Hm, I usually try to come up with a witty opening section, but I've been sitting on this review for far too long as it is :-p So without further ado, we have the next book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.
Overview
It's a busy time for the Watch, now that they've expanded from night duty to 'round-the-clock City Guard. One result of this is the opening of CSI: Ankh-Morpork. (Okay, so maybe the new forensics division consists of a single dwarf who managed to blow the Alchemist Guild sky-high one too many times, but it's a start) And it turns out that they need all the extra hands they can get, because someone is poisoning Vetinari and someone else is killing harmless old men. It looks like a golem is responsible for the murders, but these fantasy equivalents of robots aren't allowed to hurt people, so what's going on?
Overview
It's a busy time for the Watch, now that they've expanded from night duty to 'round-the-clock City Guard. One result of this is the opening of CSI: Ankh-Morpork. (Okay, so maybe the new forensics division consists of a single dwarf who managed to blow the Alchemist Guild sky-high one too many times, but it's a start) And it turns out that they need all the extra hands they can get, because someone is poisoning Vetinari and someone else is killing harmless old men. It looks like a golem is responsible for the murders, but these fantasy equivalents of robots aren't allowed to hurt people, so what's going on?
Recommended for: Everyone :-p It's not a bad place to start, if you're new to Discworld, but if you've got a choice, Guards! Guards! or Men at Arms might be better.
Parental Worries: Hmm, minor language and violence? I can't remember exactly, so probably not much. A bit of religious spoof, if that's your idea of a bad time.
Audiobook Comments: Read by Nigel Planer, who does a wonderful job as usual.
Ramblings
Three books into Discworld's Watch sequence, and various schemers in Ankh-Morpork are still trying to put a king on their ancient (and rotting) throne. Everyone seems to want a king, and if a willing candidate does not appear, they're ready to make one out of the commonest materials.
Since we've spent the last two books listening to why Vimes doesn't like kings (and you still get a bit of that, don't worry), it's interesting to finally get Carrot's side of things. Why hasn't he stepped up to claim his obvious birthright? (other than the threat of Vimes, that is) The most forthcoming answer is that the desire for power is completely against Carrot's character, a subconsious thing that ironically makes him even more suited to the throne. But assuming it's all subconsious does Carrot a bit of a disservice--as Angua points out in this book, you have to be very complex to appear as simple as Carrot. It's quite possible that he's been avoiding the crown for his own sanity; it appears that kingship tends to drive people mad, and just in case the idea hadn't occured to him before, this little adventure provides a very good demonstration.
An interesting point that I just discovered: According to The Annotated Pratchett, (which is an excellent guide to all the little historical, literary and popular references in the books) golems originated from Jewish legend, which is why they all have Yiddish names and speech patterns (at least in this book, I don't think that's kept up in the golem's later appearances).
Quotes!
"Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk [...]"--Carrot, quoting Vimes
"I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES. I TURN UP ONLY ONCE."
"People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they´re standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don´t look quite like real science.(That is to say, the sort you can use to give something three extra legs and then blow it up) But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity."
"'Is It Frightening To Be Free?'
'You said it.'
'You Say To People "Throw Off Your Chains" And They Make New Chains For Themselves?'
'Seems to be a major human activity, yes.'"
- Dorfl the golem tries to understand human nature
An interesting point that I just discovered: According to The Annotated Pratchett, (which is an excellent guide to all the little historical, literary and popular references in the books) golems originated from Jewish legend, which is why they all have Yiddish names and speech patterns (at least in this book, I don't think that's kept up in the golem's later appearances).
Quotes!
"Just because someone's a member of an ethnic minority doesn't mean they're not a nasty small-minded little jerk [...]"--Carrot, quoting Vimes
"I AM DEATH, NOT TAXES. I TURN UP ONLY ONCE."
"People look down on stuff like geography and meteorology, and not only because they´re standing on one and being soaked by the other. They don´t look quite like real science.(That is to say, the sort you can use to give something three extra legs and then blow it up) But geography is only physics slowed down and with a few trees stuck on it, and meteorology is full of excitingly fashionable chaos and complexity."
"'Is It Frightening To Be Free?'
'You said it.'
'You Say To People "Throw Off Your Chains" And They Make New Chains For Themselves?'
'Seems to be a major human activity, yes.'"
- Dorfl the golem tries to understand human nature
1 comments:
Your reviews are getting shorter. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. :-p
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