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defrogI’m late, I know. But I have a whopper of an excuse. One day I may even share it here. Meanwhile, let’s book review.
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The 15th Discworld novel and the second one to focus on the City Watch. I’m off and on with Discworld – partly because the fantasy genre is generally not my thing, and again, because Terry Pratchett one of those authors who is never not in print, so there’s no real urgency to read them. But I’m rarely disappointed in them, and for some reason I’ve generally liked the City Watch books – Sam Vimes is a compelling character for reasons I can’t entirely explain. Also, the best Discworld books are the ones where Pratchett introduces some new modern innovation that is familiar in this world (newspapers, movies, rock music, a functioning post office, etc) but a culture shock for Ankh-Morpork – in this case, firearms.
The basic plot involves the Night Watch getting new non-human recruits as part of the Patrician’s affirmative action program at a time when Captain Vimes is about to retire in order to marry Lady Sybil, the richest woman in the city. Vimes is uneasy about giving up being a cop, which becomes increasingly clear as he gets involved in One Last Case – someone is randomly murdering people in Ankh-Morpork. Meanwhile, Edward d’Eath is obsessed with the idea that Ankh-Morpork needs a king again, and believes the rightful heir is the Night Watch’s Corporal Carrot – and he has found what he thinks is the perfect weapon to bring that about. Only the weapon has other ideas …
This is the foundation for Pratchett to satirize racism and gun culture (also, clowns) – and he does so reasonably well. The twist ending seems a tad contrived, but Pratchett’s secret has always been good pacing and well-drawn characters – it’s a bona fide page turner, and the characters are as compelling as ever. This is especially true for Angua, the City Watch werewolf who makes her first appearance in the series here. Even as a side-character, she was interesting in other City Watch books, so it’s nice to see her taking an important role here.
Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS: This is the sequel to A Dirty Job, in which it was established that when someone dies, their soul needs to be collected by Death Merchants who then store the soul in an object so that it can be passed on to wherever it needs to go. If they don’t do this, bad things happen – like ancient Celtic gods rising from the underworld to bring chaos and destruction. In this instalment, we discover that Charlie Asher (the protagonist from A Dirty Job, a Death Merchant who was killed by said ancient Celtic gods) is still alive – sort of. His Buddhist nun girlfriend Audrey has trapped his soul in a makeshift body made out of an alligator head and lunch meat. With very large naughty bits.
It turns out that someone’s been slacking on the soul-collecting again – worse, someone has been stealing them and binding them to the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s daughter Sophia (who is actually Death incarnate) seems to have lost her power. Charlie needs a new body – but it has to be the body of someone who is about to die who is willing to let another soul take it over. Which is where goth girl Lily’s job at the suicide hotline center comes in handy. Typical of Moore, it gets even more absurd as it goes along.
Which is of course his stock in trade. It’s also why he can get away with what is essentially a variation on the same plot as A Dirty Job, with some new characters and some digressions as some ghosts on the bridge tell their tragic stories – which are good, but mostly irrelevant. So this one is a bit hodge-podge and a slight retread of the basic conflict in the first book (sort of like how the central mission in The Force Awakens is blowing up a bigger Death Star – it’s not exactly the same story, but it does rhyme). But it’s Moore’s wacky dark humor and vivid characters that are the main attraction, and on that score he delivers the goods. So it’s flawed but still entertaining.
View all my reviews
Soul city,
This is dF
Men at Arms by Terry PratchettMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The 15th Discworld novel and the second one to focus on the City Watch. I’m off and on with Discworld – partly because the fantasy genre is generally not my thing, and again, because Terry Pratchett one of those authors who is never not in print, so there’s no real urgency to read them. But I’m rarely disappointed in them, and for some reason I’ve generally liked the City Watch books – Sam Vimes is a compelling character for reasons I can’t entirely explain. Also, the best Discworld books are the ones where Pratchett introduces some new modern innovation that is familiar in this world (newspapers, movies, rock music, a functioning post office, etc) but a culture shock for Ankh-Morpork – in this case, firearms.
The basic plot involves the Night Watch getting new non-human recruits as part of the Patrician’s affirmative action program at a time when Captain Vimes is about to retire in order to marry Lady Sybil, the richest woman in the city. Vimes is uneasy about giving up being a cop, which becomes increasingly clear as he gets involved in One Last Case – someone is randomly murdering people in Ankh-Morpork. Meanwhile, Edward d’Eath is obsessed with the idea that Ankh-Morpork needs a king again, and believes the rightful heir is the Night Watch’s Corporal Carrot – and he has found what he thinks is the perfect weapon to bring that about. Only the weapon has other ideas …
This is the foundation for Pratchett to satirize racism and gun culture (also, clowns) – and he does so reasonably well. The twist ending seems a tad contrived, but Pratchett’s secret has always been good pacing and well-drawn characters – it’s a bona fide page turner, and the characters are as compelling as ever. This is especially true for Angua, the City Watch werewolf who makes her first appearance in the series here. Even as a side-character, she was interesting in other City Watch books, so it’s nice to see her taking an important role here.
Secondhand Souls by Christopher MooreMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS: This is the sequel to A Dirty Job, in which it was established that when someone dies, their soul needs to be collected by Death Merchants who then store the soul in an object so that it can be passed on to wherever it needs to go. If they don’t do this, bad things happen – like ancient Celtic gods rising from the underworld to bring chaos and destruction. In this instalment, we discover that Charlie Asher (the protagonist from A Dirty Job, a Death Merchant who was killed by said ancient Celtic gods) is still alive – sort of. His Buddhist nun girlfriend Audrey has trapped his soul in a makeshift body made out of an alligator head and lunch meat. With very large naughty bits.
It turns out that someone’s been slacking on the soul-collecting again – worse, someone has been stealing them and binding them to the Golden Gate Bridge. Meanwhile, Charlie’s daughter Sophia (who is actually Death incarnate) seems to have lost her power. Charlie needs a new body – but it has to be the body of someone who is about to die who is willing to let another soul take it over. Which is where goth girl Lily’s job at the suicide hotline center comes in handy. Typical of Moore, it gets even more absurd as it goes along.
Which is of course his stock in trade. It’s also why he can get away with what is essentially a variation on the same plot as A Dirty Job, with some new characters and some digressions as some ghosts on the bridge tell their tragic stories – which are good, but mostly irrelevant. So this one is a bit hodge-podge and a slight retread of the basic conflict in the first book (sort of like how the central mission in The Force Awakens is blowing up a bigger Death Star – it’s not exactly the same story, but it does rhyme). But it’s Moore’s wacky dark humor and vivid characters that are the main attraction, and on that score he delivers the goods. So it’s flawed but still entertaining.
View all my reviews
Soul city,
This is dF
