chmccann's review against another edition
5.0
I really loved this. I do believe I'll be reading the whole City Watch series, before sampling any other Discworld threads again. Somehow the other stories never please me like Vimes & company.
I guess the heart of it is the characters. I can't decide on my favorite - of course I love Carrot (as everyone does), but Angua is awesome, Cuddy and Detritus as enemies turned buddy cops are a lot of fun, Gaspode is a delight, and Colon and Vetinari are highly entertaining. And of course Vimes is Vimes (this story includes his famous theory on how the rich stay rich by their ability to spend less money, among other cynical and poignantly true observations). The only person who gets short shrift is Sybil - hopefully she'll play a bigger part in future tales.
In its way, this winds up being surprisingly political and topical, for all the silly puns and slapstick jokes. I'll say no more to avoid spoilers, but it cemented Pratchett as an author I admire.
I listened to the audio book, and its quality was very uneven. Nigel Planer is a brilliantly talented reader, and invents gorgeous voices and accents for each distinctive character. He conveys Carrot's earnest goodness particularly artfully. But it escapes me why he styled the female lead with a voice lower and more gormless than the trolls! Also, the sound quality varies from "acceptable" to "awful," sadly.
I guess the heart of it is the characters. I can't decide on my favorite - of course I love Carrot (as everyone does), but Angua is awesome, Cuddy and Detritus as enemies turned buddy cops are a lot of fun, Gaspode is a delight, and Colon and Vetinari are highly entertaining. And of course Vimes is Vimes (this story includes his famous theory on how the rich stay rich by their ability to spend less money, among other cynical and poignantly true observations). The only person who gets short shrift is Sybil - hopefully she'll play a bigger part in future tales.
In its way, this winds up being surprisingly political and topical, for all the silly puns and slapstick jokes. I'll say no more to avoid spoilers, but it cemented Pratchett as an author I admire.
I listened to the audio book, and its quality was very uneven. Nigel Planer is a brilliantly talented reader, and invents gorgeous voices and accents for each distinctive character. He conveys Carrot's earnest goodness particularly artfully. But it escapes me why he styled the female lead with a voice lower and more gormless than the trolls! Also, the sound quality varies from "acceptable" to "awful," sadly.
reviewsfeedblog's review against another edition
4.0
Men At Arms is the second book following the adventures of the City Guard of Ankh-Morpork. Our main character Carrot, born human was adopted as a dwarf and joined the Watch to make a man of himself. As mentioned above, whilst it may be helpful to have read the first book for backstories of the guards, it is not essential at all. Carrot has now been promoted to Corporal and the City Guard is recruiting. Captain Vimes is getting married to the richest, most dragon-loving woman in the city and is due to retire. Vimes is a man very set in his ways; whilst he tries to adapt to his new life as a hobnobbing gentleman, he struggles to lose his attachment to the Watch. He also doesn't like the new recruits, a troll, a dwarf and a woman. Vetinari, the City's leader has decided to champion equal opportunities for all.
When a mysterious weapon goes missing and murders start sprouting up in Ankh-Morpork, despite their differences, can the guards rally themselves to hunt the killer down?
I admire how Pratchett manages to drop in important themes within the utterly whimsical, comical and outrageous world that is the Discworld. Race is a topic that comes up throughout the book. Dwarves and trolls hate each other. Why? At some battle a long long time ago each side accused the other of foul play. Well, that's how it started. In today's society, dwarves and trolls hate each other because their ancestors have successfully hated each other for centuries. Why break tradition?
Not only is race challenged as a topical issue, governmental corruption also features massively.
Ankh-Morpork is a corrupt city through and through. Home to the Assassin's Guild, the Thieves Guild and even the Alchemist's Guild, to mention but a few names, the city thrives on money. For a fee, you can arrange for a certain somebody to disappear. For a fee, you can walk the streets safely in the assurance you won't get robbed. Nobody can guarantee your safety from flying debris if you walk past the Alchemist's Guild, however. If you happen to chance your arm robbing somebody and you don't have a license to do so, you had best pray it's the Guards that get you before the Thieves Guild.
Here are some of my favourite quotes of the book:-
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money."
"Colon thought Carrot was simple. Carrot often struck people as simple. And he was. Where people went wrong was thinking that simple meant the same thing as stupid."
"The Librarian was, of course, very much in favour of reading in general, but readers in particular got on his nerves. There was something, well, sacrilegious about the way they kept taking books off the shelves and wearing out the words by reading them. He liked people who loved and respected books, and the best way to do that, in the Librarian’s opinion, was to leave them on the shelves where Nature intended them to be."
"People ought to think for themselves, Captain Vimes says. The problem is, people only think for themselves if you tell them to."
I'm sure like many other readers out there, I read to escape from reality for a little while. I read to forget about those bills I have to pay and to forget I have to get up and go to work in the morning... and that's okay. I get that escapism from books. For me, it makes a goddamn fantastic author if they can achieve this and still highlight issues within our society without smacking you in the face with it. It's there, and you know it's there and you can choose to pay attention to it. If you want to at least.
You may have been able to find the words to say exactly what you thought of the world Terry, but nothing I could say about you will ever live up to the legacy you left behind. Not all superheroes wear capes, after all.
When a mysterious weapon goes missing and murders start sprouting up in Ankh-Morpork, despite their differences, can the guards rally themselves to hunt the killer down?
I admire how Pratchett manages to drop in important themes within the utterly whimsical, comical and outrageous world that is the Discworld. Race is a topic that comes up throughout the book. Dwarves and trolls hate each other. Why? At some battle a long long time ago each side accused the other of foul play. Well, that's how it started. In today's society, dwarves and trolls hate each other because their ancestors have successfully hated each other for centuries. Why break tradition?
Not only is race challenged as a topical issue, governmental corruption also features massively.
Ankh-Morpork is a corrupt city through and through. Home to the Assassin's Guild, the Thieves Guild and even the Alchemist's Guild, to mention but a few names, the city thrives on money. For a fee, you can arrange for a certain somebody to disappear. For a fee, you can walk the streets safely in the assurance you won't get robbed. Nobody can guarantee your safety from flying debris if you walk past the Alchemist's Guild, however. If you happen to chance your arm robbing somebody and you don't have a license to do so, you had best pray it's the Guards that get you before the Thieves Guild.
Here are some of my favourite quotes of the book:-
"The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money."
"Colon thought Carrot was simple. Carrot often struck people as simple. And he was. Where people went wrong was thinking that simple meant the same thing as stupid."
"The Librarian was, of course, very much in favour of reading in general, but readers in particular got on his nerves. There was something, well, sacrilegious about the way they kept taking books off the shelves and wearing out the words by reading them. He liked people who loved and respected books, and the best way to do that, in the Librarian’s opinion, was to leave them on the shelves where Nature intended them to be."
"People ought to think for themselves, Captain Vimes says. The problem is, people only think for themselves if you tell them to."
I'm sure like many other readers out there, I read to escape from reality for a little while. I read to forget about those bills I have to pay and to forget I have to get up and go to work in the morning... and that's okay. I get that escapism from books. For me, it makes a goddamn fantastic author if they can achieve this and still highlight issues within our society without smacking you in the face with it. It's there, and you know it's there and you can choose to pay attention to it. If you want to at least.
You may have been able to find the words to say exactly what you thought of the world Terry, but nothing I could say about you will ever live up to the legacy you left behind. Not all superheroes wear capes, after all.
kenzie_4490's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.75
josephineeo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lenci's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
enbyemu's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I love Discworld and I love the Watch books - the series is definitely some of Terry Pratchett's best work in the 20 Discworld books I've read to date (About halfway! Go me!).
The entertainment level was very high. Pratchett's insight into human weakness is always wonderful and I loved his little bit about economics (the much quoted passage about Vimes' boots theory is always a good one). The book started a little rough for me, but I warmed up to it. A main theme of this book was criticizing of racism while simultaneously acknowledging that good people can and will have racist views that are not easily acknowledged, let alone worked on (a perspective I found commendable as this is a point too often glossed over or painted in black and white - no pun intended). However, there were a few aspects of how racism was addressed that rubbed me the wrong way and while I think they were merely dated (the novel turns 30 this year), I think it would take someone more qualified than me to dig deeply into that.
The one aspect of the Watch series as a whole (at least as far as I've read it) that I feel very conflicted about is that it idealizes the police force. As it is set in a fantasy world with a very abnormal political/social structure, it's easy to see how STP was trying to paint the Watch as something law enforcement should be and how it could succeed within a flawed system - something which I don't think is possible. On the one hand, I am very much rooting for these characters that I love. On the other hand, it's incredibly difficult to fully separate them from their real-world counterparts and see how this idealized system would fail in the real world. I'm not surprised to see this, but as I generally try to avoid books where police forces are romanticized, it certainly rubs against the grain for me. But perhaps I'm just reading too much into it.
Overall, it's a very enjoyable book that I would recommend.
The entertainment level was very high. Pratchett's insight into human weakness is always wonderful and I loved his little bit about economics (the much quoted passage about Vimes' boots theory is always a good one). The book started a little rough for me, but I warmed up to it. A main theme of this book was criticizing of racism while simultaneously acknowledging that good people can and will have racist views that are not easily acknowledged, let alone worked on (a perspective I found commendable as this is a point too often glossed over or painted in black and white - no pun intended). However, there were a few aspects of how racism was addressed that rubbed me the wrong way and while I think they were merely dated (the novel turns 30 this year), I think it would take someone more qualified than me to dig deeply into that.
The one aspect of the Watch series as a whole (at least as far as I've read it) that I feel very conflicted about is that it idealizes the police force. As it is set in a fantasy world with a very abnormal political/social structure, it's easy to see how STP was trying to paint the Watch as something law enforcement should be and how it could succeed within a flawed system - something which I don't think is possible. On the one hand, I am very much rooting for these characters that I love. On the other hand, it's incredibly difficult to fully separate them from their real-world counterparts and see how this idealized system would fail in the real world. I'm not surprised to see this, but as I generally try to avoid books where police forces are romanticized, it certainly rubs against the grain for me. But perhaps I'm just reading too much into it.
Overall, it's a very enjoyable book that I would recommend.
candle_lit_library's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
raghu555's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
brianthehuman's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
hazelmort's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75