I bought Terry Pratchett's Thud! Tuesday at Barnes and Noble and finished reading it Wednesday. Like all his books it was a read that I could not put down.
The lead character, Sam Vimes, is one of the best I've ever encountered. He and his multi-species crew on the Ankh-Morpork City Watch must solve a murder and halt a war—again. This time the war is a centuries old conflict between the dwarves and the trolls. Steeped in tradition, neither side knows who started their conflict but each side blames the other. The Watch has its vampires, werewolves, dwarves, trolls, humans and a character named Nobby Nobbs who has to carry a document that says he is human.
Prachett delves into intrigue, double-dealing and human behavior with incredible insight on today's world. He does all this with read aloud humor you'll want to share with others. Try not to give too much away however. Let them read and enjoy it too.
If you haven't read Pratchett before, you can pick up any of the books and start reading, but I recommend you start from the beginning of the Discworld books—The Color of Magic—and read them all. There are series within the Discworld series. You have the Witches books, the Wizards books (these would include the most inept, but luckiest, wizard on Discworld—Rincewind), the City Watch books, and the Death books (yeah, Death is a character) and there are a few that are truly freestanding. They are all good and they get better with the second and third readings.
Actually, I find all of Pratchett's characters lovable. Whether it's Sam Vimes, Granny Weatherwax, Rincewind or Death who heads the bill or if it's politics, religion or just the modern world's foibles that is the stage I think you'll fall in love with Pratchett's writing.
And I think he's a handsome devil to boot. Just compare his photo to mine then click through some of the links below to check out him and his works.
Terry Pratchett’s Bibliography
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Web Site
Terry Pratchett’s Books
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