Thud! (Discworld Novels) [Hardcover]

The anniversary of the battle of Koom Valley, an ancient battle between the Dwarfs and the Trolls, is coming up, and tension in the city of Ankh-Morpork is rising. Commander Samuel Vimes can smell trouble, and he'll do anything to keep the city safe. When a rabble-rousing Dwarf from the Dwarf homeland is murdered, the Dwarfs immediately blame the Trolls, and it looks like blood will wash over the city. But not with Vimes and the rest of the Watch on the case. A sinister secret from the depths is working its way into the real world again, planning to use the animosity between the two races as its entry point, but it keeps getting stymied. Will the Watch solve the case and bring the perpetrators to justice? And just what is the secret of Koom Valley, and what does it have to do with this entity? And will Vimes be able to keep his daily six o'clock appointment with his young son to read Where's my Cow?

Previous Discworld books have been very humorous, but not laugh-out-loud funny. They've been good, but while I enjoyed them, I've longed for a Pratchett book of old. That's what I got with Thud!, with the return of beloved characters like the very tall, very human Dwarf, Captain Carrot, along with his girlfriend (and werewolf), Sergeant Angua. Pratchett is the master of making all of these characters funny without really making fun of them (ok, he does make fun of Nobby Nobbs, but that's just too easy). Carrot is earnest to a fault, honest, and very loyal. The scene between him and the Patrician at the end of the book is just priceless. Angua becomes suspicious of the female vampire that Vimes has been forced to accept onto the Watch, and the rivalry between them (the werewolf versus vampire rivalry, I mean!) is fun to watch. The rest of the characters are also extremely well done too. Pratchett has shown that he is the master of characterization, and this is yet another example of it.

The plot is a bit too mystic for my tastes (even Vimes can't force himself to believe it), but overall it worked out fine. I loved the ongoing tension between the Dwarfs and the Trolls, especially as we see it in great detail when the Trolls and Dwarfs on the Watch have to deal with it. Detritus, one of the more prominent Trolls on the Watch, really comes into his own, even forcing Vimes to back down from his prejudices at one point. All of the little plots tie together into one big one, even Vimes' insistence on reading the same children's book to his son every night at six o'clock. This did lead to one of the sequences that I had a problem with. The first time this comes up, Vimes has to make it across the city in record time in order to keep his appointment, and he gets a little help from Captain Carrot. I found this sequence forced and not very funny, feeling very out of place in this book. Yes, it does begin what becomes a prominent part of the story, but I think it could have been introduced better.

That is really the only major fault I can find with Thud!, and it's only a small sequence. There are a few other minor things that bothered me, like the disappearance of A.E. Pessimal, the man who comes to audit the Watch, but ends up being deputized and becoming a hero instead. Vimes does do something to him that ensures he will be back, but it would have been nice to see him at the end too. He was extremely funny, especially his introduction to Vimes where he comes off as a humorless git. I also found that the "girls' night out" dragged on a bit too long, but it did have its moments.

Overall, though, Thud! is worth every penny it costs. Instead of serious books with some good humour in them, we get a book that's funny but has a good serious point as well. The differences may be subtle, but they are there, and they can be seen in the footnotes. In older Pratchett books, the footnotes were some of the best comedy in the books, but he started to move away from them. Now, they're back, and with a vengeance. "This was a bit of a slur on Nobby, Vimes had to admit. Like many other officers, Nobby was human. It was just that he was the only one who had to carry a certificate to prove it." I loved almost every page in Thud!, and if you're a Discworld fan, you will too. You don't even need to have read any Discworld before, though it certainly helps if you have at least read some of the Watch books. You'll still laugh a lot, though.

David Roy

That is just about the scenario found in "THUD", Terry Pratchett's latest roller coaster ride through Discworld. The origin and outcome of the ancient Battle of Koom Valley between the Trolls and Dwarves has been obscured and the subject of much debate; but, the lingering and long-lasting hatred between them means they are always one spark away from renewed battle.

Grag Hamcrusher is what you might call a Dwarf extremist. Emerging from the depths he rails against those dwarves who have risen close to the surface. He intimates Dwarf residents of Ankh-Morpork who have made accommodations to a life lived above ground. Hamcrusher is a zealot who would like nothing better than to renew a holy war against the hated Trolls. As Thud opens Hamcrusher has just been murdered, thud "being the sound the heavy club made as it connected with the head". The initial evidence, a troll club found near the apparent murder scene, seems destined to bring their historic enmity to a boil. It is up to Commander Vimes and the Watch to find out who killed Hamcrusher and try to avoid a war that could destroy Ankh-Morpork.

The Patrician, not surprisingly, has complicated matters for Vimes. Bowing to pressure to increase the diversity of the Watch, Vimes is obligated to hire his first vampire, a very young, very attractive lady named Sally. This serves to increase the tension in the Watch most notably with Angua, the Watch's werewolf. Sparks fly and the claws are drawn as Angua senses that Sally is more than a bit interested in Captain Carrot. The Patrician has also seen fit to bring in a pencil pushing bureaucrat to audit the Watch's operations. This all serves to make Commander Vimes' own emotional fuse as short as the one keyed to the Trolls and Dwarves.

It is never a good idea to reveal too much of the plot in a review. This is particularly the case for the Discworld books where Pratchett has twists and turns on every page. Needless to say, events race from pillar to post. The furtive nature of the Dwarves, whose emotions are as submerged as the Dwarves themselves and the rather stoic nature of the Trolls (with the exception of Shine who appears to be one droll troll) has Vimes feeling as if he is trying to complete a jigsaw puzzle without any visual image of the puzzle he is trying to solve.

Two elements of Thud put Thud for me in the highest rank of Discworld books. First, we are given very full, textured look at Commander Vimes. The reader is exposed to the growing disconnect between his controlled, outward demeanor and his emotionally charged interior that seem to grow increasingly more uncontrolled as the plot develops. It is both compelling and more than a bit scary. It brought Vimes to life in a very realistic way. Second, I thought the ending was one of Pratchett's best conclusions.

Thud is a great addition to the Discworld series.

I will always have a soft spot for the books based around the Watch of Ankh Morpork. A policeman's lot is never a happy one but they are put through their paces once more in this cracking book. Only Carrot seems a little off his best, but the addition of a Vampire was a genius move.

The plot is always secondary for me in discworld novels; but as usual it is never less than excellent throughout. As always I would recommend reading the series in order so as to truly appreciate the tapestry involved in each characters progression, but if you do read it in isolation be prepared to be hooked like the rest of us and having to then purchase all his other work (and there's a few bit to plough through).