Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Guards! Guards!

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.

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woweewhoa's review against another edition

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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!

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keegan_leech's review against another edition

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adventurous funny informative lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Impossible not to recommend Terry Pratchett to everyone all the time. Beneath his lighthearted, funny style, there's such an incredible depth of thought that goes into each character, and every book.

A perfect place to introduce yourself to the Discworld, and I particularly recommend it to anyone who likes the sound of a funny detective noir story about the shortcomings of "hero of destiny" tropes.

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theirgracegrace's review

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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

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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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

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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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.

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