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A review by caitibeth
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
4.0
[Re-read; first read 2011.]
This isn't my favorite of the Watch books. It's still a perfectly pleasant read and a fun addition to the Watch saga, but there are cracks showing and it's not quite as stellar a tour de force as some of the others in the series. The Diamond King and his worldbuilding wasn't fleshed out enough to me; he came across as a deus ex machina. Vimes' obsessive need to be home exactly at six every night to read to Young Sam was incredibly over-the-top; when it later became a plot point, that made more sense.
Carrot is underused in this book again. I don't need him front and center - Vimes is the protagonist - but I could've used more Carrot. Particularly since this book is so focused on dwarvish lore and actions. The 'comic' subplot of Angua and Sally was groanworthy at times, as was their mentoring of the dancer who's superlatively pretty and incredibly dumb and is going out with Nobby (!) because no other man has ever asked her out. MEGA EYE ROLL. There's also very little Vetinari.
But the dwarven politics is interesting, and so is the denouement when history gets rewritten. I'm a big Low King fan, so to see the King reappear in the series was great. And even a Watch book with some cracks in it is still a Watch book! Pratchett's world is, as always, a joy.
This isn't my favorite of the Watch books. It's still a perfectly pleasant read and a fun addition to the Watch saga, but there are cracks showing and it's not quite as stellar a tour de force as some of the others in the series. The Diamond King and his worldbuilding wasn't fleshed out enough to me; he came across as a deus ex machina. Vimes' obsessive need to be home exactly at six every night to read to Young Sam was incredibly over-the-top; when it later became a plot point, that made more sense.
Carrot is underused in this book again. I don't need him front and center - Vimes is the protagonist - but I could've used more Carrot. Particularly since this book is so focused on dwarvish lore and actions. The 'comic' subplot of Angua and Sally was groanworthy at times, as was their mentoring of the dancer who's superlatively pretty and incredibly dumb and is going out with Nobby (!) because no other man has ever asked her out. MEGA EYE ROLL. There's also very little Vetinari.
But the dwarven politics is interesting, and so is the denouement when history gets rewritten. I'm a big Low King fan, so to see the King reappear in the series was great. And even a Watch book with some cracks in it is still a Watch book! Pratchett's world is, as always, a joy.