Terry Pratchett: Thud!

Hi everyone

I was in the mood for another Discworld novel.
It’s been more than a month of bed rest so far (not counting the two days I did work) and I’m bored out of my mind. Books like this are helpful because even if I’m feeling bad, I know I’ll love the book.
This book has 438 pages and you can find all my reviews of Terry Pratchett's novels here.

“Koom Valley? That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was far away. It was a long time ago.
But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office.
With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him.
Oh . . . and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy.
There are some things you have to do.”

As always I would tell you to start with the first novel in the Discworld Series though you can read a lot of the novels without reading the ones before. However, this novel is not a good one to start with because you’d miss a lot of references and stuff in the past.

I absolutely loved Thud!

The story definitely is about a lot of recurring and new important themes. What makes art, art? It’s about war, religious intolerance, extremism, losing and keeping traditions, prejudice, racial intolerance, the dangers of drug use and new technology.
As always, Pratchett does a pretty amazing job of keeping the story light and funny while still giving a moral message to the reader. It never becomes boring or preachy.

Vimes is one of my favorite characters in the Discworld. And in this book he shows us a whole new side of him in his love for Young Sam and his fabulous wife Sybil. His interactions with Gooseberry are laugh-out-loud funny and this clearly refers to modern technology on our Round Earth. He is a truly, deeply conflicted man; wanting to do what’s right and believing himself to be scum and not wholly worthy of his luck and happiness. He has an amazing sense of right and wrong and he refuses to be a part of foul play in any sort of way. He actually is someone to admire or at least someone I would love to have as a friend.
And I love Vimes and Sybil as a couple.

Every character is very well worked out and we get to know them better in this stressful period of Discworld history. We know them all so well, it’s like they’re my friends. Pratchett shows us what it’s like to be a vampire or a werewolf, we understand the hatred between dwarfs and trolls, we admire Sybil for her actions and we fall in love with Carrot’s charm and sweetness.
Detritus has really surprised me in a good way in this book whereas Angua shows us a petty side of herself.
And Wilikins! And sweet Cheery! And courageous Pessimal! And Colon! And Nobby!
So many characters I love.

The whole troll/dwarf argument, war or way of life was spectacularly, clearly and believably written. Seeing how it even creeps into The Watch and influences everyone is amazing. It’s difficult for the non-dwarf and non-troll characters to stay clear of taking sides and even as a reader you want to just knock their heads together and start working as a team and living in unison.

The amount of details about the city and daily life in Ankh-Morpork make me feel like I’m a fly just watching over everyone’s shoulder. Such a real and believable world.

The children's book ‘Where's My Cow?’ has also been released and is on my wish list.

Happy reading!
Helena