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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
Thud! It's more than just a sound effect
Terry Pratchett has done it again. With Thud! (I've lost track of how many Discworld books there have been), Pratchett returns to the adventures of the "coppers" of Ankh-Morpork, one of the largest cities on the Discworld. It's been a while since we've had a straight "City Watch" book, with Night Watch being a character study of Commander Samuel Vimes, and the...
Published on 21 Oct 2005 by David Roy
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28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
starts well, shows signs of wearing thin, comes to a rushed conclusion
Reading this book is pretty creepy. The first half is pretty much a commentary on different ethnic groups trying to get along in modern day British cities. What is really creepy is that this book was released in hardback last year, but some of the situations have been paralleled in ones that have happened for real since then.. Perhaps Terry Pratchett is right. There is an...
Published on 12 Oct 2006 by Bernard Davis
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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
Thud! It's more than just a sound effect, 21 Oct 2005
Terry Pratchett has done it again. With Thud! (I've lost track of how many Discworld books there have been), Pratchett returns to the adventures of the "coppers" of Ankh-Morpork, one of the largest cities on the Discworld. It's been a while since we've had a straight "City Watch" book, with Night Watch being a character study of Commander Samuel Vimes, and the subsequent books being standalones, I've really missed seeing the Watch in action. Thud! delivers on all cylinders, going back to some of the basics that made Pratchett what he is today. You've got your quirky characters, you've got your hilarious footnotes (something which seemed to have disappeared from Pratchett's books, much to my chagrin), and you've got Vimes leading them all, trying to be the best copper he can be, doing what's right despite what everybody else seems to want him to do.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
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238 of 249 people found the following review helpful:
How Green Was Koom Valley, 22 Sep 2005
On June 28, 1389 a combined army of Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians and Romanians waged a fierce battle against an Ottoman army on the Plains of Kosovo. Although details of the battle are obscure and lost in the mists of time the animosity between the parties has lingered. It was no surprise therefore that on the 600th anniversary of the battle President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia launched his `ethnic cleansing' campaign in Kosovo. Sometimes the oldest animosities burn the brightest. 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.
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69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
One of the darker Discworld tales, 19 Oct 2005
By A Customer
The discworld has resurfaced and it's as good as ever. This is very much a Sam Vimes book and like all of the Sam Vimes books, "Thud" is pretty dark (which I like). Pratchett explores deeper meanings in these book than most of the rest of the series and on this occasion he is exploring the mideast conflict. Two groups of ancient enemies are building up hostilities in the city of Ankh Moorpork over some ancient symbols. The dwarves and trolls do not need much antagonism to set them fighting each other. A Dwarf radical is killed and the trolls are blamed, and so the tension builds. Enter Sam Vimes to solve the case, except nothing is as it appears on the surface. This is yet another classic for Pratchett fans. "Some things are important" is the catch phrase throughout this book, although I won't tell you why because it will ruin the story. Pratchett explores the concept of radical religion and how it affects even the non-religious. He never blames either side, but explores how both sides are right and wrong. The ending is superb as usual, but it is rather sad... to a point. I enjoyed this even more than Pratchett's recent Hat Full of Sky or the equally dark and highly recommended Dante's Last March by Mark Elliott.
The usual cast of characters are here and they are delightful as ever. Highly recommended
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Terry Pratchett - Thud!, 19 Oct 2005
Another year, another Discworld novel. The thing about them is that every single one is brilliant, so you have to create a separate criteria for them than everything else, within a given value of brilliantness. Thud! is a brilliant book, so it gets five stars. But it is not a briliant Discworld novel (brilliant Discworld novels would include: Going Postal; The Truth; Thief of Time, Guards Guards, Mort, Feet of Clay, Witches Abroad, etc). It's merely a good one. It's not a brilliant one because it's not quite as streamlined, not quite as original (how often is Vimes going to have to step in to stop two groups of people fighting one another, after all?), and it has few laugh out loud moments (as the brilliant ones do), but is just full of minor chuckles. There ARE brilliant touches, though... Fred and Nobby investigating the theft of a painting; the girls' night out; Sally, the new Vampire recruit; a deep-down look into the dwarf world; Sam Vimes as a father. Vetinari is, as ever, on top form. And there are some wonderully sinister and scary moments down in the mines the dwarves have been digging under the city. (Though Death's appearance is too short for my liking...it seems like an age since we've had a good dose of Death. Not since Hogfather... The Witches need to make a return, too, in adult-novel form. They have always been my favourites...anyway...) Thud! will sell thousands, and rightly so. It's wise, amusing, sprightly, interesting, and any excursion into Discworld is always, always worth the money. It's more Monstrous Regiment than Going Postal, is all. Still, a great read. (Though if I were Pratchett I'd be wary of the Discworld series turning into the Commander Vimes series...)
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
All roads lead to my cow, 9 Dec 2006
I've recently been carefully working my way chronologically through the discworld books, but I got a short loan of this one and couldn't pass it up, despite being nowhere near its turn. It is very different to the earliest books, perhaps lacking rather a lot of their laugh-after-laugh humour, but it wins out on one point. The whole book was justified for me by the staggeringly re-readable account of a man literally breaking the laws of the universe in order to read to his son at the appointed time. If the rest of the book were only a scene-setter for this, it would be worth it. Walking around for days after finishing it telling all and sundry that "It goes hrrugh, it is a hippopotamus" is surely a sign that a book is worth reading!
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Dealing with Dwarfian fundamentalism, 18 Oct 2005
Ankh-Morpork, the Great City of Discworld, is proud of its "multiculturalism". Except here, it's "multi-speciesism". Trolls, dwarfs, golems, even a werewolf have been incorporated into city society. They are represented in the ranks of the City Watch, that bastion of law enforcement. Once scorned as ineffective, the Watch, under Commander Sam Vimes, the Duke of Ankh-Morpork, is now considered an exemplary force in the City. "All are just coppers" is one of Sam's litanies. Except when it comes to vampires. Yet, once again, Pratchett forces Vimes to confront his prejudices. And we readers to face up to ours.Into the quietly seething mixture of Ankh-Morpork peoples there arrives a new element. For years, the dwarfs have scrambled up out of the deep dark of their mines to emigrate to Sam Vimes' city. They've become the city's largest "minority group". While boisterous, dwarfs are generally well behaved. Clashes with their ancient enemy, the trolls, have taken little real toll of either group. The deep dark of those mines, however, contain a secret. A secret treasured and sought by elements of dwarf society who consider themselves guardians of its value - the "grags". Nothing offends a grag as much as encountering someone who has "seen the light". These guardians scorn the "short humans" who have abandoned traditional dwarf values in Ankh-Morpork's materialist environment. One of those "traditional values" is the cause of the ancient clash in Koom Valley. A Discworld legend in its own right, the Battle of Koom Valley is one of those "We won!" - "No, we won!" myths so many societies possess. Each side ambushed the other. Both sides shamefully ran away at its conclusion. Legends inspire spin-off myths and Koom Valley is no exception. There's even a massive painting depicting the confrontation. And a "sign" is supposedly hidden away in the daubs of paint. Or someplace. It's hard to tell, however, since the 50 feet of canvas has been taken from its frame. Vimes, who might be goaded into solving that crime, hasn't the time. He's busy investigating a murder that didn't happen. And learning to cope with a new recruit - one representing the last minority group entering his City's population. It takes a split personality to appreciate Pratchett fully on a first reading. One side can inhale the wit and surprises Pratchett produces in all of his stories. The other side can take pause and note the graceful nuances that represent deeper human values. Are the grags just fantasy characters? Or are they mullahs, rabbis or even ministers from the Southron Baptist Convention? If dwarfs, golems and trolls in the City Watch are "all coppers", are the citizens of Ankh-Morpork just citizens? Should the distinctions and customs of various groups be allowed to set aside or modify the City's Law? How meaningful are "ethnic traditions" and who is allowed to decide what these shall be? Pratchett, with astonishing frankness, wraps these questions within his usual framework of wit and hilarity. But when you've recovered your breath from laughing, you will find the questions still there. Those who are new to Pratchett may find this book a bit confusing. The characters, developed and portrayed over many volumes, have clearly depicted, individual personalities. The new reader, along with Mr A.E. Pessimal, may well ask "What is Corporal 'Nobby' Nobbs for?". Many of us are still wondering. But no Pratchett reader would give up the man who carries a certificate to prove he's human. And all will welcome this new, worldly, version of The Auditors. The new reader will meet Angua and may puzzle over her reaction to Sally. The established reader will gain an entirely new view of this officer - and be reminded that Gaspode forecast aspects of canine behaviour several books back. All these twists and arabesques demonstrate once more, if it needed buttressing, that Pratchett, even after so many Discworld books, remains a master of innovation and surprise. New and faithful readers of Pratchett will combine to applaude this outstanding work. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
A Thudding great book!, 14 Oct 2006
I enjoy all Terry Pratchett books, obviously some more than others and sometimes I am disapointed (Monstrous Regiment was the poorest of the series) but with Thud! Pratchett is back in top form. Commander Vines is one of my favourite characters, right up there with Granny Weatherwax and Rincewind the wizard and he dominates this tale. This story has everything, mystery, humour, and tremendous relevance to what is going on in the world today. Pratchett's incisive satirical observations on people's motivations and desires are thought provoking and stimulating. The scene where the massed gangs of trolls and dwarfs and lining up to fight each other with only the watch between them and mayhem is adventure writing at it's stirring best. On all levels this book is superb, excellent!
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32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
Who done it?, 13 Nov 2006
At the heart of this novel is the Commander of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, Sam Vimes.
Married to dragon breeding Lady Sybil (who has also taken up Sock Darning: She isn't very good at it, but it is the sort of thing one ought to do, as a wife), and with a young son, Sam, expecting his dad to deliver a daily, 6 o'clock reading of, 'Where's my cow?' - complete with sound effects, The Commander is faced with a situation of developing 'inter-species intolerance' which threatens the very existence of Ankh-Morpork itself.
With Lord Vetinari pressing him to take on a Vampire as a member of his force (which doesn't go down too well with the resident Were-Wolf - or with Sam himself, for that matter) and with several of his Dwarf officers leaving, Vimes is forced to try to ease the situation as the Battle of Koom Valley anniversary approaches - and the hundred's of years of bickering (and worse) the anniversary has brought with it.
A murder in the closed world of the Dwarf Deep-Downers complicates matters, as do threats to his family.
Drug sniffing Trolls don't make matters any easier.
And why was a very large picture stolen?
On one level this is an enjoyable detective romp through (and under) the streets of Ankh-Morpork, driven by a twisting, turning plot and a cast of regular Disc World characters.
But if most detective tales are, `Who-done-its'; and Agatha Christie's Poitrot stories are, `How-done-its'; Thud is a very much a, `Why-done-it?'!
What is driving the characters to behave the way they do?
This is explored most thoroughly in Vimes himself - who is not immune from the petty prejudices of humanity and who exhibits a growing anger as the story develops.
The all too easily justified anger is the most threatening thing in the story and brings Vimes, the Trolls and the Dwarfs to the very edge of destruction.
The book is a comedy, however, and like all comedies, it leaves the reader with a satisfying optimism.
On Disc-World, conflict will never be far away, but it can be resolved.
As in most of Pratchett's books, the themes and observations he makes reflect very much on the real world we find ourselves in.
Koom Valley, to me, has deep echoes of Kosovo and the `Field of Blackbird's' in 1389 - a battle which has had murderous repercussions down through history and well into our future. (Ismail Kadare's, Three Elegies For Kosovo, explores the same issues as Pratchett, but in a very different genre).
And if some of the characters in Thud are almost cliché - so too are some of the real people driving religious, gender and political intolerance (from whichever side).
For those who know the Disc-World stories, this is very much in the tradition of the earlier books - no chapters, footnotes, strong clear plot line and lovably eccentric characters (a 5 star Butler in this one, and totally `heart-of-gold, dumb-blond' pole dancer).
I just can't wait for the next one.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Quality Sheer Quality, 14 Mar 2006
You have to read "Where's My Cow?" every night for a month to a small unrelenting child before reading "Thud!" and therefore truly appreciating it. OK you don't but it did add to the experience plus had the added bonus of my youngest declaring "It's Foul Ole Ron!" at the dinner table and nearly causing me to choke.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).
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Reflecting reality, 18 Oct 2006
The Discworld offers pretty much everything the real world does. So here I am, a reviewer that preferred the poignant plot and its balanced ending to some of the whackier stories and wilder characters that other reviewers liked better. I rate this book, along with The Fifth Elephant, as the best in the series out of those I read (around 25 so far).Why? A more sombre mood at the end and the astonishing satire at the beginning on multi-cultural society.Real entertainment.
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