Pratchett's Guards Is Fine Fantasy Read
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Striking the perfect balance between continuing a best-selling series and introducing new characters, Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards! may be one of the 1990s top serial follow-ups.The U.K.'s best selling author before J.K. Rowling introduced a young wizard named Harry Potter, Pratchett's contemporary satire buried deep inside a spectacular fantasy universe remains wildly popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Readers can dive into any of Pratchett's Discworld novels on multiple levels, including the superficial. Readers sometimes compare the writer to popular authors who created absurd worlds like Douglas Adams or Alan Dean Foster, but a deeper reading will often show a more apt comparison can be made to Swift, Vonnegut or Thurber.
New Stuff
Guards introduces two of the series more mudane, but likable characters. Carrot is a muscular young man who believes himself dwarven after being found as an abandoned baby and raised by the mountain-dwellers. Reluctantly convinced that his differences are more attributable to being a different species than a mutated strand of genetic material, Carrot brings a dwarven's matter-of-fact, rules-oriented sensibilities to a body that makes The Rock seem like a lightweight.Captain Vimes, meanwhile, appears at first read to be a caricature of any world weary hard-bitten police officer careening through unexpected and astounding events impeding his previously peaceful journey to retirement. Pratchett's characterization of Vimes is actually an extremely well done portrait of a weary, aging baby boomer who is again allowing life to revitalize him. Don't fall for the walrus-looking rotund cop first pass on Vimes; his portrayal is the very essence of a generation that sometimes forgets to fully live life.
Mixed in with these new characters and old favorites is a deep look at the city of Ankh Morpork. Pratchett has written more than one Discworld "non-fiction" book and his loving attention to the detail of the DiscWorld and its largest city introduces the reader to more of the city's delights, including the coverage of magic by ordinances.
The Plot In Exactly One Hundred Words
Carrot is a veritable gian who is raised by dwarves and eventually sent to the big city to join the City Watch. Enthusiastic, exuberant and eager to enforce any law regardless of how petty, Carrot joins with Captain Sam Vimes to face down an ancient dragon conjured into Ankh-Morpork by a secret society who blunders through the incarnation. The dragon, no ordinary fire-breather, decides to be king, creating havoc and destruction along the way. The City Guard must devise a way to stop the dragon, restore the king and avoid becoming even more obsolete than when the whole adventure started.What Works Well
Less magic-based than other DiscWorld novels, Pratchett's characterizations are brilliant. Deftly dealing with Vimes' redemption through romance and Carrot's emergence as a man - albeit a strange man - Pratchett handles character development better than in any previous effort. There is still plenty of humor, but there is an awful lot of fine writing.Guards! Guards! is a little longer than prior Discworld books, and a bit more heavy-handed in its skewering of modern society. Class-based society, bureaucracy and aging are all tackled in Pratchett's humorous style that, upon reflection, leaves little doubt regarding his opinion.
