor series”, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch series is the fan favorite.

Last year, I read every Discworld novel featuring Death and I loved them all. So I was super excited when I began to read Guards! Guards!. This is the 8^th entry in Discworld series, and the first book featuring the Ankh-Morpork city watch.

Guards! Guards! is 350 pages in length, and I read it in 2 sittings because this book is so enjoyable that's hard to put down. Today, I would like to provide a review for this book.

Synopsis:

  Here be dragons....

On our home, the third rock from the sun, dragons are very popular. They make regular appearances in books and folklore. Everyone knows what a dragon is. In our earthly stories, spawned from the well of human imaginations, these giant reptiles are often associated with the business of fire-breathing and wreaking havoc. But do you know, dragons literally exist on Discworld?

In fact, Ankh-Morpork, the proudest city on Discworld is about to be invaded by a 60 feet long, fire-breathing dragon. The city's last hope lies in a small band of unlikely heroes known as the City Watch. Together with a few brave denizens of Ankh-Morpork, Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot and the rest of the City Watch set out on a mission to free their beloved city from the tyranny of the fiery dragon.

My thoughts on this book:

Guards! Guards! is a great book. What I like the most about this book, is the the superb worldbuilding. Let me explain. This book is set in the fantastical city of Ankh-Morpork, which is supposed to be a parallel for London. Under Terry Pratchett's pen, Ankh-Morpork came to life, buzzing with activities and interesting people. The excellent worldbuilding in this book warrants an immersive reading experience.

Like most Discworld novels, Guards! Guards! features a cast of eccentric, comical characters who

are bound to cut lasting impressions into readers' minds. My favorite character from this book is Samuel Vimes, the captain of the City Watch. This book depicts Captain Vimes as an anti-hero, grumpy and cynical, he tends to ask the kind of uncomfortable questions that no one wants to ask. This makes Samuel Vimes a very dynamic, and interesting character.

Meanwhile, plenty of spotlight was cast on Constable Carrot. A new recruit to the City Watch, Carrot is the adopted son of a mountain dwarf king. He is a direct and honest bloke not used to the ways of a big city such as Ankh-Morpork, where greed and jealousy are normalized, and people desensitized to the bending of the laws . Based on this premise, Terry Pratchett created a satire out of these sad realizations, inviting his readers to confront the unpleasant realities about the human world as we laugh along a series of comedic episodes, build on well-crafted parodies of fantasy tropes.

I remember putting down this book and thought, there are many things in our society that aren't right, and I often feel helpless to do anything about it. Sometimes, the only way to demonstrate the absurdity of a wrongful thing is to ridicule it. And frankly, no one does this better than Terry Pratchett. In some ways, it feels like his books are speaking for me. This is why I like his books so much.

My most favorite Discworld novel is Small Gods, followed by Reaper Man. But Guards! Guards! definitely comes in the top 5. This book is funny, yet meaningful. The characters are impressionable and likable, while the writings will draw you deeply into this fantastic world. Furthermore, I think for new comers to Discworld, Guards! Guards! is an excellent starting point to begin your adventure in Discworld. So, gentle readers, I highly recommend this book, it will not disappoint you.