Guards! Guards!
1989
- fiction in spanish
- discworld (imaginary place)
- samuel vimes (fictitious character)
- fiction
- guards troops
- fantasy
- translations into italian
- english fiction
- fiction, fantasy, general
- discworld (imaginary place), fiction
The story
Here there be dragons ... and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all ...).
What it’s like
Brisk, wry and cheerfully overstuffed, with the grimy comedy of a city that never quite cleans itself up: the prose is quick, punchy and full of footnote-style asides, and the sensory world is smoky and crowded, all cobbled alleys, damp stone, coal smoke and the stink of a metropolis built on a river of mud. Its vibe is irreverent and warm, a rowdy satire with a soft heart, the kind of book that reads well on a lazy weekend, on a long train journey, or as a bedtime read that keeps you chuckling. Pacing is loose and episodic, with digressions that pay off in sudden, neat turns, and the emotional register stays light even when the stakes rise. The central arc follows a dogged, weary police captain who, against the odds, keeps finding a reason to care about the people he's meant to be policing. Violence is comic and cartoonish: dragons scorch streets and people get singed, flattened or bumped off, but there is no lingering gore and nothing graphic or sexual. It suits readers who enjoy sharp, playful fantasy with a dry bite and an affectionate view of ordinary, bruised, decent people.
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