Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

A Young Dwarf's Dream 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 Carrott... 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.

I really loved this. I do believe I'll be reading the whole City Watch series, before sampling any other Discworld threads again. Somehow the other stories never please me like Vimes & company.

I guess the heart of it is the characters. I can't decide on my favorite - of course I love Carrot (as everyone does), but Angua is awesome, Cuddy and Detritus as enemies turned buddy cops are a lot of fun, Gaspode is a delight, and Colon and Vetinari are highly entertaining. And of course Vimes is Vimes (this story includes his famous theory on how the rich stay rich by their ability to spend less money, among other cynical and poignantly true observations). The only person who gets short shrift is Sybil - hopefully she'll play a bigger part in future tales.

In its way, this winds up being surprisingly political and topical, for all the silly puns and slapstick jokes. I'll say no more to avoid spoilers, but it cemented Pratchett as an author I admire.

I listened to the audio book, and its quality was very uneven. Nigel Planer is a brilliantly talented reader, and invents gorgeous voices and accents for each distinctive character. He conveys Carrot's earnest goodness particularly artfully. But it escapes me why he styled the female lead with a voice lower and more gormless than the trolls! Also, the sound quality varies from “acceptable” to “awful,” sadly.

“If the Creator had said, “Let there be light” in Ankh-Morpork, he'd have got no further because of all the people saying “What colour?”

On the Disc, Ankh-Morpork is the place to be. The books featuring the City Watch are part of the background, history, and atmosphere of the city. For this installment of the subseries, Corporal Carrot beats the odds to solve a series of murders, seemingly with the entire city against him. Meanwhile, old-timer, Captain Vimes, is stressing over his upcoming nuptials and his promise to his bride-to-be that he's leaving the Watch.

This is notable because a book or so later, the subseries became Vimes-centric, an unusual choice to make the mentor-type character the focus instead of keeping it on Carrot, the young, charismatic hero. But Discworld never goes where you expect.

This is the book that introduces the stream of recruits representing various races of the Disc, including dwarfs and trolls, those two always-warring groups. Angua and Detritus make their debut here.

You can't beat Pratchett and the Discworld series for funny dialogue and characters that feel real. Every page has an entertaining exchange and the pace never dips

“Have - have you got an appointment?' he said.
‘I don't know,' said Carrot. ‘Have we got an appointment?'
‘I've got an iron ball with spikes on,' Nobby volunteered.
‘That's a morningstar, Nobby.'
‘Is it?'
‘Yes,' said Carrot. ‘An appointment is an engagement to see someone, while a morningstar is a large lump of metal used for viciously crushing skulls. It is important not to confuse the two, isn't it, Mr-?' He raised his eyebrows.
‘Boffo, sir. But-‘
‘So if you could perhaps run along and tell Dr Whiteface we're here with an iron ball with spi- What am I saying? I mean, without an appointment to see him? Please? Thank you.”

I love that you can pick up any book of Discworld, start reading and not feel too lost. There's enough in the exposition to get you caught up and it's otherwise entertaining enough that you can fill in the blanks, or you're having too much fun to care about what you missed. I do think reading Guards! Guards! would be helpful though, for setting up Carrot's background, Vimes past, and the evolution of the City Watch.

Guards! Guards! was the first Discworld book I read and it's a terrific introduction to Carrot, Vimes, and the Watch. Men at Arms improves on the model—the plot moves faster, the characters get new layers, and the new additions to the watch, and the series, are a delight.

I always worry about awarding a book five stars, because I know that one day I will read a book that deserves even more. Today is that day and this is that book. Were there a sixth star to give it, I would.

SO SOOO GOOD AND SO FUNNY how did sir terry do it... love the new additions to the guard, especially angua being kind of a pathetic wet dog and cuddy & detritus' sweet relationship. (spoilers) i miss cuddy :( curse you doctor cruces... i was so scared when i thought angua died too i was like NO? But what tips you off is that Death doesn't show up... clever...!

overall i enjoyed this a lot. hopefully there's more sybil in the other city watch books though because i like her a lot... onward to the next discworld book