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David McK (3921 KP) rated Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8 in Books

Jul 15, 2023  
Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Guards! Guards! Discworld Novel 8
Tony Robinson, Terry Pratchett, Ben Aaronovitch | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.4 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
When people ask which Discworld book to start with, I often tell them to skip the first two in the series (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic), then ask in which direction their interests lie.

Reimagining of famous plays/fairytales? Try any in The Witches series.

Primarily murder whodunnits? The Guards.

Of which this is the first.

So this is the one to introduce the reader to Sam Vimes, Nobby Nobbs, Fred Colon and Carrot Ironfoundersson, as well as featuring a prominent role for The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, and which would lead to perhaps the most-revisited characters in the entire Discworld series - I think Pratchett returned to the Watch a further 7 times, for a total of 8 such novels.

Quick google search: yes, 8 times. Only matched by the Wizards of Unseen University.

Anyway, this is the one that sees a secret society summoning a Dragon in the hopes of installing a puppet ruler to the vacant throne of Ankh-Morpork, before things go awry ...
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated The Siege of Abythos in Books

Nov 7, 2017  
The Siege of Abythos
The Siege of Abythos
Phil Tucker | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Poetry battle (2 more)
Poetry battle
Poetry battle
The third instalment in the Chronicles of the Black Gate series is the biggest yet, in terms of page count. The story follows the same PoV characters as previous books but their adventures are now covering so much more of the world and the storyline is becoming quite entangled.
Tharok's attempts to unite the orc-like kragh tribes and invade the human world continue, meanwhile Lady Iskra seeks to rescue her son and take revenge on the Ascendant's empire.
This book covers a lot more political debate and intrigue than the previous two, with prolonged discussion of who should be invaded, and what should be done thereafter. While this is very much a necessity in such an epic tale I felt it was somewhat laboured at times.
I very nearly gave up on this book at one point - where the portly magister Audsley (who has three demons lurking in his soul) was seeking to inveigle his way into the upper echelons of the empire, most of this storytelling centred around the colour of robes to wear, the type and colour of paper to use in sending letters and reciting poetry. Again this was very much laboured but bearable, until it looked like we were heading for what can only be described as a poetry battle, where Audsley (coached by one of his demons) was set to take on a senior government official's poetry representative in a battle of wits to see how would curry favour in the empire.


That's right: a poetry battle.
Think Philip Larkin in 8 Mile.
Will the real Slim Shakespeare please stand up.
Kanye Wordsworth.
NWA (Novelists with Assonance)


At this point I very nearly gave up. Thankfully, so did Audsley and the contest ended abruptly as he refused to let his demon take control of him. Phew. Disaster avoided. If this had been allowed to continue it would have made Tom Bombadil look like a critical plot point.


Other than Audsley's chapters (which in the previous book had been a highlight) the book does roll along at a reasonable pace and there is just about enough action to keep the interest, particularly in the last 100 or so pages.


All in all, a good read and a turning point for the series as a whole, but a lot of nonsense could have been removed, (Edgar Allan) Poe Shizzle.