Thud! is Terry Pratchett's 34th novel in the hugely popular
Discworld series.
Across all the lands trolls and dwarfs have never gotten along. In
Discworld, this is also the case. Many, many years ago there was
the great Battle of Koom Valley, a battle so great that a rather
crazy painter, Methodia Rascal, painted an almost-to-scale painting
of the fight between the trolls and the dwarfs.
In modern day Ankh-Morpork, where there is always something
happening, the trolls and dwarfs are set to go to battle again, at
the anniversary of the Battle of Koom Valley. What starts with the
theft of the painting by Methodia Rascal, leads to a journey for
not just the dwarfs and the trolls, but also for Commander Vimes
and his Watch.
As usual, Terry Pratchett has delivered a wonderful, humourous and
exciting novel. Along with delving into the very much controversial
issue of racism, here being portrayed between the trolls and the
dwarfs, Pratchett also pokes fun at fundamentalism, between the
deep down dwarfs -who consider themselves true dwarfs- and the
surface dwarfs.
Every Discworld fan has their favourite characters. I've always
been fond of the wizards and the witches, who couldn't love the
ever-failing Rincewind, and the nerves of steel with Granny
Weatherwax? While many of my friends have adored all the Watch
novels, I've enjoyed them immensely, but not loved any of the
characters. Thud! changed this for me. Starting with Guards!
Guards! Commander Sam Vines' character has slowly been evolving,
and Pratchett has really opened him up in Thud! As we watch
Commander Vines take battle amongst the trolls and dwarfs to try
and bring about peace, he also shows his softer side as every night
he must be home at 6pm sharp to read Where is my cow? to his son,
young Sam.
All in all, Thud! was a wonderful trip down the Discworld, and I'm
looking forward to more from Terry Pratchett and the quirky Disc.