Men at Arms

Author: Terry Pratchett

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Rating: A

I think the City Watch books are, in all honesty, my favourite of the Discworld novels.   The characters are just great, possibly the best of the Discworld universe, although I'm sure I'll say differently next time I read a Witches or Rincewind book.

Murder is afoul at the great city of Ankh-Morpork and the City Watch is on the job - sort of.  Assassin Edward d'Eath, of the down-and-out noble d'Eath family, has become convinced that his family's humbling has been the result of the social change in the city, owing to the lack of a monarch on the throne.  It is his plan to restore the monarchy, and for this he needs the Disc's one and only firearm, the gonne.  The gonne, however, has a mind of its own and leaves behind it a trail of bodies.  Captain Vimes of the Night's Watch is on the case; investigating the disappearance of a mysterious item from the Assassin's Guild and a subsequent string of apparently unrelated but equally gruesome murders, all against the express orders of the city's Patrician, Havelock Vetinari.  Vimes' investigation is meant to be short lived, however, as he is due to retire with his impending nuptials to Lady Sybil Ramkin.  Also at hand is the rise in the Watch's ranks, as the Patrician has ordered that the Watch have ethnic recruits, in the form of a dwarf, troll, and female werewolf.

There are so many elements to this novel, all of which are great.  There's the obligatory Death appearance, awesome as always, and the Patrician, who might be my second favourite character in the series - behind Death, of course.  I love the way that the Patrician's mind works, the way he rules his City, and the way he interacts with others - especially Vimes.  I love Vimes too, and Carrot, and the way that they're both simple and complex at the same time.  The whole "Carrot is the true heir to the throne" thing is absolutely great and I enjoy seeing how it plays out.  I also enjoyed seeing the way that the relationship between Carrot and the new werewolf recruit, Angua, has begun to play out.  It's another element to Carrot, and I love their being more elements to Carrot.

The great theme of the book is the idea that "guns don't kill people, people kill people," and the fact that in the Discworld it is the gun, or gonne, that is behind the killings - to an extent.  While I'm not really a believer of the whole "guns kill people" I like the way that Pratchette worked this theme.  It might not work as well here, in the Roundworld, where guns do not have the ability to think and shoot people of their own accord, but it does work well in Discworld where that is far from being the weirdest thing to occur.  I really liked the way that it played out here.

Recommendations: September 14

Liberal Arts - Josh Radnor's second take in the director's chair.  This time he plays a 30-something year old guy who goes to a party at his Alma matter and falls for a college student... I feel like I've already seen this movie based on that, but it has Zac Efron in it so who cares.

Finding Nemo - Okay, so obviously this is a re-release.  Everyone's favourite clown fish (Albert Brooks) and memory impaired regal blue tan fish (Ellen DeGeneres) are back, this time in 3D.  While I doubt the 3D will really add to Dory's ability to speak whale this is still going to be a movie worth catching.

The Master - This one's only on limited release this week (it comes out in full next week), but it looks really good.  Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman it's about a Naval veteran just home from war.  This movie is set to be the first controversial film of the year and is based in part on the foundation of Scientology.

Arbitrage - I saw the trailer for this the other day and it made me really want to see the movie.  Richard Gere plays a rich (or maybe formerly rich, but hiding that fact from his family) man who's in the process of selling his company when he gets into a car accident that kills his mistress.  A cover up ensues and, based on the trailer, his whole life starts to go to shit.

10 Years - Another limited release (that's 4 for this recommendation), this one's an indie take on the high school reunion.  To be honest, the only reason I'm really looking forward to seeing this one is because it's an on-screen reunion of real-life couple Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum.  I can be fairly easy to please at times.

Snow White and the Huntsman - Okay, so I know I'm lame, but I actually really liked this movie, even Kristen Stewart's role in it.  And now... well, hey! This is the movie that broke her and Robert Pattison up!

What to Expect When You're Expecting - The movie inspired by the book about pregnancy.  I wasn't really a big fan of this film, but it definitely had some good points.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - This movie is the reason people are afraid of clowns.  Or at least it should be.  One of those horrible B-movies from the 80s, Killer Klowns is now being released on Blu-Ray.  Which totally means you should check it out.

Wizards of Odd - A collection of stories edited by Peter Haining, this features fantasy works by Terry Pratchett, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, and others.

The Flying Sorcerers - The follow up to the above collection, The Flying Sorcerers collection of fantasy based stories featuring works by Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl, Arthur C. Clarke, Angela Carter, and others.  You can't really go wrong there.

Lords and Ladies

Author: Terry Pratchett
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Rating: B+

Lords and Ladies, the fourteenth Discworld novel and 4^th Witches story, picks up a bit after where Witches Abroad left off, with Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick having just returned to Lancre from their previous journey.  There Magrat finds that everything is all ready for her wedding – despite the fact that Verence II never actually proposed, instead simply assuming that she would in fact marry him – while Granny discovers that a new, young coven has been performing magic at the Dancers, a circle of stones which guards the gateway between the Discworld and the land of the Elves.  Meanwhile in Ankh-Morpork the wizards of the Unseen University have received an invitation to the wedding of the King of Lancre, and Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully decides to take him up on it, full of fond memories of a witch that he once knew in Lancre.  He is joined by the neurotic Bursar, the Reader in Invisible Writing Ponder Stibbs, and everyone’s favourite Librarian – none of which embark upon this journey in an entirely voluntary manner.  Chaos (and hilarity) ensues as the wedding approaches and the Queen of the Elves threatens to invade the Discworld.

This novel is a marked return to the style of writing that I have come to know and expect from Terry Pratchett.  The story is at points simply chaotic, but that is part of the joy of reading Pratchett – the Discworld is a world of chaos, where something with a million-to-one chance in success will, of course, succeed nine out of ten times.  The allusions are awesome, with this book having been clearly inspired by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.  The jokes are also great, with a good number of running jokes, both specific to this novel and to the series as a whole, particularly the Librarian’s old green robe, monkeys, Greebo, Wizard’s staffs (and their knobs), the Stick and Bucket Dance, and of course dried frog pills.  Nanny and Granny are in their prime and Magrat finally comes into her own, although it being Magrat one would doubt that she’ll remain there.  In addition to a new side of Magrat being shown, there are also new sides to Nanny and Granny.  For the first time in the series Granny is shown as something more than a grumpy old hag who does good in a rather malevolent way – she is good not because she is good but because she has to be good – but also as a woman.  She opens up in a way that we’ve never seen before, although she’d be the first to deny such a thing.  In contrast to this, Nanny reveals that she’s capable of as much as Granny is, and can be as scary and threatening.  You really get an idea of just how much you do not want to threaten Nanny Ogg’s family – and in her mind, all of Lancre is her family. With the way word seems to get around on the Discworld, it amazes me that there are still beings who would go up against this trio, although a face off between then and the Librarian would be interesting....

Small Gods

Author: Terry Pratchett

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Rating: B

In Omnia it is time for the arrival of the Eighth Prophet to reveal himself and convey to the followers of Om the Great God’s desires.  Except, when the god goes to the disc in order to find his prophet he finds himself in the body of a tortoise, only able to made himself heard to a slow, stupid novice, Brutha.  Brutha is the only person in all of Omnia who truly believes in Om the god and not just the rules and rituals of the church.  In true Pratchett fashion, it is up to Brutha to save the day and restore the god, although he doesn’t exactly realize that he needs to do as much.

Small Gods is not my favourite of the Discworld novels.  It wasn’t as funny as the previous books in the series, although the plot was a bit more intricate than others.  My big problem with the series was that the characters were harder to get into.  All of the characters of the book are new to the series (although the Librarian is briefly alluded to) and very few of them are narrator characters.  It takes a bit for both Om and Brutha to become interesting narrators, and as such it isn’t until about half way through the book that it actually becomes interesting.  Prior to that it more feels like a long, somewhat dry preamble to the actual plot.

Once Small Gods begins to pick up its steam it really takes off and flourishes.  As the meaning of Om’s predicament becomes clear and Brutha begins to flourish under his influence the plot begins to really take shape, things get interesting, and the fact that the novel doesn’t contain the same level of humour as earlier books is forgotten.  At times things are still a bit overly complicated, and there are elements that I thought could have been toned down (particularly in regards to the philosophers), but the book does hold its own.  My one big problem with the second half of the novel is that the consequences of some of Brutha’s actions are never really fully explained.  Not the best in the series, but overall still a good book.