Review: Guards! Guards!
Daniel Orner
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The eighth book in the Discworld series introduces the City Watch
thread, which is the longest and arguably most popular of the books thus
far. The Discworld series has really come into its own at this point,
moving away from fantasy parody into full-out analysis and
deconstruction of various settings and genres, with strong characters
and plot and a deft hand with puns, malapropisms and similes. It also
marks the beginning of a full denial of fantasy cliches, with characters
getting first names like "Fred" and "Samuel".
Judging from the introduction, the book was meant to be a deconstruction
of the generic fantasy guards that attack the hero ten minutes into the
movie and then get ruthlessly slaughtered (with a side order of film
noir). It evolves into something much more than that, though. The City
Watch is probably the strongest cast in the series: fat and rather
stupid Sergeant Fred Colon; Nobby Nobbs, who's as close to a petty
criminal as you can get while still working for the government; Carrot
Ironfoundersson, a six-foot-tall, incredibly naive and upright youth who
was raised as a dwarf; and Captain Sam Vimes, a drunkard with style,
intelligence, and a bullheaded, idealistic drive to uphold the law.
The plot revolves around the attempts of a secret society to summon a
dragon in order to overthrow the government (said secret society is
basically a full-on, hilarious Monty Python sketch every time it shows
up). But it's less about the plot and more about the characters. The
chemistry between the four guards is unusual and extremely entertaining,
and every one of them has depths that are plumbed even more later on.
There's a good deal of character growth, as well; the Vimes and Carrot
we see at the end of the book are only passingly like the ones we saw at
the start. The growth continues throughout the series, and charting it
is quite the pastime.
In terms of series development, this is the first time we meet the
iconic Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, the merchant who'll try to sell
anything; and the Librarian, who earlier was just a regular guy who
turned into an ape, is now given a lot more skill and intelligence (and
his dislike of the word "monkey" has solidified as well). Though Lord
Vetinari was introduced earlier, this is the first time we really see
his Machiavellian genius.
One thing I noticed is that Terry has really gone all-out in his use of
metaphor in this book. Maybe it's because he was trying to evoke a film
noir feel, but the imagery comes fast and delightful, painting a canvas
with words and giving everything - the sky, the mist, a uniform, a
feeling of despair - qualities of something else entirely. It's a really
great read.
--
http://roleplayingjew.blogspot.com/ - An Orthodox Jew who plays Japanese
role-playing games? Strange but true!
Emma Anne
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Good review!
>
> The eighth book in the Discworld series introduces the City Watch
> thread, which is the longest and arguably most popular of the books thus
> far.
I surprised myself by liking the Watch books best. I would have thought
it would be the witch books.
Although I woud say that it also demonstrates that Vetinari is not
all-knowing. He did not know what he had in Vimes or the watch.
Nigel
> Daniel Orner <dmor...@gmail.com> wrote:
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<snip>
> > In terms of series development, this is the first time we meet the
> > iconic Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, the merchant who'll try to sell
> > anything; and the Librarian, who earlier was just a regular guy who
> > turned into an ape, is now given a lot more skill and intelligence (and
> > his dislike of the word "monkey" has solidified as well). Though Lord
> > Vetinari was introduced earlier, this is the first time we really see
> > his Machiavellian genius.
>
> Although I woud say that it also demonstrates that Vetinari is not
> all-knowing. He did not know what he had in Vimes or the watch.
>
Arguably, he didn't knwo what he had in Carrot. It was the arrival of
Carrot that inspired both Vimes and the Watch to greatness.
This book also re-inforced the idea that stories have power [1]. The
whole concept that "last, desperate million-to-one shots always
succeed", the plot of the secret society (involving the myth of the
returning king) and the fact that Carrot's own influence is based upon
the fact that he *is* the returning king are all manifestations of
this.
Cheers,
Nigel.
[1] I think that the idea first appeared in _Weird Sisters_ in the
Fool's demonstration of how the power of story can be used.
Daniel Orner
Yes. Although in the Fool's case, he was referring to the very
real-world phenomena of history and media changing the way people think.
_Guards! Guards!_ really came up with the idea of "narrativium" (which
wouldn't be named until _The Science of Discworld_) indicating that
stories can actually *change* stuff on the Disc.
Richard Bos
> > all-knowing. =A0He did not know what he had in Vimes or the watch.
>
> Arguably, he didn't knwo what he had in Carrot. It was the arrival of
> Carrot that inspired both Vimes and the Watch to greatness.
It also shows that Vetinari, even if he does not know everything, is a
master at making the most of what he does know and have, and above all
at getting the most out of his employees. That, I think, is Vetinari's
greatest strength: he rarely actually _does_ anything himself, but he is
an expert at placing people where they can (and will) do everything he
needs them to do.
Sometimes this is explicit (Vimes is his direct subordinate), sometimes
it needs a bit of indirect encouragement (playing the Guilds against
eachother springs to mind), and sometimes it is rather subtle and based
more on psychology or even reversed psychology (as with the Times,
which, though officially independent and occasionally apertly hostile,
always finds itself printing what Lord V. needs). But it's always there.
If Vetinari puts a man in place, he puts him in his _right_ place.
Richard
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