{"id":2670,"date":"2011-11-27T14:50:33","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T19:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2024-04-13T16:47:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T20:47:12","slug":"guards-guards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2670","title":{"rendered":"Guards! Guards!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guards! Guards!<\/a><\/em> (1989) Terry Pratchett<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I love Discworld.<\/p>\n

That’s not to say I love all the books, but some of the character arcs in this series feature some of the best writing around.<\/p>\n

Guards! Guards!<\/em> is the start of the Night Watch story arc.<\/p>\n

When we meet Captain Samuel Vimes, he’s drinking himself into the gutter to make dealing with his job even slightly tolerable. And of course there are the remaining two members of his squad: Sargent Colon and Corporal Nobby.<\/p>\n

Carrot–a strapping young man who was adopted by dwarves is distressed to discover that he is not himself a dwarf, and that it would probably be best for everyone if he made his way out in the world for awhile, and through various circumstances, he ends up a lance corporal in the Night Watch.<\/p>\n

I love all these characters, but even better, this book spends a great deal of time with my all time favorite Discworld character, the Librarian.<\/p>\n

Very senior librarians…once they have proved themselves worthy by performing some valiant act of librarianship, are accepted into a secret order and are taught the raw arts of survival beyond the Shelves We Know. The Librarian was highly skilled in all of them, but what he was attempting now wouldn’t just get him thrown out of the Order but probably out of life itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Someone out there was about to find that their worst nightmare was a maddened Librarian.<\/p>\n

With a badge.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I love the Librarian.<\/p>\n

But of course, one of the strongest parts of the Night Watch arc (and really, of all Discowrld books) is the biting social commentary.<\/p>\n

They avoided one another’s faces, for fear of what they might see mirrored there. Each man thought: one of the others is bound to say something soon, some protest, and then I’ll murmur agreement, not actually say anything, I’m not as stupid as that, but definitely murmur very firmly, so that the others will be in no doubt that I thoroughly disapprove, because at a time like this it behooves all decent men to stand up and be almost heard…<\/p>\n

But no-one said anything. The cowards, each man thought.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Have you read a better description of how atrocities occur?<\/p>\n

‘Well, well,’ he said. ‘So we’re privy councillors now. Just fancy.’<\/p>\n

‘Hmm,’ said the assassin.<\/p>\n

‘I wonder what’s the difference between ordinary councillors and privy councillors?’ wondered the merchant aloud.<\/p>\n

The assassin scowled at him. ‘I think,’ he said, ‘it is because you’re expected to eat shit.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then there’s this:<\/p>\n

‘I believe you find life such a problem because you think there are the good people and the bad people,’ said the man. ‘You’re wrong, of course. There are, always and only, the bad people, but some of them are on opposite sides<\/em>.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, I love Terry Pratchett.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Random House<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guards! Guards! (1989) Terry Pratchett I love Discworld. That’s not to say I love all the books, but some of the character arcs in this series feature some of the best writing around. Guards! Guards! is the start of the Night Watch story arc. When we meet Captain Samuel Vimes, he’s drinking himself into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,2,291,41],"tags":[142,698,141],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-reread","tag-discworld","tag-librarian","tag-terry-pratchett"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-H4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10879,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10879","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":0},"title":"Guards! Guards!","author":"Michelle","date":"May 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Guards! Guards! (1989) Terry Pratchett I love Terry Pratchett, and I think I may love the Watch story arc best of all the Discworld stories. It was a five hundred mile journey and, surprisingly, quite uneventful. People who are rather more than six feet tall and nearly as broad across\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Guards-Guards-e1511049756730.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13291,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13291","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":1},"title":"Guards! Guards!","author":"Michelle","date":"July 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Guards! Guards! (1989) Terry Pratchett (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1) This is the first book with Captain Vimes, and Carrot, yes, but we also get lots of THE LIBRARIAN! (OOK!) Very senior librarians, however, once they have proved themselves worthy by performing some valiant act of librarianship, are accepted into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Guards! Guards!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Guards-Guards-e1511049756730.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18487,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18487","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":2},"title":"Making Money","author":"Michelle","date":"November 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Making Money (2007) Terry Pratchett (Discworld) The Post Office is going well (to the surprise of Moist as much as everyone else) and perhaps Moist is getting a little bored. Luckily, Vetinari has ideas. \u201cYou Have An Appointment Now With Lord Vetinari,\u201d said the golem. \u201cI\u2019m sure I don\u2019t.\u201d \u201cThere\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Making Money","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/Making-Money-e1511016248126.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":3},"title":"Discworld","author":"Michelle","date":"May 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Discworld by Terry Pratchett Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Faust Eric, Reaper Man I've been re-reading Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, mostly because they're funny, and a quick read. I know I'm missing quite a few books, but I'm buying them when I find them. Pyramids ROC (1999) Teppic, son of the pharaoh\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/65","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":4},"title":"Jingo","author":"Michelle","date":"April 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Jingo (1997) Terry Pratchett What surprised me most about this book was that it was written in 1997. A new island has risen between Ankh Morpork and Klatch, and war seems to be the only way to determine who really owns the island. Jingo features Commander Samuel Vimes and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/04\/Jingo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/63","url_meta":{"origin":2670,"position":5},"title":"The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents (2001) Terry Pratchett The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is one of Terry Pratchett's young adult books, are set in Discworld. Talking cats, talking rats, and an appearance by Death (as well as by the Death of Rats). Aside from being slightly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}