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clayby's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
5.0
Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett
This is where the dragons went. They lie... Not dead, not asleep. Not waiting, because waiting implies expectation. Possibly the word we're looking for here is... dormant.
I wanted to start 2023 off with something more light-hearted, and Guards! Guards! ended up fitting the bill perfectly. I'd never read a Discworld book before, the sheer number of them had intimidated me in the past. However, I discovered a little while back that there were subseries that were mostly self-contained, and off to the races I was!
As for Guards! Guards! itself, I have to say that I really enjoyed Terry Pratchett's style of humor, underlaid with a bit of seriousness. It was wonderful being dragged along through the streets and back-alleys of Ankh-Morpork, getting to know the City Watch, the locals, and their customs (good and bad).
I'm looking forward to working my way through the rest of the City Watch series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Ableism and Fatphobia
sinceraly's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? Yes
4.0
This book was so funny, and I could not put it down during the second half, but the first half is incredibly slow and made me lose interest in reading fit for a while. Definitely recommend pushing through, though, if nothing else but for Terry Pratchett's amazing skill with comedy and Monty Python-esque jokes. And Carrot and Lady Ramkin. I love Carrot and Lady Ramkin.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism
Minor: Fatphobia
breadwitchery's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Fatphobia
woweewhoa's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
A fun time! I'm working through all the Discworld books in order and currently this is my favorite one! I really enjoyed all the characters and the comedic timing was top notch. I listen to the audiobooks of the books and the narration was really good and characterful for this one for sure!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Animal cruelty
leanneymu's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
szuum's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
REREAD March 2024: Now I see why a lot of people recommend starting to read Discworld here, rather than with Colour of Magic. Pratchett really found his footing here. And the timeless/prescient quality feels even more striking now. Replace the Elucidated Brotherhood's black hoods with red hats and the Supreme Grand Master with QAnon, and it... works exactly the same.
* * *
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
* * *
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
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexism
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- 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
GUARDS! GUARDS! is about the City Watch, the folks who come running when someone else is in danger, but lately they've mostly run into their ale cups. Then someone summons a dragon...
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Violence, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Ableism, Sexual content, and Medical content