A review by enbyemu
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
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.