Men at Arms
1993
- discworld (imaginary place)
- fantasy
- fiction
- samuel vimes (fictitious character)
- assassination
- theft
- fiction, fantasy, general
- discworld (imaginary place), fiction
- carrot (fictitious character : pratchett), fiction
- fiction, humorous
The story
"Unadulterated fun." —San Francisco Chronicle "Pratchett has now moved beyond the limits of humorous fantasy, and should be recognized as one of the more significant contemporary English-language satirists." —Publishers Weekly The fifteenth novel in the Discworld series from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett, featuring a lycanthropic recruit and a sword in a stone! Corporal Carrot has been promoted! He’s now in charge of the new recruits guarding Ankh-Morpork, Discworld’s greatest city, from Barbarian Tribes, Miscellaneous Marauders, unlicensed Thieves, and such. It’s a big job, particularly for an adopted dwarf. But an even bigger job awaits. An ancient document has just revealed that Ankh-Morpork, ruled for decades by Disorganized crime, has a secret sovereign! And his name is Carrot . . . And so begins the most awesome epic encounter of all time, or at least all afternoon, in which the fate of a city—indeed of the universe itself!—depends on a young man’s courage, an ancient sword’s magic, and a three-legged poodle’s bladder.
What it’s like
Crisp, brisk comic prose with a sly, knowing narrator who winks at the reader on nearly every page, the kind of voice that turns a city-watch patrol into a running joke about bureaucracy, boots and bad luck. Ankh-Morpork is rendered as a grimy, smoke-choked port of cobbled alleys, damp stone, tallow smells and gaslit taverns, its textures more lived-in than lush, and the mood stays warm and bustling rather than grim. The pacing is quick and episodic, with short chapters, sharp dialogue and asides that land a laugh every few lines, building to a gleeful, slightly absurd finale. Violence is present but cartoonish: sword fights, scuffles and a few deaths handled with light comic distance, nothing gory or sexual. Its heart is a decent, earnest young man learning he can be more than he assumed, and a watch full of misfits gradually becoming a team. For people who want a funny, low-cruelty story to read with a cup of tea, or a comfort reread full of affectionate satire about institutions and heroism.
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