Anyone who has been following this blog over the last few years will know that I am a fan of Terry Pratchett and his phenomenal Discworld novels. There are various themes within this series and Men At Arms is the third of the "City Watch" sequence. Our heroes are the set of misfits that make up the Night Watch (or policemen) of the city of Ankh Morpork - both human and non-human. When one mysterious death starts snowballing into a series of similar fatalities - some weird snowball effect seems to be happening ... because each murderer seems to be the next victim! The insanely good Corporal Carrot sets off to investigate with his fellow Watch members, which include three new recruits - a troll, a dwarf and a very attractive werewolf! Their leader, Captain Vimes, is, however, not really leading them very well - he is an unhappy man - which is surprising considering he is about to retire and get married. He is fearful for his future, as he is, and always has been, a Watchman! He is warned off investigating the deaths by the nominal leader of Ankh Morpork, which makes him suspicious. He pulls himself together, and he and Carrot follow the trail, only to discover that there is an unusual weapon at the centre of the mayhem, a weapon that should have been destroyed as soon as it was created, but which most definitely seems to have a will of its own. As usual, the tale crackles along, with plenty of humour and jokes - I frequently chortled out loud! Mr Pratchett never fails to deliver and this is a great addition to the series.
My STAR rating: FOUR.
Length: 381 print pages.
Price I paid: £3.00 (from a great second-hand bookshop in Newcastle Upon Tyne).
Formats available: print,
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