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breadwitchery's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia
crufts's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Although this is Book 8 of the Discworld series, there's minimal connection to the preceding novels and you can read it as a standalone.
Samuel Vimes is the Captain of the Watch in the sprawling city of Ankh-Morpork. But his cynical, jaded, depressed attitude is shaken up by the arrival of a naive and idealistic new recruit (Carrot Ironfoundersson). Tasked to retrieve a magic book stolen from the Unseen University, the watch discovers a conspiracy seeking to summon a dragon, unseat the city's ruler and take the throne. With the help of dragon breeder Lady Sybil Ramkin, can the watch restore order to their beloved city?
There's a lot to enjoy about this book. My favourite points were:
(1) Cynicism vs Idealism
This is one of the thematic conflicts of the novel, with wholesome results.
(2) The romance
This wasn't crucial to the plot, but it was cute and it added to some characters' development. Also, the romantic interest character subverts a lot of tropes/stereotypes of what the romantic interest character is "meant" to be.
(3) The red herring "sordid past"
There is a running reference about the Captain's depression being caused by his mysterious sordid past, when he was supposedly "brung low by a woman". This is a red herring, and the actual cause is much better than the mystery.
A good read overall. If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy other books in the Discworld City Watch storyline, such as Night Watch.
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Death
woweewhoa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
cults are a prominent plot point of this booktangleroot_eli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
* * *
First read review: January 2018: Many Discworld books--and the City Watch books, especially--have a timeless, even prescient quality that makes them equally fascinating and creepy. The subtle interplays between characters, especially the members of the Brotherhood and Vimes vs., erm... everyone are a treat to watch play out. oh and also dragons
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Police corruption, Environmental degradation,caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I like the guards, and the dragon lady. The stuff about the swamp dragons was great! The villains were fine but underdeveloped. They mostly existed to make the large dragon appear. The main villain had a lot more development and many complex thoughts about what he was doing and why/how, but since it's mostly him monologuing in his thoughts it felt flat in places.
I'm getting tired of this air where everyone but the main character knows what sex is and how it works. It's been in the other Discworld books I've read until this point, and in GUARDS! GUARDS! in particular the density of sly references to the idea of sex felt so high that it crosses over from "joke that older readers will get" to "joke that younger readers won't get but will probably notice that there's something they're not getting". The series isn't specifically aimed at kids, thought it would be fine for teen readers, so it's not inappropriate, really, just tiresome.
A good start to the City Watch sub-series, worth reading if you're trying to read a bunch of the series, but not spectacular on its own. It's clearly setting up something with Carrot to pay off in a later book, so it's important for that arc.
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Ableism, Sexual content, and Medical content
manarnia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexism
Minor: Death and Violence