Of course Nataliya is right, it is just sometimes she's more right. This is one of them. Star rating increased.

First of all, my site has the videos that go with this: https://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/guardsguards/

But here's the lite version:

My Terry Pratchett Experience ™ is remarkably similar to my Month Python Experience.™ Fun and funny, but really best done in small doses. Say, 15 minute doses if I’m watching, longer if I’m reading.

It turns out, I haven’t read Guards!Guards! before, although I thought I had. Quite possibly, it is because I had not. Quite possibly, it’s because I had and forgot, but you’d think I’d remember the dragons. For future reference, it’s the one where the adopted dwarf Carrot goes to the big city of Ankh-Morpork and joins the Night Watch in hopes of Becoming a Man. Night Watch captain Sam Vines spends most of his days and nights in an alcoholic stupor, but the antics of Carrot in Enforcing Law and Order soon force Vines into involvement. Meanwhile, a secret society (the Elucidated Bethren of the Ebon Night) has decided to summon a dragon, intending on overthrowing the Patrician Lord Vetinari and replacing him with an old-fashioned monarchy. Some of the Brothers are quite sure they are being held down and need a monarchy to make things right:

“I get oppressed all the time,” said Brother Doorkeeper. “Mister Critchley, where I work, he oppresses me morning, noon and night, shouting at me and everything. And the woman in the vegetable shop, she oppresses me all the time.”




Yes, Pratchett is full of these little cultural call backs.

Like Monty Python, Pratchett specializes in absurdity, in mocking our perceptions, definitions and expectation. Clever and funny; a little bit of social commentary with an edge, both are particularly skilled in word games.

“‘But you’re my kind,’ said Carrot desperately. ‘In a manner of speaking, yes,’ said his father. ‘In another manner of speaking, which is a rather more precise and accurate manner of speaking, no.'”

Which puts me in mind of another famous sketch based on, you know, meaning and such:

“I wish to complain about this parrot I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique."
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It’s dead.”
“No, no; it’s resting.”



It is funny, but when it’s all clever wordplay–mocking villains in their thick dark cowls, and the general populace for being sheep, and Carrot for being So Earnest, and Lady Sybil for being such a hearty, large Englishwoman, and the only one who is really clever is the Patrician–whew. You can tell that Vimes is there as our Everyman, the emotional touchstone and the 'normal' person that gives us an anchor, because everyone else is just so extreme.

This one mentions the origins of the Librarian, an orangutan who runs the greatest library in the world. He’s trying to make Constable Carrot understand a serious crime has been committed:

“‘Ook.“

‘A book has been taken. A book has been taken? You summoned the Watch,’ Carrot drew himself up proudly, ‘because someone’s taken a book? You think that’s worse than murder?’

The librarian gave him the kind of look other people would reserve for people who said things like, ‘What’s so bad about genocide?’”

Which pretty much reminds me of the Albatross sketch. Both use the device of the straight man for maximum silliness:

The Albatross at Intermission:



At the end of the day, certainly fun. There’s certainly messages and social commentary that elevate it above simple romps, but it tends to be applied with heavy emphasis. Like Python, best enjoyed in short sketches.

Don’t worry, I’ll show myself out.


On the way to the Ministry of Silly Walks

Rounded up because it grows on me ( )

This book was absolutely hilarious. At first I was extremely confused as to what it was about, but as I delved into the disc-world head first I fell in love with Terry Pratchett’s extremely witty and charming writing style. I highlighted so many spots in the kindle app purely because of how clever some of the jokes were. I also adore how bizarre the world they live in is, and how messed up the city is. This is a fantasy story that knows it’s a fantasy story and likes to take jabs at every other fantasy trope, then turn them on their heads. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Book 252 Terry Pratchett. Guards Guards! Really enjoyed this one. Funny, bonkers. What an imagination. 9/10 ( )

Back before I ever read a Discworld book I had heard that this is where the series officially went from good to great.

And I believe it. Guards! Guards! is everything you'd want from a comedy book satirizing fantasy: there's loads of jokes, references both obvious and subtle, and a careful balance between legitimate storytelling and farce. The earlier Discworld books struggled with this balance, but Pratchett has definitely got the hang of it now.

The characters benefit the most from Pratchett's increased mastery. They aren't just vehicles for jokes or exist purely as a stand-in for some fantasy cliche. The stars of the book - Captain Vimes, Corporal Nobby, Sgt. Colon, Lance-Constable Carrot, and of course Lady Sybil, the noblewoman-slash-dragon breeder - are all memorable and easy to root for.

There are dragons to slay and cities to save, sinister secret societies, library crimes, and an exploration of the outrageously creative L-space. There's also a surprising amount of messaging, from commentary on the rich and poor to what it means to rule over others, whether as king or lawman or dragon.

And through all of this are roughly ten million jokes. Not all of them land, but in the same way that not every bullet from a gatling gun ultimately hits its _target. Does it matter to the _target that 10 bullets missed when the remaining 90 shredded it to bits? ( )

(A re-read I think.) In which Carrot comes to Ankh-Morpork, and Vimes meets Lady Sybil, and a mighty dragon threatens the city.

Some of Pratchett's earliest work feels to me like the humour is a bit forced; this is late enough that while it still has a touch of that feeling, it's also starting to delve deeper into characterisations and societal injustices and meaty stuff like that, while also being a really fun and easy read. ( )