Book report: Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett
I love Terry Pratchett’s books, and this is one of the best. If you aren’t aware of Terry Pratchett, he writes what I would call comedy fantasy. Think along the lines of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Lord of the Rings. These stories all take place on DiscWorld, which is a world of oceans and continents like ours, only flat and round like a pancake, and sitting on the back of four immense elephants, which are in turn on the back of a gigantic tortoise, which is swimming endlessly through space. Given that setting, almost anything can happen.
This installment has two main plot lines, which at first seem to have nothing to do with each other, but soon intersect and intertwine.
One plot has to do with the City Watch, the city being Ankh-Morpork, that hive of low-level villainy. As you’d imagine in a hive of low-level villainy, the police don’t so much fight crime as hold crime’s coat while crime goes about its business. To this not-very-splendid body of men comes young, innocent Carrot (Pratchett loves giving his characters odd names), who is immensely strong and idealistic and has an unfortunate habit of trying to arrest wrongdoers instead of avoiding them, which is what the rest of the Watch does. The alleged leader of the Watch is Captain Vimes, who drinks to forget, but can’t remember why.
The other plot involves a secret cabal of hilarious incompetents (the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night) who seek to magically summon a dragon to terrorize the city, then defeat it themselves, thus earning the adulation – and control – of the city for their heroics. It turns out that the summoned dragon has plans of its own and their plot, unsurprisingly, goes awry.
The book is hysterically funny, especially the parts involving Lady Sybil Ramkin, a society woman who breeds miniature lap-dragons like other enthusiasts breed bichon frises. In Pratchett’s books, there is a constant air of satire. You’re sure he’s skewering something or somebody, but you’re never really clear on who or what. Which is fine, because the last thing you want is preachy comedy.
Pratchett maintains an amazing logical consistency in his stories, which is unexpected in fantasy. Just because someone can do magic doesn’t mean that anything goes. Even the unfathomable has limits and rules.
Besides the comical aspect of his writing, which is brilliant, he also has wonderful insights into situations that may be imaginary, but are no less important. For example, at one point he writes, “Noble dragons don’t have friends. The closest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive.” Is that perfect?
If you like comedy or fantasy, or just want to escape to another world for a while, I highly recommend Guards! Guards!
I love Terry Pratchett’s books, and this is one of the best. If you aren’t aware of Terry Pratchett, he writes what I would call comedy fantasy. Think along the lines of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Lord of the Rings. These stories all take place on DiscWorld, which is a world of oceans and continents like ours, only flat and round like a pancake, and sitting on the back of four immense elephants, which are in turn on the back of a gigantic tortoise, which is swimming endlessly through space. Given that setting, almost anything can happen.
This installment has two main plot lines, which at first seem to have nothing to do with each other, but soon intersect and intertwine.
One plot has to do with the City Watch, the city being Ankh-Morpork, that hive of low-level villainy. As you’d imagine in a hive of low-level villainy, the police don’t so much fight crime as hold crime’s coat while crime goes about its business. To this not-very-splendid body of men comes young, innocent Carrot (Pratchett loves giving his characters odd names), who is immensely strong and idealistic and has an unfortunate habit of trying to arrest wrongdoers instead of avoiding them, which is what the rest of the Watch does. The alleged leader of the Watch is Captain Vimes, who drinks to forget, but can’t remember why.
The other plot involves a secret cabal of hilarious incompetents (the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night) who seek to magically summon a dragon to terrorize the city, then defeat it themselves, thus earning the adulation – and control – of the city for their heroics. It turns out that the summoned dragon has plans of its own and their plot, unsurprisingly, goes awry.
The book is hysterically funny, especially the parts involving Lady Sybil Ramkin, a society woman who breeds miniature lap-dragons like other enthusiasts breed bichon frises. In Pratchett’s books, there is a constant air of satire. You’re sure he’s skewering something or somebody, but you’re never really clear on who or what. Which is fine, because the last thing you want is preachy comedy.
Pratchett maintains an amazing logical consistency in his stories, which is unexpected in fantasy. Just because someone can do magic doesn’t mean that anything goes. Even the unfathomable has limits and rules.
Besides the comical aspect of his writing, which is brilliant, he also has wonderful insights into situations that may be imaginary, but are no less important. For example, at one point he writes, “Noble dragons don’t have friends. The closest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive.” Is that perfect?
If you like comedy or fantasy, or just want to escape to another world for a while, I highly recommend Guards! Guards!
Comments
im hannah lacia
ang hirap kaya magsulat ng book report araw-araw
hangang-hanga ako sa'yo
galing!!!!
glydel dagatan