Tag: Vimes

Terry Pratchett – Feet of Clay | Review

April 17, 2016
Authors P-T (By Surname)Fiction

Title: Feet of Clay

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 416

Rating: 10/10

 

Terry Pratchett - Feet of Clay

Terry Pratchett – Feet of Clay

 

Feet of Clay was the first Pratchett book that I ever read, and it’s the book that made me fall in love with the Discworld series. I still think that the Ankh Morpork City Watch books are the best books within the series, and I’m not sure whether that’s because they’re the books that introduced me to Vimes and Vetinari or because they’re just really, really good. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

In Feet of Clay, the Watch is finally beginning to get into shape, and if you’ve read the later books in the City Watch series, you’ll kind of see how it was in this book that the Watch became an actual credible organisation, rather than a ragtag bunch of corrupt nutters who everyone looked down upon.

Part of that is because of the golem aspect of the story line – it’s their feet of clay which cause something of an uproar in the city, and we get to see the full force of Vimes’ liberal attitude, here. Perhaps ‘liberal’ is the wrong word here, but you can’t deny that he has a strong sense of justice, and justice is justice no matter what species you are.

 

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

 

And there are plenty of other reasons to love this book, too – to start with, a crime has been committed, but nobody knows who did it, how they did it, or what it was that they actually did. Meanwhile, Angua is on fine form, Carrott comes into his element as the Watch is forced to deal with dwarfish politics, and Vimes has several of his finest hours.

Now, I read this book first because it was one of Pratchett’s most recent works at the time, and whilst I do think it’s one of his greatest works, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that you start with it. In fact, you’re probably better off with one of the earlier City Watch books, or if you read them all in order. That said, it’s definitely one to look forward to, and your enjoyment can only be enhanced if you’ve read the books that came before this, as you’ll pick up on more of the nuances.

And so overall, I’d say that this is an essential book for your collection, whether you’re a Pratchett reader or not. In fact, you should get it whether you’re into fantasy or not, ’cause Pratchett rocks!

 

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky...

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky…

 

Click here to buy Feet of Clay.

Terry Pratchett – Night Watch | Review

April 17, 2016
Authors P-T (By Surname)Fiction

Title: Night Watch

Author: Terry Pratchett

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 480

Rating: 9/10

 

Terry Pratchett - Night Watch

Terry Pratchett – Night Watch

 

Now, it’s pretty obvious that I’m a Discworld fan, considering the number of Terry Pratchett reviews that I’ve already written, and I’ve also mentioned multiple times that the City Watch books are my favourite miniseries within the series. Vimes is one of my favourite characters, as is Vetinari – both of them appear here, so it’s automatically going to get a high score from me.

That said, there are plenty of other things to mark this book out as one that’s particularly worthy of attention. The plot itself is one of Pratchett’s more ambitious, but it works – I usually try not to give too much away with my reviews, and I’ll try to do the same here, but it’s notable enough that I want to give you a brief synopsis.

Basically, just when Sam Vimes is starting to get used to a life in which he has (comparatively) everything, he finds himself transported backwards through time to when he was first getting started out on the mean streets of Ankh-Morpork, and, of course, there are people out to get him.

 

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

 

Because of that, this book is a milestone in the Discworld’s evolution, and it’s interesting to get a glimpse into the youth of Sir Samuel Vimes, and the surroundings in which the beloved character came from. Personally, I think that it was clever of Pratchett to do this, because he’s not really experimented with time travel too much and so it’s a pretty unique read from that perspective.

One of the strengths of the Discworld is the breadth of topics which were covered, enabling Sir Pratchett to build a world of such complexity that even J. R. R. Tolkien would’ve felt threatened, were he still alive. Unfortunately, with the Discworld novels, that can also ocassionally make them feel stilted, because it feels as though every conceivable topic that could have been covered has been covered.

That’s not so here – this book is like a breath of fresh air, to use a cliche, and it’s truly a unique Discworld novel. I’m not saying that any of the books are ‘filler‘, but there are certainly certain books which stand out more than others, at least for me. The interesting thing is that different people have different favourites, and whilst I can’t stop raving about Night Watch, other readers will tell you that it was so so. Hell, I even know someone who says that Moist Von Lipwig is their favourite character, which is madness.

It helps if you’ve read other books from the City Watch and Discworld series, but it’s not a necessity – in fact, if this is your first ever Discworld novel then I’m pretty sure you’ll find yourself coming back for more. So what are you waiting for? Go and read it!

 

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky...

Terry Pratchett on the difference between erotic and kinky…

 

Click here to buy Night Watch.