The following originally appeared in my now-defunct Wordpress journal 'Novitious' on this date:I have been a fan of
Terry Pratchett for going on fifteen years now, or maybe even twenty, but it has only been in the last few years, as I reread all the
Discworld novels in order, that I’ve come to appreciate how good he is — not just as a humorist, but as a pure storyteller and creator of vivid and memorable characters. Terry Pratchett excels at this as few writers in any genre ever manage, and in Thud!, he returns to one of his best: Commander Samuel Vimes of the City Watch.
Tension runs high in the city of Ankh-Morpork (a sort of Victorian-era London populated by humans, trolls, dwarves, goblins, gnolls, vampires, werewolves, Igors, wizards, and so on) as Thud! opens, as the anniversary of the ancient battle of Koom Valley draws nigh, and the dwarves and trolls of the city are incited by the more radical members of both races. An apparent murder fans the flames of prejudice, and Vimes and his now-massive Watch must find a way to keep it from boiling over, while also maintaining diversity and making sure Vimes gets home every night at 6 p.m. to read to his young son.
The situation cannot help but recall many situations on our world, including racial discrimination (and attempted remedies thereof) in America, ethnic conflicts in Bosnia, religious conflicts in Northern Ireland, and extremist behavior on all sides in the Middle East. Lest you think this is an entirely grim book, however, there is plenty of
Terry Pratchett’s apparently effortless humor, so twined with the unsparing look at the workings of prejudice that it cannot be ignored.
Terry Pratchett's humor has almost always come out of his characters and how they deal with what the world pushes upon them, rather than relying on wordplay or wacky situations, as so much other ‘funny’ fantasy or science fiction does. In Thud!, as with several of his more recent books, this is taken to an even higher level. Terry Pratchett does not force humor in, and only lets out what comes naturally from the story and the characters. The result is less ‘funny’ than the mid-series Discworld books, but it also is one of the best books of his long and outstanding series.
As a reader, I’ve found Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series a treasure that will stand to re-reading probably for the rest of my life — and I do not frequently re-read, or even keep, books that I have read once. As a writer, I’ve taken away lessons in How To Do It — not just in writing humor-laden fiction (though I think my more recent efforts in that department have benefited), but in writing and storytelling in general, and in character-building in particular. Thud! immensely pleased both the reader and writer in me, and I would recommend it, and the Discworld series as a whole, to anyone interested in the possibility of a similar experience.
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