Tag: Gollancz

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Throwback ThursdayLeave a comment

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Random (Audiobook – 6 June 1996)

Series: Discworld – Book 19/City Watch – Book Three

Length: 12 hours and 20 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Even after many, many re-reads, the awesome fantasy satire novel Feet of Clay remains one of my favourite Discworld novels by the late, great Terry Pratchett, with its intricate crime fiction narrative, compelling characters, and even a cool new audiobook version.

I’ve done a lot of Discworld re-reading recently as I have been checking out several of the best books in the series on their new audiobook formats, which featured cool new narrators.  This new format has proven particularly awesome for books like Mort, Pyramids, Moving Pictures and Small Gods, as well as for entries in my favourite Discworld subseries, the City Watch books.

While I have a lot of love for all the books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, my absolute favourites come from the City Watch subseries.  Following the unlikely members of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, a rag-tag team of guards who go from losers to an effective police force, the City Watch books features an exceptional combination of fantasy and crime fiction elements, wrapped up in Pratchett’s usual satirical humour.  The first two books in this series, Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms are quite exceptional, and it was a very easy decision to also check out the epic third novel in the series, Feet of Clay.

After several unlikely but successful investigations, things are looking up for the Ankh-Morpork City Watch.  No longer a home for the dregs of society, the City Watch is now a respected crime-fighting unit.  Led by Commander Sam Vimes, the Watch’s enthusiastic, if unusual, members are determined to bring some law and order to the city of Ankh-Morpork, whether it wants it or not.

However, even with their new resources and members, the Watch find themselves troubled by a series of brutal murders occurring throughout the city.  All the victims were bludgeoned to death, but there is no evidence of anyone alive, or undead, having been at the crime scene.  At the same time, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork has been poisoned by unknown methods and is only barely clinging to life.  If the Patrician dies, sanity in the city will be the next to fall.

To solve both cases, Vimes and his watchmen will need to investigate an overlooked underclass in the city, the golems, whose ancient secrets and desires may lie at the heart of the killings.  But with desperate conspiracies, unlikely noble heirs and a new deranged king coming to light, can the City Watch uncover the figures pulling the strings in the darkness of Ankh-Morpork before it’s too late?

Wow, how is this book still so damn good?  Feet of Clay was another outstanding read from Terry Pratchett, who once again deeply impresses with his exceptional writing, unmatched humour, and deeply relatable characters.  This third City Watch book is probably some of Pratchett’s very best work, and it gets an extremely easy five-star rating from me.

I absolutely love the great narrative that Pratchett came up with for Feet of Clay, which I personally thinks has one of the author’s best crime fiction narratives behind it, as the complex characters humorously manoeuvre around the gritty streets of Ankh-Morpork.  This book features a fun start that perfectly sets the scene for several of the key characters, including protagonist Sam Vimes’s daily routine of assassins and high society.  You are also quickly thrust into the Watch’s new case involving two elderly academics bludgeoned to death.  These initial investigations, as well as some other great sequences, set the scene for much of the rest of the book, with the narrative becoming even more hectic when Vimes discovers that the Patrician has been poisoned by unknown conspirators.

Afte the initial set-up, the rest of the story flows by extremely fast, with several character-driven storylines that flow together perfectly.  The primary focus is on the two seemingly separate investigations into the murders and the poisonings, with Captain Carrot and Vimes taking control of each case.  Both these major storylines go in some very interesting directions, with Vimes desperately trying to work out how the poisonings happened, while Carrot and Angua begin investigating the city’s golems, one of whom seems responsible for the murders.  At the same time, Pratchett also provides some fantastic character-based storylines around several of the supporting Watch characters. This includes the unusual proclivities of the Watch’s new dwarf officer Corporal Cheery Littlebottom, Corporal Nobby Nobbs’s unbelievable reveal as a potential noble, one golem’s journey towards self-determination, and Angua’s continued feelings of alienation at being a werewolf.

All these storylines cross over perfectly in the final third of Feet of Clay, as the protagonists finally put together the subtle clues for the main two cases.  While the reveal about who or what is behind the murders is fantastic in its own way, I must highlight the extremely well-hidden poisoning method that Pratchett devised for this plot, which is just so damn devious and cleverly set-up by the author.  This leads to an excellent, action-focused collection of sequences that eventually pull together into an intense confrontation.

Pratchett wraps this up perfectly, with some amazing final reveals about who was ultimately pulling all the strings.  While the mastermind of the conspiracy isn’t too surprising (especially if you listen to one of the audiobook versions), the way that Vimes works out their identity is so much fun thanks to some ironically hidden clues, and I love the big reveal scene between Vimes and the main antagonist.  Pratchett also wraps up the remaining storylines perfectly, providing some great final touches to each of the characters’ respective arcs, and ensuring that the readers come away extremely satisfied.  I honestly cannot emphasise enough just how addictive and clever this narrative was, and every single aspect of this plot was perfectly set up and utilised by Pratchett as he wove his fantasy, crime fiction magic.

I’ve always felt that Feet of Clay was one of Pratchett’s best-written novels, as he manages to expertly balance a range of competing storylines inside this highly entertaining, hybrid novel.  As with all his City Watch books, the way that Pratchett manages to blend fantasy and crime fiction elements with his usual brilliant humour is just incredible, and I love how well this mixture of elements works to tell an effective narrative.  I must particularly commend the great mystery in Feet of Clay, which is just so damn intricate with all its clues and mixture of compelling character storylines.  Feet of Clay easily has some of Pratchett’s best mystery writing in its plot, and there is an outstanding amount of complexity built into both cases, with the truly elaborate poisoning arc being a particular highlight.  The sheer amount of cleverly crafted and often humorous clues that the author scatters throughout the book is so damn awesome, and it is so much fun to pull them all together.

The book’s outstanding crime fiction elements are perfectly enhanced by the background fantasy elements of the setting, with the protagonists forced to investigate the crimes in the context of a chaotic city populated with different species.  Compared to previous books, the investigation in Feet of Clay is much more like a modern police procedural, with classic forensic concepts enhanced with fantasy elements like scent tracking done by a werewolf and crime scene photos drawn by imps.  The protagonists also need to deal with various fantasy creatures, such as golems, vampires, dwarfs and a very angry gnome, and understanding their motivations becomes a key part of the plot.  Pratchett also uses these fantasy elements to address and lightly satirise contemporary social trends.  For example, one dwarf’s attempt to find herself leads to a complex, nuanced and thought-provoking discussion on gender identity, which can still be readily applied to modern discourses on transgendered rights and modern gender norms.  Another storyline focusing on golems gaining free will is also highly relevant, especially when you consider artificial intelligence.  Throw in the general chaos and disorder of the city, which results in additional fun conflicts and incidents (Vimes’s one-sided battle against the Assassins Guild is particularly amusing), as well as a focus on the changes that have occurred to Ankh-Morpork thanks to the actions of the Patrician and the Watch, and you really have to appreciate just how fell the inherent fantasy elements of Feet of Clay enhances the plot.

While both the mystery and fantasy elements of Feet of Clay are very compelling, what really turns this into a five-star read is the clever humour that Pratchett adds to his books.  There are various layers to the humour in this novel, although much of it lies in classic fantasy or murder mystery scenarios going in particularly absurd directions, or being artfully dissected by self-aware protagonists who find the situation and its real-world historical precedent very absurd.  There are also the brilliant footnotes that seek to enhance the story and showcase just how ridiculous the Discworld is by providing additional details about the universe and the people within it.  Finally, you have humour driven by the outrageous characters scattered throughout the plot, with ultra-sarcastic figures rubbing shoulders with entertaining parodies of terrible people.  The more direct humour drawn from the storylines of several of these characters, such as Corporal Nobbs’s foray into the upper class, and Sergeant Colon unfortunate agricultural experiences, blends well with the rest of the complex novel, and ensures that there are entertaining moments, no matter where in Feet in Clay you are.

This great combination of humour, fantasy elements and a crime fiction narrative helps to make Feet of Clay one of the more appealing novels in all the Discworld series, and so many different readers will end up getting a lot out of it.  As such, Feet of Clay works incredibly well as a standalone novel, with new readers easily able to enjoy this book without any prior knowledge of the Discworld or previous City Watch books, especially as Pratchett covers any relevant history or characters quite effectively.  However, I do feel that to get the best experience with Feet of Clay, readers would benefit from checking out Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms first.  The continuing storylines, history of the city and character arcs all come into play extremely well in Feet of Clay and you get a much more complete experience viewing all City Watch novels in order.

As with all of Pratchett’s novels, one of the real joys of Feet of Clay is the complex and comedic characters the author weaved such incredible, entertaining, and often extremely heartwarming tales around.  Featuring a great combination of the well-established cast of the previous City Watch books, as well as a couple of awesome new figures, Pratchett did an exceptional job diving into the cast of his novel and the resulting depth to their characters was so damn impressive.

At the centre of Feet of Clay lies main character Commander Samuel Vimes, the recently ennobled and married commander of the City Watch.  Transformed from a drunken and hated figure to the leader of a respected police organisation, Vimes has been forced to up his game, especially as he now finds himself being targeted by the elites of the city which he does with some comedic vigour.  Feet of Clay is probably the book where Pratchett twists the focus of the City Watch fully towards Vimes.  The definite centre of the plot, Pratchett really dives into Vimes’s obsessive nature, his simmering anger at the upper classes, and his determination to bring justice to everyone equally.  Vimes dogged, yet cynical, approach to investigation and crime solving comes face to face with a particularly dastardly plot in Feet of Clay, and there are some wonderful sequences as he tries to puzzle out the poisoning.  Pratchett also provides some extra detail about Vimes’ poor upbringing and the history of his family, which really showcases his motivations to a great degree.  All this allows for a much more complicated figure then we saw in previous books, and it was an interesting change of pace for this central character that Pratchett would expand on in later books.

In addition to Vimes, there are some interesting focuses on Captain Carrot and Constable Angua, who led the investigation into the murders in the city, and Pratchett wraps some compelling elements around them.  Carrot remains the charismatic and skilled leader of men for much of the story, with a continued focus on his love for the city and ability to charm anyone he encounters.  However, Pratchett does attempt to break his seemingly perfect facade in this novel by having him struggle to come to terms with Cheery Littlebottom’s identity issues.  The author also continues to shift away from Carrot as a perspective character, instead allowing his many appearances to be mainly told from the view of other, more cynical members of the cast.  This gives his actions and motivations a little more mystery and allows the reader to wonder just how perfect he really is.  For Feet of Clay, most of this narration was done by Angua, the Watch’s werewolf officer and Carrot’s love interest.  Angua proves to be a very practical and sarcastic personality foil to the upbeat Carrot, which helps to humanise both to a degree.  Pratchett also adds in a compelling underlying storyline of Angua struggling with how others perceive her as a werewolf, and her certainty that her relationship with Carrot can’t last.

While Carrot and Angua represent the more serious side of the Watch, Pratchett continues to have fun by focusing on the always amusing and comedic duo of Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs.  Their narrative in Feet of Clay is particularly good, especially for Nobby, who finds himself elevated to nobility status when it is discovered he is the long-lost descendant of the Earl of Ankh.  Suddenly forced to hobnob with other nobs, Nobby has some fantastic reactions and interactions, especially going from despair at being a penniless noble, to trying to fit in with the city’s elite.  While this seems like a mostly comedic storyline to undercut the tension of Feet of Clay’s serious crimes it fits into the main narrative in some clever ways, although Nobby’s reaction when he finds this out is so damn funny and perfectly reflects his own mentality and his knowledge of Vimes’ reactions.

Sergeant Colon, on the other hand, is somewhat less used in Feet of Clay, although Pratchett has fun satirising the ‘policeman three days away from retirement’ trope through him.  Keen to get out of the Watch because his wife wants him to buy a farm (another subtle and fun joke from Pratchett), Colon inevitably runs into insane trouble in the second half of the book, and it was fun to see the craziness of the other storylines literally stampede over him.  I have loved these two characters since their first appearance in Guards! Guards! and this is one of their funniest books (although their next appearance in Jingo is also peak comedy).

While these recurring characters are awesome, special mention needs to go to the new members of the Watch that Pratchett introduces in Feet of Clay, who have major impacts on the plot.  The most significant of this is the new dwarf forensic officer, Corporal Cheery Littlebottom (a very traditional dwarf name).  Cheery serves as a compelling outsider figure, with Pratchett moving her across both investigations.  However, it’s her characterisation as a female dwarf who wants to acknowledge her gender rather than act like a male dwarf, as is tradition, that really sets Cheery up as a standout character.  Naturally working in aspects of identity and overcoming established mindsets are a big part of Cheery’s character, and it was wonderful to see her gain confidence and skill as a Watch officer.  Pratchett did such an excellent job of handling these complex cultural elements through Cheery, and it’s amazing how significant Cheery’s actions are in the larger Discworld narrative, as well as how relevant they are today.

Other characters I need to mention as I finally wrap up this section include the mysterious golem Dorfl.  A voiceless and dutiful figure that is part of the city’s exploited golem underclass, Dorfl has a compelling connection to the murders in Feet of Clay and serves as an unlikely witness and suspect.  Pratchett writes a particularly compelling motivation around Dorfl’s actions in this novel, which cleverly ties into discussion about self-determination and artificial intelligence.  I also had a lot of fun with Dorfl’s later scenes, especially as he becomes the city’s most unexpected and dramatic revolutionary.  Other highlights for me include Lord Vetinari, who takes his role as a poison victim with his usual special interest.  Throw in an ancient vampire with a love of terrible puns, an extremely angry gnome, and other compelling characters dragged into the narrative’s web, and the cast of Feet of Clay was one of Pratchett’s strongest, especially with all the emotional impact they add to the plot.

As with all the other Discworld novels I have reviewed, I have enjoyed Feet of Clay on various formats over the years, but my favourite is once again its audiobook version.  The various audiobook releases are always the absolute best ways to enjoy a Discworld novel, and the fantastic humour, compelling characters and entertaining locations that Pratchett comes up with, always come across in impressive fashion when read out.  This is especially true for Feet of Clay, which, like many of the series, has had several different audiobook versions over the years.  This includes the classic version released back in 1997, featuring narration by one of my favourite audiobook narrators, the legendary Nigel Planer.  I have raved about Planer in several previous reviews, including for Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms, and few narrators can capture Pratchett’s style and comedic charm with their voices like Planer did.  His work narrating Feet of Clay was particularly impressive, especially with his portrayal of all the cool characters, including an over-the-top vampire, the new dwarf member of the watch, and more.  The Planer narration of this novel is probably the definitive Feet of Clay audiobook, and I have been in love with this version since I was a child.

I also need to highlight the new audiobook released a couple of years ago.  Featuring the very impressive cast of Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy, this more recent Feet of Clay release was also very exceptional, building off the great work these three narrators did with their Guards! Guards! and Men at Arms audiobooks.  Coming in with a runtime of 12 hours and 20 minutes, this Feet of Clay audiobook is a bit longer than the Planer release (which had a runtime of 9 hours and 38 minutes), although listeners are still in for an exceptional time.  Much of this is down to British radio and television personality Jon Culshaw, who once again made this audiobook his own with his take on the story and his characters.  His gritty and entertaining voices for the cast are very fitting, and like Planer, he excels at showcasing their complicated personalities, as well as the overall humour of the book.  I am once again very impressed with just how excellent Culshaw was for the City Watch books, and he is my favourite narrator from these new Discworld audiobooks.

As with all books in this new collection of Discworld audiobook’s, Culshaw’s main narration was perfectly backed up by recuring voices of Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz.  These performances were once again perfect, and I especially loved Nighy’s excellent work with the vital, comedic footnotes. Serafinowicz’s role in Feet of Clay is also very fun, as he brings the fan-favourite character of Death to life.  While Death only has a few scenes in Feet of Clay, Serafinowicz makes the most of his appearances, and hearing the actor’s deep Death voice suddenly appear amongst the general narration really increases the impact of the character.  Both Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz’s inclusions were extremely fun, and I felt that they were combined with Culshaw’s main narration in a very impressive way.  These three brilliant British talents ensured that the new version of Feet of Clay was particularly impressive and while my heart will always belong to the original audiobook with Nigel Planer, this new multi-cast audiobook will likely inspire a new generation of Discworld fans.

With an incredible and winning combination of charm, mystery and comedic brilliance, Feet of Clay was another exceptional and classic read in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.  Providing an ultra-addictive story that also perfectly adds in some great new characters, Feet of Clay is one of the very best Discworld books, and one of my personal favourites.  An exceptional read I will recommend until the day I die!

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The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday1 Comment

Publisher: Gollancz (Trade Paperback – 16 March 2021)

Series: Blacktongue series – Book One

Length: 416 pages

My Rating: 5 out 5 stars

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Prepare for brutal action and adventure in the highly acclaimed fantasy novel, The Blacktongue Thief, a modern classic from a fast-rising author of fantasy fiction.

Several years ago, I made note of an intriguing upcoming fantasy novel that had caught my attention, The Blacktongue Thief.  Written by Christopher Buehlman, an established fantasy and horror writer who I wasn’t familiar with, The Blacktongue Thief had an awesome and intriguing plot behind it, and I was determined to read it when it came out in 2021.  Unfortunately, due to time constraints I never got the chance to read it when it first came out.  However, for the next several years all I heard from fellow fantasy fans was just how good The Blacktongue Thief and its prequel The Daughter’s War was.  Despite this constant praise, which felt a little judgemental towards me, I kept failing to read The Blacktongue Thief, although I was lucky enough to find a good secondhand copy of it last year.  With the sequel to The Blacktongue Thief announced for late 2026, I finally decided to take the plunge with this book earlier this year, and boy was I happy, if unsurprised, with how much fun I had with it.

Plot Synopsis:

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva’s. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.

Whelp, it turns out that I made a big mistake not reading The Blacktongue Thief sooner.  Featuring a powerful and dark take on the classic fantasy quest, The Blacktongue Thief was a compelling character-driven journey into an elaborate and war-riven fantasy world that effortlessly grabs your attention and refuses to let go.  An utterly addictive read from Buehlman that gets a full five-star rating from me.

Buehlman hits the ground running hard with The Blacktongue Thief, quickly introducing you to witty and likeable rogue, Kinch Na Shannack, the book’s protagonist and point-of-view character, as he engages in a little light banditry in the forest.  However, things quickly get out of hand for the protagonist as he fails to rob travelling knight and goblin wars veteran Galva in dramatic fashion.  However, there is far more to Galva than expected, as Kinch finds himself tasked by his employers, the powerful Takers Guild of thieves to follow Galva on her quest to the remote, giant-ravished nation of Oustrim, where she seeks to find her lost friend and queen.  Manoeuvring his way into Galva’s travel plans, Kinch soon becomes attached to his new friend, while the Takers Guild continue to control his actions.  I liked how effectively Buehlman set up his narrative in the early pages of The Blacktongue Thief, as there is a lot of early hints and starting storylines that play out as the novel continues.  The author also lays out some interesting details about the larger fantasy world, including much of its recent troubles and wars, which effectively draws you in alongside the compelling central narrative.

After this intriguing start, Buehlman gets into the story proper, as The Blacktongue Thief takes on many characteristics of a classic fantasy adventure story, with the protagonists travelling from one end of the continent to another.  Picking up some interesting new companions, as well as hints of some of the shadowy motivations around the various players of the plot, Buehlman starts loading in the action, with several entertaining and bloody sequences.  I personally loved the extended run with the protagonists travelling on a piratical whaling ship that takes up much of the centre of The Blacktongue Thief, especially as Buehlman litters this part of the book with feuds, monster fighting, multiple skirmishes and other nautical misadventures.  There are some great moments here, and the author shows the reader what type of book The Blacktongue Thief is with plenty of brutal deaths and sudden changes of fortune.  While much of this part of the book is focused on adventure and modern carnage, Buehlman also makes sure to continue providing intriguing dives into additional details of the setting, as well as some compelling character histories, much of which comes into play as the book continues.

After several dark encounters, tragedies and compelling dangers, the book enters its final third, which proves to be particularly compelling.  Set in the giant-stalked ruins of Oustrim, this final part of The Blacktongue Thief is particularly intense, and you are constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop amongst the dangerous exploration, encounters and sudden sharp conflict.  Buehlman cleverly drops some big revelations as you get towards the end of the book, with developments that change your entire perspective of events.  It also leads to a final series of deadly confrontations, which proves to be quite shocking in places, even after the book’s various prior tragedies.  Buehlman keeps you guessing about what will happen next right to the very end, especially with a final mind-blowing twist about a supporting character.  I loved the intriguing note that Buehlman leaves The Blacktongue Thief on, especially as it sets up its potential sequel which will no-doubt expand on several loose ends from this cool book.  All this is quite addictive, and I honestly got so hooked on all the crazy adventures that the author loaded into this novel.

I really enjoyed how The Blacktongue Thief came together, especially as Buehlman provides a dark take on the classic quest narrative.  Bringing the reader into a beat-up fantasy world, The Blacktongue Thief has a very readable and edgy style that effectively draws you in from the start.  It really doesn’t take you long to get stuck into the book thanks to the great combination of entertaining humour, distinctive worldbuilding and intense action, all of which blends in an excellent and intense manner.  Much of this humour is driven from the amusing antics of The Blacktongue Thief’s protagonist, and the combination of other unique personalities adds a lot to the overall adventure aspect of the plot.  The intrigue, mistrust and hidden motivations increase the tension of the plot nicely, with old mistakes and dark histories perfectly inserted into the main plot by Buehlman.  I deeply enjoyed the multiple awesome action set-pieces that the author throws into The Blacktongue Thief, with so many intense moments of well-choreographed and described combat weaved into the plot.  There is an amazing amount of brutality thrown into the book, which the darker nature of the universe and the desperate plot extremely well, and I was glad that Buehlman didn’t hold back any punches.  I also really enjoyed how there were no slow or quiet moments in The Blacktongue Thief, with the reader constantly moving forward, much like the protagonists.

For me one of the big highlights that put The Blacktongue Thief on another level was the complex and grim fantasy world the story takes place in.  While there are many classic fantasy elements within this book, Buehlman sets it apart with some very intriguing details.  In particular, the book is set in the aftermath of a brutal war between the various human nations and an invading army of goblins.  As such, there is a battered feel to the setting, with the remaining humans wary and militant, and distrust and change in the air.  I loved how well Buehlman captured the desperation and despair of the inhabitants of the realm, as they attempt to survive in the post-war period, and it adds an even darker edge to the already brutal proceedings.  The clever inclusion of several consequences of the war, such as the loss of all the horses in the world thanks to a goblin-wrought disease, and the necessity of woman to be called up to fight in the last war, further enhances the uniqueness of The Blacktongue Thief, and it was really cool how it impacted the current journey and the protagonist’s pasts.  I also quite enjoyed how Buehlman set up multiple unique fantasy realms and kingdoms within the larger world, which the protagonists are forced to move across to reach their goals.  The differing politics, cultures and allegiances that they experienced, as well as the realistic length of the journey across the large continent, ensured that the protagonist’s journey felt like a proper epic quest, and I really enjoyed following the journey on the map provided at the front of the book.  Tracing the protagonist’s journey across the lands helped to enhance the enormity of the plot, and it also hinted at a ton of fun new realms that the protagonists will likely visit in the other entries in this series.  Buehlman’s excellent world building in The Blacktongue Thief really was quite impressive, and it was a big factor in my eventual five-star rating.

The final thing I want to talk about with The Blacktongue Thief are the excellent and memorable characters Buehlman sets his plot around.  The author ends up introducing a fun central cast that engage in the main quest, each of whom have their own demons and interesting quirks.  The primary character is Kinch Na Shannack, a low-level thief who is indebted to the Takers Guild after they trained him and taught him some basic magic.  The narrator and central perspective protagonist, Kinch entertains as the willey tricksters of the group, using his brains and talents for deceit and thievery to survive rather than brute force.  Much of The Blacktongue Thief’s humour comes from Kinch’s funny jokes, cutting observations and somewhat unreliable narration, which blended surprisingly well with the darker setting of the book.  While mostly always comedic, Kinch does have a serious side to him, especially when it comes to his many secrets and hidden motivations.  Buehlman writes a great plot around Kinch finding his true purpose, as his loyalties to the group and his growing courage is forced up against the control of the Takers Guild and the general craziness of the world he encounters.  An overall amazing main character who was the perfect depiction of the rebellious yet faithful rogue.

The other major character I really need to highlight is the striking Galva, a deadly female knight whose quest the plot is set around.  A scarred and dangerous veteran of the goblin wars, Galva is a no-nonsense figure in the book, dedicated to her mission, as well as her worship of the setting’s death goddess.  Buehlman ensures that Galva is set up as pretty badass character from the very start of the book, and you really get drawn to her honourable personality in this dishonourable world.  While mostly serious and unforgiving, there is a certain lighter side to Galva at times, which makes even more likeable, and she ended up being the perfect foil and straight woman to Kinch, with the two having some great interactions.  There is also a certain amount of battle-born trauma to Galva, much of which looks set to be explored in the prequel novel, The Daughter’s War, which added some extra complexity to her appearance.  Galva truly was a great character, and I loved her use as the serious and militant heart of the larger cast.

While Kinch and Galva get most of the focus in The Blacktongue Thief, there are some other entertaining characters who add a lot to the plot.  This includes the young witch, Norrigal, who serves as an interesting interest to Kinch, and whose overarching story had some clever and twisty moments to.  I also must mention Malk Na Brannyck, a countryman of Kinch who adds a lot of drama to the plot due to his history with the protagonist.  Another war veteran, Malk worked well as a minor antagonist who eventually morphs into a reluctant ally, and his various caustic interactions with Kinch added to the larger dysfunction of the protagonists.  Special mention also needs to go to the stray cat, Bully Boy, who tags along with the group against all the odds, and whose appearance definitely isn’t sinister or mysterious.  Throw in a range of rogues, thieves, killers and other dangerous figures that the protagonists encounter, and the cast of The Blacktongue Thief is stacked.  All these characters, and more, have some great storylines attached to them, and I really enjoyed the entertaining and often dark interactions that occurred, especially as it added to the general chaos of the plot.

After finally reading this epic novel, I can confirm that The Blacktongue Thief lives up the hype surrounding it.  Christopher Buehlman introduced a wonderfully dark fantasy world in this book and then moulded a powerful adventure story around it.  Loaded with intense action, great characters and a captivating story, The Blacktongue Thief was utter fun from the very beginning, and I had so much fun getting through it.  I am so glad I finally got the chance to read this novel, and I am hoping to read The Daughter’s War next, especially with the next book in series, The Thrice-Bound Fool, set for release later this year.

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The Witcher: Crossroads of Ravens by Andrzej Sapkowski

On By The Unseen LibraryIn English Translation, Extended Universe, FantasyLeave a comment

Publisher: Gollancz (Trade Paperback – 30 September 2025)

English Translator: David French

Series: The Witcher – 0.1

Length: 310 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Legendary fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski returns to the epic world of The Witcher with the outstanding and awesome prequel novel, Crossroads of Ravens.

I doubt anyone familiar with fantasy fiction is unaware of the cultural juggernaut that is The Witcher franchise.  An exciting and intense fantasy series revolving around Geralt of Rivia, a wandering, monster hunting witcher who finds himself drawn into chaotic events that threaten the entire world.  The initial series birthed seven original novels that were released in Poland the 1990s (later released in English), as well as a series of short stories.  However, The Witcher novels would gain prominence around the world after they were used as the inspiration for an incredible video game series, as well as a later Netflix television show.  I personally have enjoyed several excellent pieces of The Witcher fiction over the years, including the previous novel Season of Storms.  As such, I was very happy when I received an early copy of the new prequel novel from the series, Crossroads of Ravens, which proved to be a gripping read.

Long before the events that would make him a legend, grant him the sobriquets of the White Wolf or the Butcher of Blaviken, or even before he claimed to be from Rivia, Geralt was a young, recently graduated witcher.  Descending from the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen for the first time, Geralt soon discovers that the world is a harsh place where ideals of heroism only get you into trouble, and that the entire continent holds nothing but disdain for his kind.

Swiftly finding himself on the wrong side of the law and a noose, Geralt is only saved by the intervention of grizzled veteran witcher Preston Holt.  An enigmatic and damaged figure with his own agenda, Holt takes the young Geralt under his wing, teaching him the true reality of being a witcher and honing the important skills that the future White Wolf needs to survive. 

Emboldened by this training, Geralt soon begins to gain fame as a witcher, serving the people previously protected by the ailing Holt.  However, as Geralt wanders the land, he finds many eyes on him, including those who hold a grudge against his order.  As new adversaries and dangerous secrets from the past are uncovered, Geralt will have to decide whether to become the noble hero he always envisioned himself to be, or the monster the world believes all witchers are.

Andrzej Sapkowski continues to expertly expand the lore of The Witcher universe with this exciting and action-packed prequel.  Crossroads of Ravens was an amazing novel that takes the readers on a series of intense adventures, loaded with intrigue, conspiracy and death that all fans of the franchise are going to have an outstanding time with.  I ended up powering through this novel in less than a day, and it proved to be a very impressive read.

Crossroads of Ravens was an outstanding and very exciting novel that piled on the action, intrigue and adventure in its fantastic story.  Starting off with an effective bang that sees a young Geralt in trouble during his first foray out as a witcher, Sapkowski does an excellent job of quickly setting up the scenario and introducing Geralt, and the reader, to a new mentor figure with the entertaining Preston Holt.  What follows is a series of compelling adventures, as Geralt initially learns from Preston, before journeying off into the wilds, facing off against various monsters and the even more troublesome human population of the land.  Sapkowski has fun placing Geralt into a new, mostly self-contained adventure each chapter of Crossroads of Ravens, the events and characters of which may reappear later in the book.  This allowed for a quick-paced and very interesting overall narrative, and it was entertaining to see the young Geralt in action.

While there is a good focus on Geralt’s independent adventures, Crossroads of Ravens has a larger, overarching narrative, that sees Geralt seeking knowledge of a historical attack on Kaer Morhen many years earlier.  Thanks to hints revealed in some of the earlier adventures, a run-in with a complex secondary antagonist, and in-universe notes from intelligence officers keeping watch on Geralt and Preston, readers get the general shape of this matter in the first half of the book, and it lies like a dark shadow over Geralt’s main adventures.  Everything comes to a head perfectly towards the last quarter of the book, as Geralt fully understands the threat towards him and those he cares about, and decides to act.  This leads to a tragic series of events, especially as Geralt faces the consequences of his action and his order’s history, while also trying to determine whether he should stay as a selfless witcher or become something far more vengeful.  Sapkowski makes sure that several open story threads from the protagonist’s previous adventures are also tied together by the end of the book, and it was interesting to see how certain plot elements from these earlier chapters came into play in the conclusion.  The result was an excellent and highly enjoyable story that serves well as both a standalone adventure and a prequel to the rest of The Witcher series.

I rather enjoyed how this great prequel Witcher novel came together, as Sapkowski imbues Crossroads of Ravens with his usual flair and wry humour.  Loaded with action, quick-paced stories and an array of unique monsters, Crossroads of Ravens was very reminiscent of early Witcher novels, especially as containing certain adventures to a specific chapter is very similar to the series’ original short-story format.  Naturally, this novel will be best enjoyed by those established fans of The Witcher franchise, especially readers of Sapkowski original novel series.  Crossroads of Ravens features various references to future events or characters in its pages, which long-running readers of the series will enjoy, and there is some great early characterization of the protagonist as well.  There are also interesting alternate versions of events readers might have seen in other media, including the historical attack on Kaer Morhen, which was featured in the Nightmare of the Wolf anime film.  While older fans will get the most of this book, anyone with any knowledge of the franchise will be able to enjoy Crossroads of Ravens to a great degree, especially as it is the earliest book in the current canon of The Witcher series.  As such, this novel will have a lot of appeal to wide array of readers, who will be in for a great time with the action and adventure.

As with all The Witcher books, Crossroads of Ravens features an excellent array of characters, including a great supporting cast around protagonist Geralt.  I very much enjoyed Geralt in this novel as Sapkowski features a young and inexperienced version of his iconic protagonist.  It was fascinating to see Geralt’s initial forays into both the world of ignorant humans, and monster hunting, especially as his reactions to both are different at a young age.  A great example of this can be seen in one adventure where Geralt attempts to save a girl turned into a striga, which parallels The Witcher short story, which is the first entry in Sapkowski’s original novel/short story collection, The Last Wish.  This adventure in Crossroads of Ravens goes very differently from the author’s original story, and it was fascinating to see how a younger, less confident Geralt dealt with the same situation.  I also quite enjoyed seeing Geralt, upon experiencing loss, go on a mission of vengeance, which threatens his previous attempts to be a respected hero rather than a monster.  I felt that Sapkowski cleverly balanced Geralt’s conflicting emotions in these sequences, and the end scene where he makes a choice about what sort of witcher he is, was a great finish to his story.  Throw in an array of excellent additional characters, including a wise, vengeful mentor, a dedicated investigator, a kind healer and many other fun figures, and Crossroads of Ravens proves to be an awesome book for fans of Sapkowski’s entertaining characters.

With another fun and captivating adventure, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher series continues in all its monster-hunting glory with Crossroads of Ravens.  An outstanding prequel novel that features an array of fantastic storylines and characters, Crossroads of Ravens serves as a highly entertaining entry in this acclaimed series that will appeal to a wide audience of fantasy fans.  I had a great time reading Crossroads of Ravens, and it’s worth checking out for anyone in the mood for fun action and an interesting narrative from an excellent established series.

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Mort by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday1 Comment

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1987)

Series: Discworld – Book Four/Death – Book One

Length: 7 hours and 18 minutes (Planer version)/7 hours and 57 minutes (Clifford version)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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My dive into the always outstanding Discworld series by the legendary Terry Pratchett continues with one of the earlier classics, Mort, a clever and highly entertaining novel that still hits hard after all these years.

Readers of this blog will be aware of my obsession for all things Discworld, which I have been a mega fan of for many years.  I have had the very great pleasure of reading all the books in the Discworld series multiple times, and I honestly love everything about them, so much so that I even named this blog after a key setting in the series.  I’ve recently been having one of my periodic re-reads of the series, which has seen me finally review some of my favourite Discworld entries, including Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures, Small Gods and Men at Arms.  The next entry in the series I decided to reread was the wonderfully compelling Mort.  The fourth book in the series, this is one of the earlier Discworld novels and serves as the first book in the Death sub-series.

They say that death comes for everybody, but on the Discworld that statement couldn’t be more true, as everyone will eventually encounter Death, the black-robed, scythe wielding skeleton who personifies the end of life.  However, not all encounters with Death are the same, as terminally unqualified teenager Mort is about to discover, as instead of taking his life, Death offers Mort a job.

Suddenly saddled with the responsibilities of being the apprentice of Death, Mort finds his life a lot more complicated.  Reaping the souls of the recently departed is one thing, but learning to walk through walls and deal with the unlikely whims of his new master is another, especially as Death seems determined to set Mort up with his adopted daughter Ysabell.  However, the big problems begin when Mort impulsively decides to change fate and save the life of a young princess destined to die.

Forced to find a way to stop the diverging threads of reality while keeping the princess alive, Mort soon discovers that being the Grim Reaper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Worse, with the real Death suddenly discovering the joys of life, Mort’s own humanity is starting to slip away.  Can Mort and a group of unlikely companions save reality, or will he have to face his final judgement at the hands of the universe’s most unyielding employer?

Mort was a particularly impressive Discworld novel from Pratchett, especially as it was probably the book where the author finally found his true writing groove.  Fun, thoughtful and featuring a clever and concise story, Mort was an outstanding read, and I once again powered through in very short order.  As such, Mort gets a very well-deserved five-star rating from me and is a particularly awesome Discworld novel to check out.

I loved the very impressive story that Pratchett came up with for Mort, which takes the concept of Death finding an apprentice and going to the extreme with it.  Starting at an initially slow pace that introduces the key characters of Mort and Death, you soon get invested in Mort’s tale of young man coming into his own in a very unusual field.  Things get interesting quickly when Mort decides to save the life of a young princess destined to die and soon splits reality down the middle.  This leads to a very addictive middle section, as Mort attempts to save the princess while also ensuring reality doesn’t split apart.  At the same time, Death, who finds his time freed up thanks to his assistant, begins to wonder around the world learning about humans and trying to have fun.  The resulting outlandish interactions with Death are a great counterpoint to Mort’s storyline, especially as this results in the apprentice starting to obtain his own powers, often with hilarious results.

Everything cleverly and quickly leads up to the big final third of the novel, where a less-than-human Mort and a scrappy Ysabell attempt to do a disappeared Death’s duty, while also finding a way to save the doomed princess, whose own attempts to stay in reality have been less than successful.  At the same time, fun supporting character Albert, Death’s manservant, returns to his old profession on the Disc and tries to find the original Death, who has found his own unlikely niche in the mortal world.  This final third of Mort is extremely fun, fast-paced and surprisingly impactful, especially as the author keeps raising the stakes for the protagonists, and you are very much unable to stop reading it as you try to see where all the entertaining storylines are going.  However, it’s the inevitable showdown between Death and Mort that really ties everything together perfectly.  Their intense, deeply personal and perfectly showcased duel is amazing, especially as it expertly builds off all the character growth in the novel.  Ending on a hopeful note that sets the tone for a great character going forward, you come away from Mort very happy and with an interesting new outlook on life and its always-grinning counterpart.

I really enjoyed how Mort came together, especially as this is the Discworld novel where Pratchett perfects the style and storytelling methods that make his later novels such a treat to read.  As such, Mort is an early classic in the series, so much so that it is a perfect entry point for new Discworld fans, who get to see a lot of key ideas develop here, while also being introduced to the author’s humour and clever storytelling.  Mort definitely benefited from Pratchett developing a more concise storytelling style here, keeping the narrative a little more focused than the previous novels, and this works as a well-crafted standalone read.  Pratchett also does an outstanding job combining cool fantasy elements with outrageous humour and complex characters, and the result is a very entertaining read that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Part coming-of-age story, part examination of an extreme mid-life crisis, Mort’s narrative hits a lot of generational notes, and while some of his ideas about splitting reality and the nature of the Discworld are a little complex, Pratchett ensures that readers can completely follow his thought all the way to the fantastic conclusion.

As with all Discworld books, Pratchett imbues Mort with an amazing level of humour, and I loved how intensely funny this novel was at times.  Despite Mort essentially being a novel about mortality and destiny, this is a very light-hearted novel thanks to the entertaining characters and the unusual situations they find themselves in.  There are several different levels of humour contained within Mort, ranging from obvious jokes and over-the-top situations to well-setup references or clever name gags, as well as the subtly funny footnotes that really dive into the absurdity of this flat world that lies atop a giant turtle.  Some of the funniest parts of Mort lie in the usually hardboiled and cynical inhabitants of the Disc suddenly encountering Death in unlikely scenarios.  This becomes particularly prevalent later in the novel when Death leaves the job to Mort and wanders the world looking to understand “fun”, and the various scenes with Death fishing, going to parties, getting drunk, gambling and even searching for a job, are particularly hilarious, especially as everyone else involved in these situations is either deeply unsettled or completely terrified.  Other great jokes involve wizards coming to terms with an apparently animated statue, very long-running bar tabs, fun, if short-lived, political intrigues, unlikely deaths, and the young protagonist upsetting everyone by unwittingly walking through walls.  I laughed myself silly multiple times in Mort, even though I had heard all the jokes many times before, and you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun with this great Discworld entry.

As with all of Pratchett’s novels, Mort features an excellent array of entertaining characters, whose unique arcs add some excellent power to book’s overall narrative.  The cast of Mort was particularly compelling and well-rounded, and I think that Pratchett did a great job of introducing some excellent new figures while also making use of one of the best side-characters in the entire series.  Unsurprisingly, most of the novel’s focus settles on the titular character of Mortimer (Mort), a young teen who unexpectedly finds himself the apprentice of Death.  Shown at the start of the book to be an awkward and unusually thoughtful figure, Mort’s storyline revolves around his attempts to fit in, learn his unlikely trade, and the interesting relationships that form thanks to his new position.  Pratchett works in a very compelling coming-of-age narrative around Mort, especially as he grows into his new role and gains the confidence that comes with finding oneself, while also walking the fine line between morality and duty.  However, there is a definite dark edge to Mort’s storyline towards the end, as Mort starts to lose his humanity and becomes more like Death, and it falls to the rest of the characters to keep him human.  Pratchett did a really good job introducing and building up Mort as a complex young character, and he ended up being one of the author’s better one-shot protagonists.

While much of the book is focused on Mort, the character who constantly steals the show is Death.  The literal personification of death on the Discworld, Death appeared in the first three novels in the series, serving as an ethereal and often entertaining figure on the sidelines who occasionally haunted the author’s original protagonist.  Pratchett cleverly expands on Death in this book, showcasing him as a wise and implacable figure doing his duty in a dispassionate way.  However, his interactions with humans, especially Mort, soon start to change his personality, especially as he becomes curious about life and tires of his eternal station.  This allows him to become a particularly entertaining figure in the second half of the book, as he roams the Disc in unlikely situations, trying to learn how to have fun.  His various ponderings on mortality and human nature result in some hilarious moments, and there are so many fantastic and funny interactions that occur here.  However, it is the final third of the book where you get a real sense of Death’s character; at first, he wistfully tries to embrace life, only to leave that behind when confronted by the actions of Mort.  The anger and sadness that accompany his return to his role and his confrontation with Mort is extremely powerful, and you can’t help but feel for him as he faces an impossible choice, as well as rejection from those he loves.  An overall excellent first deep dive into the character of Death from Pratchett, and you can really see why the author wrote several more books around this character going forward.

Aside from Mort and Death, the rest of the main cast of Mort is quite concise and contains an excellent blend of distinctive and impactful characters.  This includes Death’s adopted daughter, Ysabell, a seemingly spoiled princess and lover of over-the-top romance, who is initially antagonistic to Mort.  Despite her attitude, Ysabell soon turns into quite a likeable and sympathetic character, especially when certain traumas from her unusual life become apparent.  Due to her having some of the more emotionally poignant dialogue and character moments in the book, Ysabell is an excellent part of Mort, and I liked how Pratchett paced her storyline.  The other major resident of Death’s domain featured in this story is Albert, the mysterious servant determined to hide his past from Mort and Ysabell.  Pratchett does an excellent job of setting him up as a bigger figure within the Disc’s history, and his explosive return to form after some entertaining scenes between him and a threatening Mort are a highpoint of the book.  Other major characters include Princess Keli, a young princess who finds her sudden reign made even more difficult due her convoluted existence, and young wizard Igneous Cutwell, who serves as a great foil to the more serious Mort and Keli and becomes an excellent comic relief for the book.  Throw in an array of over-the-top minor Discworld characters whose lives briefly become that much more interesting due to their interactions with either Death or Mort, and Mort has an especially fun cast that Pratchett uses to great effect within this masterful novel.

I must once again highlight the amazing audiobook formats that are my favourite ways of enjoying the Discworld series.  I honestly have so much fun with the Discworld audiobooks, mainly because the format does such an incredible job of showcasing Pratchett’s legendary humour and inventive worldbuilding, and there is frankly no better way to enjoy this cool series.  Like the rest of the series, Mort has two particularly awesome unabridged audiobook versions, both of which come highly recommended by me.  This includes the old-school version narrated by the legendary Nigel Planer, who provided his voice to over half the unabridged Discworld audiobooks.  As with all the Discworld books he narrated, Planer does a remarkable job in this early entry in the series, and I loved the impressive array of voices that he utilised in Mort.  Due to this being the first Death audiobook, Planer had a ton of fun featuring his amazing Death voice, which combines beautifully with some of the other new character tones he had to come up with for this novel.  His great voice work also helped to showcase some of Pratchett’s excellent jokes and key bits of humour, and you really get drawn into the author’s brilliant story and fantastic writing with this classic audiobook release.

Despite my love for the Planer version of Mort, which in some ways is still the definitive audiobook version of this novel, I must also really hype up the new Mort audiobook that was recently released.  Part of the recent rerecording of the Discworld audiobooks I have spruiked in previous reviews, this new version of Mort was extremely awesome, and in some ways it surpasses the old-school version.  Coming in with a runtime of just under eight hours, around half an hour longer than the Planer version, this was a brilliant listen, especially with the impressive combined voice work of Sian Clifford, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy.

Sian Clifford (of Fleabag fame) did an excellent job as the main narrator for this audiobook, reading out most of the story and the voices of the associated cast.  This results in a swift, well-voiced and deeply compelling version of Mort, and I loved how effectively Clifford brought the story to life and helped to showcase the author’s great humour.  You really get drawn into the cool narrative as Clifford reads it out, and I enjoyed her fresh take on many aspects of the audiobook.  Despite Mort being a rather male character dominated entry in the sub-series, Clifford did an excellent job portraying the cast, and there are some great voices featured here, including of some iconic figures from other sub-series (her Rincewind voice was sufficiently terrified and grovelling).  Clifford clearly has fun when it comes to some of the more outrageous members of the cast, such as Albert, while her take on Princess Keli was excessively regal, and captured both her irritation at the events unfolding around her, while also showcasing her fear and uncertainty.  I must also highlight the voice Clifford provides for the main character, Mort, as the narrator really paints a great picture of a gangly, uncertain teenage boy who starts to come into his own as he gains confidence, and more.  I particularly enjoyed the clever voice changes that Clifford did later in the book, especially when Mort started becoming more like his employer, and the corresponding changes to Death’s voice were just perfect.  This was honestly some amazing voice work from Clifford, and I look forward to listening to her narration of the other Death audiobooks, especially once Susan is brought in as the main character.

While Clifford is amazing, I felt that Peter Serafinowicz clearly stole the show in Mort, playing his character to perfection.  Voicing the recurring character of Death in all the new Discworld audiobooks whenever he appears in the plot, Serafinowicz hits listeners with a deep and final tone that perfectly portrays the Discworld’s Grim Reaper in all his bony glory.  For most of the audiobooks, this is just a fun extra inclusion, as Death only appears in a few hilarious scenes.  But for Mort, this is much more of an involved role, as Death is one of the book’s main characters, and so much of the book’s humour and complex narrative is based around Death interactions with humanity.  As such, Serafinowicz has a ton of fun voice Death through various unusual situations and emotional states, all while keeping up the foreboding Death voice.  The clever and subtle changes to this voice that Serafinowicz makes are extremely impressive, and the humour that results from hearing Death engage in these unlikely scenarios and conversations cannot be overstated.  I also must highlight one brilliant sequence where Serafinowicz hilariously hummed the classic funeral march in his Death voice in response to the text describing Death walking away humming a tune.  Details like that in Serafinowicz’s performance, as well as the increased utilisation of Death in this audiobook, really enhanced the overall impact and humour of Mort, and I loved every second I spent listening to it. 

The final actor featured in this audiobook is the legendary Bill Nighy, who also has a recurring role in all the new Discworld audiobooks.  Nighy has a very important job of narrating all the various footnotes that Pratchett includes in his text, and his gentle voice really brings out the subtle humour hidden in these footnotes.  While Nighy doesn’t get much to do in Mort due to author only featuring a few footnotes in this novel, he still makes an impact, and I’ve really enjoyed how expertly he enhances these clever inclusions.  Honestly, all three of these narrators did an outstanding job in this new version of Mort, and I deeply appreciated how well their compelling performances blended into one impactful listen. As such, Mort is best enjoyed on audiobook, and whether it be the classic Planer version, or the new one with extended cast, you will have a wonderful time listening to it.

As the above rambling pages no doubt prove, I have a lot of love for Mort which was an excellent early Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett.  Featuring some excellent storytelling and fully embracing the clever writing style and comedic charm that made the later Discworld novels so damn awesome, Mort was a brilliant read, and one that proves impossible to put down.  An outstanding novel that really shows how impressive Pratchett could be as an author; Mort comes highly recommended and is guaranteed to be enjoyed by any reader.

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The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books5 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 13 May  2025)

Series: The Devils – Book One

Length: 25 hours and 7 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The master of grimdark fantasy fiction presents a bold and over-the-top new story with The Devils, an outstanding, addictive and highly entertaining read that you will not be able to turn away from.

Joe Abercrombie is an impressive and compelling author who has been wowing fantasy fiction authors with his complex reads for nearly 20 years.  While he has written some other cool books, like his Shattered Sea trilogy, Abercrombie is best known for his iconic First Law series of dark fantasy novels, that followed a group of highly damaged people as they tried to survive war, magic and politics in a messed-up fantasy world.  I really enjoyed the original First Law trilogy, and Abercrombie has cleverly expanded it out over the years, including with three standalone novels and his sequel Age of Madness trilogy.  The Age of Madness novels were ones that I particularly enjoyed reading, and A Little Hatred (one of my favourite books of 2019), The Trouble With Peace (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020) and The Wisdom of Crowds (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), were very highly rated by me, and I could not get enough of this series.

Needless to say, I am a pretty big fan of Abercrombie’s novels, and I have been eagerly awaiting a new book from him since I finished The Wisdom of Crowds.  While I had hoped that we would be getting a new First Law novel, Abercrombie instead decided to present readers with something a little different with his new The Devils series.  Starting off with The Devils, this series is another clever dark fantasy series, set in an alternative, magic filled version of medieval Europe.  One of my most anticipated books of 2025, The Devils sounded so damn good, especially with its crazy plot and intriguing new setting.

The lands of Europe are in dire peril.  Between the constant wars, dangerous monsters, ruinous famines and deadly plagues, the various kingdoms of Europe are in poor condition, barely held together by the fractured church.  However, the real danger lies outside its borders, as the mysterious elves gather their power in the Holy Lands, preparing for another invasion of Europe that will surely lead to the destruction of all humanity.

In response to the growing threat of the elves, the church and its juvenile pope determine that a new ruler needs to be placed upon the Serpent Throne of Troy after its evil sorcerous empress dies.  With all four of the empress’s duplicitous and power-hungry sons unfit for the crown, the church surprisingly finds that their ideal candidate is a lowly street thief from the Holy City called Alex.  A ferrety sneak with no noble bearing or confidence, Alex is shocked to discover that she is really the long-lost Princess Alexia Pyrogennetos of Troy, destined to reunite the churches of Europe by claiming the throne.

Turning the reluctant and terrified Alex into a potential princess is one thing, but getting her to Troy is a far more difficult prospect, especially as her rival contenders to the throne are stalking Europe with their deadly, magically enhanced followers, determined to claim Troy for themselves.  To succeed in marching Alex through the European hellscape and placing her on the Serpent Throne, the church will need far more than prayers and the blessing of saints; they are going to need devils.  Luckily, such devils are close at hand. 

Deep within the Holy City lies the Chapel of Holy Expediency, which binds dangerous heretics and monsters and forces them to seek redemption through holy missions for the pope.  Led by the hapless Brother Diaz, the congregation of the Chapel of Holy Expediency is charged with getting Alex to Troy and placing her on the throne.  But can a terrified monk, an immortal knight, an arrogant necromancer, an invisible elf, a sarcastic vampire, an uncontrollable Viking werewolf and the most experienced woman in Europe succeed in making a street-rat an empress, or will their new mission only bring even more death and destruction to the continent? 

Joe Abercrombie once again shows why he is one of the very best authors of dark fantasy fiction with his captivating and deeply impressive new novel.  The Devils was an ultra-entertaining read that perfectly introduced the author’s intriguing setting and populated it with highly amusing characters and dark deeds.  Exciting, clever and loaded with over-the-top humour, The Devils was an absolute joy to listen to, and I loved every second I spent with it.  One of the most addictive novels of 2025 so far, The Devils gets a very-well deserved five-star rating from me, and readers are guaranteed an extra fun time with this crazy novel.

I absolutely loved the cool and highly entertaining story that Abercrombie came up with for The Devils, which was essentially a fun dark fantasy iteration of The Dirty Dozen/Suicide Squad narrative with some amazing monsters.  Providing a quick introduction to the key characters, the reader soon becomes highly invested in the narrative, as the memorable and very amusing protagonists begin their trek to Troy.  What follows is a classic travelling adventure story with some dark and comedic twists, as the protagonists encounter all manner of foes on the way to their destination, which they are forced to dispatch with ruthless efficiency.  While parts of this story start to become a tad formulaic, especially as the protagonists are intercepted multiple times by one of Princess Alexia’s cousins, with each encounter resulting in a deadly battle for survival against different occult forces, you are generally so entertained by the compelling characters, interesting interactions, and over-the-top action sequences, you don’t even really mind.  Abercrombie works to break up these encounters with some fun side quests, as well as altering the circumstances by having the characters occasionally split up into unlikely pairings, exploring the fun alternate medieval Europe that works as such an effective setting for this book.  This allows for some interesting changes of pace in the main quest narrative, while also allowing for some outrageous character moments as the reader gets to know the protagonists a little better.

Everything nicely leads up to the last third of The Devil, which sees the protagonists arrive at their destination against the odds.  Without going into much detail, things naturally go to hell, and everybody is forced to fight for their lives.  This chaotic series of events isn’t unexpected, as the reader is waiting for the other shoe to drop the entire book, but the who and the how of it makes for great reading.  Some excellent twists come to life here, often revealed in a fun meta way, and, while you see a couple of them coming, the entire ball of surprises and reveals make for quite an exciting end sequence.  These twists are well backed up by some of the grittiest action sequences in the entire book, and you are constantly on your feet waiting to see what happens next.  The entire novel ends on a tragic, if thoughtful note, especially when you’re left to consider who the true monsters of the story are.  An overall impressive narrative, that blends alternate history and classic adventure narrative threads with Abercrombie’s wild imagination to create something exceedingly entertaining and addictive.

The Devils was a very fun and well-written story as Abercrombie provides a very intense and hard-hitting tale, bound together by dark humour, over-the-top sequences, and complex characters.  Abercrombie once again showcases his skill at balancing multiple distinctive perspectives to tell an integrated and ongoing narrative, with the story cleverly bouncing between the viewpoint of several impressive protagonists.  The continued switches between the characters allows for a very elaborate narrative, and the reader is drawn into both the overarching plot and the more personal battles of the protagonists.  I liked how Abercrombie was able to tailor the descriptive narration of each of the perspective chapters to suit the character it was following, and each chapter has a slightly different tone as a result.  However, this is a very dark overall story, as the characters encounter outrageous scenarios of death and destruction, and the resulting carnage allows for some intense moments.  I will say that The Devils did feel a little sillier than some of Abercrombie’s previous novels, although the author uses this extra layer of ridiculous energy to full effect to tell an extremely addictive story.

As you would expect from Abercrombie, the intense action sequences are a highlight of The Devils, with the many brutal sequences coming to life thanks to the author’s great descriptive style.  There was a certain casualness to some of the fights, especially those featuring the plot’s more dangerous killers, and which was enhanced by the clever overall narration of the writing.  I loved how Abercrombie set out all his scenes, with a lot of subtle humour revolving around cynical description of events, especially as the author provides some ironic results and meta commentary.  This more subtle writing of events is counterbalanced by the over-the-top humour of the dialogue, especially when it comes to certain characters.  A lot of the dialogue gets downright filthy at times, with some very adult discussions coming out in outrageous fashion.  While this excessive crass language had the potential to distract from the story, I think that Abercrombie got the right balance, with the ridiculously rude dialogue fitting in well amongst the crazy events of the plot.  While the combination of ugly events, adult humour and cooky carnage isn’t going to be everyone, I think most fantasy fans are going to have a ton of fun with it, especially as it plays into Abercrombie’s grimdark style.  Throw in a clever alternative medieval Europe as the elaborate setting which will delight history buffs with the intricate differences, and The Devils was a very impressive read that perfectly plays the author’s strengths and talent for entertaining and dark fantasy fiction.

Fans of Abercrombie will know that the author specialises at making damaged and captivating characters to set his narratives around, and The Devils is no exception to this.  The author introduces an amazing cast of complex and memorable characters in The Devils, and I love the very impressive storylines that emerge around them.  This includes six separate perspective protagonists, two major supporting characters, and an array of interesting figures throughout Europe who play various roles in the outcome of the plot.  Abercrombie does an excellent job of introducing and utilising this complex cast, with all the major characters getting their chance to shine in some impressive ways.  While some of the characters in The Devils didn’t quite have the complexity of the protagonists from the First Law books, Abercrombie instead amps up the entertainment aspect of these figures, introducing several particularly hilarious, ridiculous and highly relatable monsters, each of whom added a great deal to the overall reading experience.

The first two characters I want to talk about are major perspective protagonists, Brother Diaz and the newly discovered princess, Alex.  Despite neither being members of the titular devils, both have major roles in this book and are shaped by their experiences with the monstrous pawns of the church.  Brother Diaz, a simple monk who is brought in to guide the devils, is initially shown to be a hapless and terrified figure, clearly out of his depth when it comes to the dangerous mission he has been entrusted with.  Abercrombie has a lot of fun showcasing him as a useless social climber at the start of the novel, and he initially has more of a comedic role in the plot.  However, as the story progresses, Diaz starts to gain a little confidence as he continues to survive, and you soon see flashes of the man he could be.  Despite falling to temptation (repeatedly), Diaz ends up being quite a stalwart figure in the book, and I loved some of the scenes where he got to show off his intelligence (including one particularly entertaining legal battle).  The way in which Abercrombie subtly added more and more depth to Diaz’s personality as the story continued was very impressive, and his growth as a character was a highlight of the book.  The author also ensured that Diaz was one of the more relatable characters in The Devils, especially as he continuously makes mistakes, finds himself shaken by his fears and failings, yet continues to try to do the right thing.

Much like Diaz, the other non-devil perspective protagonist, Alex, is also shown to be an imperfect figure who finds themselves thrust into events outside of their control.  Initially shown as a simple thief, Alex, or Princess Alexia Pyrogennetos, is ill prepared for the events before her, and is forced to rise to the occasion when she is declared long-lost royalty.  Mostly shown as the book’s damsel in distress, Alex is generally scared and lacking confidence, especially as she knows she is not the princess everyone wants her to be.  Like Diaz, Abercrombie writes Alex slowly rising to the occasion throughout course of The Devils’ plot, as she learns to fight back and become a leader.  I really liked following Alex’s journey in The Devils, and while the journey to the character finding her self-confidence is a long and bloody affair featuring some good twists, it ended up being a powerful part of the book’s overarching narrative.

Outside of Alex and Diaz, a lot of time is also spent following the other perspective members of The Devils, including Balthazar, Sunny and Vigga, who are a necromancer, an elf and a werewolf respectively.  These three characters are amazing, and I liked how well they played off each other and the rest of the cast with a great mixture of serious and more comedic elements.  For example, Balthazar (or to introduce him properly, Balthazar Sham Ivan Draxi), is a highly arrogant figure who chafes at being captured and controlled by the church.  Much of his story focuses on his many attempts to break the Papal binding compelling him to help Alex, while also dealing with the realisation that he is helpless against those he considers his lesser.  Much of the entertainment around Balthazar is his complete lack of self-awareness or humility, especially within his own mind, and while there are times when it appears that he is going to become a better person, he usually returns to his old personality when he hits a wall.  Sunny the elf, on the other hand, is a far more sensible character, who serves as the team’s shadow thanks to her ability to become invisible.  Despite her nice and helpful personality, Sunny is shown as an alien creature, incapable of understanding the humans who generally hate and fear her.  Imbued with a more subtle humour than her fellow devils, Sunny proves to be quite an interesting figure, especially when you examine her past and her dark experiences with humans.  Probably one of the more likeable and selfless figures in the book, Sunny’s arc adds a lot to the overall story, especially through her unlikely romance angle, and Abercrombie clearly had fun writing the various scenes where she traipses around invisible.

One of the more memorable cast members of The Devils is Vigga, a former Viking raider who was cursed as a werewolf and then captured by the church.  Crass, constantly controlled by her urges, incapable of self-restraint and particularly deadly, even when not a massive wolf, Vigga powers through the entirety of The Devils’ narrative, leaving a major impression whenever she appears.  Featuring some of the more visceral and entertaining perspectives of the book, which includes a combination of hungry sequences from her wolf mind and her more entertaining insights as a human with no impulse control and an inability to focus on anything, Vigga is responsible for a large part of The Devils’ chaotic and outrageous tone, and the book would not be anywhere near as fun without her.  However, as this is Abercrombie, there are quite a few darker moments in Vigga’s story, and you soon become absorbed with her attempts to pull together her fractured mind and control the monster within, especially when she gets close to her travelling companions.  The dark depression that occasionally befalls her because of her uncontrolled actions adds some major drama to certain tragic parts of The Devils’ plot, and Vigga comes away as one of the more sympathetic, if scary, characters in the book.

While the above perspective characters are all particularly impressive, my favourite was the team’s resident knight, Jakob of Thorn.  An old soldier cursed with immortality who has been fighting battles on behalf of the church and God for hundreds of years, Jakob is a tired and haggard figure bound by his many vows.  Suffering from the degradation of his body due to age and the many injuries inflicted on him, Jakob is weariness personified as he attempts to deal with his pain, and the guilt from his long history of death and service to the church.  Readers familiar with the author will know that Abercrombie specialises at writing tired old warriors who are sick of the death and destruction they cause, and Jakob of Thorn is one of his better ones (which is saying a lot).  I loved all of Jakob’s scenes, especially as he doggedly continues to fight despite his pain, often providing some of the book’s best quotes and insights.  Unsurprisingly, Abercrombie makes Jakob suffer a lot in this novel (what else would this sadistic author do with an immortal character?), and you learn a lot about his resolve and psyche as a result, especially as he knows he is the biggest monster of them all.  I really think that Jakob’s grittier and more self-aware perspective chapters helped to balance out the more outrageous character arcs in The Devils, and he was a perfect addition to this outstanding narrative.

The final two major characters I want to highlight are Baron Rikard, an ancient vampire, and Baptiste, a rogue hired to keep the devils in check, who seems to have experience with every profession possible in Europe.  Both these characters are excellent additions to the plot and manage to shine through, despite not being perspective characters.  Indeed, I felt that their role in the book was enhanced by the readers not having direct insights about their motivations or actions, and instead you get to enjoy the mystery surrounding them as you see them through the eyes of the other characters.  Baron Rikard, who serves as a fun, sarcastic figure who only helps when it suits him, proves to be a great inclusion in the plot, especially as his gentlemanly manners and demeaner makes him stand out amongst the other characters.  While a ridiculously charming figure (especially when he starts talking about dumplings), you are initially given the impression that Rikard is another trapped monster keen to escape his binding.  However, Abercrombie nicely turns this assumption on its head as the story continues, and I really enjoyed the character’s revealed motivation, especially as it shades all the character’s actions in a new light.

Baptiste, on the other hand, is a suave and entertaining figure whose impact on the book would be diminished if you got a deeper look at her thoughts, motivations or true history.  I particularly enjoyed how well Baptiste served as a foil to Balthazar, and they had a great back and forth that helped to define them both.  Throw in a range of other impressive supporting characters, including a barrage of outrageous or diabolical antagonists, and the cast of The Devils was something very special.  I cannot emphasise enough just how much fun all these characters were, and their moving and complex arcs and interactions really helped to give some powerful meat to The Devils’ entertaining narrative.  You really come away with some conflicted feelings for many of the protagonists, especially as none of your favourites have a truly happy ending, and it will be interesting to see what happens to the survivors in the future entries of the series.  A special shoutout as well to the fun artwork depicting several of these characters in The Devils paperback, especially as the artist really captures how the author wrote these colourful protagonists.

While I did receive a physical copy of The Devils, I ended up listening to this novel on audiobook, which was a fantastic choice.  Not only did the audiobook version allow for a fuller immersion in Abercrombie’s new fantasy universe and his crazy action sequences, but it also featured the superb voice of actor Steven Pacey.  Pacey, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, previously lent his voice to the audiobook versions of Abercrombie First Law novels, and he frankly does a perfect job of capturing the author’s unique tone and style.  Abercrombie’s complex writing, witty dialogue and excessive humour really come to the fore when read out by Pacey, and the narrator’s tone and cadence in The Devils always perfectly matched the intended mood of the scenes, no matter how dark or over-the-top they became.  Pacey also does some very entertaining and highly fitting voices for the key characters of The Devils, and it is amazing how well he captures all these outrageous figures.  All the defining character details, including the timid nature of Brother Diaz, the arrogance of Balthazar, the pain and weariness of Jakob, the wry amusement of Baron Rikard, the unearthly nature of Sunny and the sheer wildness of Vigga are all amazingly highlighted by Pacey’s various voices, and really come to love the characters the way that Pacey reads them out.  Thanks to Pacey’s brilliant acting and evident love for the content, this was an incredible listen, and I really cannot emphasise enough just how effectively he narrated this crazy story.  I flew through the books lengthy, 25-hour runtime due to this brilliant narration and epic narrative, and I honestly don’t believe that anyone but Steven Pacey could make Abercrombie’s amazing novels come to life in the same way.  An exceptional audiobook and one of the best things I have so far listened to in 2025.

With his trademark blend of chaos, fantastic humour and complex characters, Joe Abercrombie presents one of the very best books and audiobooks of 2025 with The Devils.  A unique and very entertaining fantasy adventure novel, The Devils pushed everything to 11 and beyond, ensuring that you couldn’t turn away.  An exceptional read from start to finish, I had so much fun with The Devils and I cannot wait to see how Abercrombie will continue this series in the future.

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Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Throwback Thursday3 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Random (Audiobook – 1993)

Series: Discworld – Book 15/City Watch – Book Two

Length: 12 hours and 58 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After yet another re-read, the classic fantasy satire novel, Men at Arms remains as one of my favourite Discworld novels by the late, great Terry Pratchett, especially as its new audiobook version breaths fresh life into the always impressive novel.

Readers of this blog will have noticed that I have been on a real Discworld rampage lately, having re-read several books from my absolute favourite fantasy series.  Much of this is due to the recent release of a cool new audiobook version of all the Discworld books, featuring an awesome array of new narrators and vocal talents.  This new format has proven particularly awesome for books like Pyramids, Moving Pictures and Small Gods, and I have been eager to see how some of the books in my favourite Discworld sub-series, the City Watch books, come across with the new narrators.

While I have a lot of love for all the books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, my absolute favourites come from the City Watch sub-series.  Following the unlikely members of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, a rag-tag team of guards generally looked down upon by the entire city, the City Watch books features an exceptional combination of fantasy and crime fiction elements, wrapped up in Pratchett’s usual satirical humour, as the protagonists investigate a series of dastardly crimes in the supernatural Discworld.  The series started perfectly with the awesome novel Guards! Guards!, which I reviewed last year, and Pratchett did an outstanding job following this up with the brilliant sequel, Men at Arms.

After saving the sprawling and eternally crime-ridden city of Ankh-Morpork from a fire-breathing dragon, the men of the Night Watch are still at work protecting the city, even though most of the city wishes they didn’t exist.  Despite their previous escapades, it’s a bad time to be a copper in Ankh-Morpork, with species tension between the dwarfs and the trolls at boiling point, while the powerful guilds disregard the Watch’s non-existent authority.  Worse, the Night Watch has been forced to accept three diversity hires, and must now contend with a mad dwarf, a thick troll and a woman (gasp) amongst their ranks.

Despite this, when an explosion at the Assassin’s Guild literally rocks the city, it falls to Captain Samuel Vimes and his small squad to investigate the heist hidden by the blast, despite the deliberate orders of the city’s tyrannical ruler to stop.  Determined to wrap up the case before his impending marriage and retirement, Vimes is soon forced to contend with a series of unusual, but seemingly linked murders, many of which have been caused by a lethal weapon never seen on the Disc.

With riots on the streets, and assassins and fools dodging their questions, all the members of the watch, including their contentious recruits, will need to work together to solve the murders before the city descends into chaos.  But how will they fare when going up against the most dangerous criminal mind the city has ever seen, one determined to bring back the Ankh-Morpork’s ancient kings, while wielding a dangerous new weapon that could change the entire Disc forever?

Even after many, many re-reads, Men at Arms continues to shine as one of Pratchett’s better books.  Featuring an epic crime fiction narrative, loaded with impressive characters, fantastic humour and great use of Pratchett’s iconic Discworld setting, Men at Arms is a complex, emotionally charged and deeply moving read that I could honestly read 100 times and still not get bored with.  A brilliant novel that unsurprisingly gets an instant five-star rating from me.

Pratchett wrote some exceptional narratives throughout his career, but few stand up to Men at Arms in terms of complexity, cleverness and emotional impact.  Expertly reintroducing the cast of Guards! Guards!, while also bringing in some impressive new support characters, Men at Arms starts off an excellent pace, as Pratchett cleverly examines the changes to the characters, sets up the new case, while also showcasing the motivations of the apparent main antagonist.  From there, it doesn’t take long for a dark series of crimes to take place, with Vimes and his squad investigating despite the apathy of the rest of the city.  Pratchett does a lot of excellent set up in the early part of the book, and the reader soon becomes invested in the investigation, especially as the book begins to follow a series of deaths, some of which were caused by a particularly deadly weapon that modern readers will be all-too familiar with.  Some great character arcs are also introduced here, as the extended cast all hit their own various problems they are forced to overcome, with Vimes dreading his eventual retirement, Carrot feeling the added responsibility, the fun buddy-cop arc between Detritus and Cuddy, and Angua dealing with her own problems.  The author sets up and expands on these arcs throughout the book perfectly, providing additional emotional impact, as well as some interesting side angles on the main storyline.

While the first half of the novel sets everything up perfectly, it is in its second half where Men at Arms truly shines.  Pratchett keeps raising the stakes of the story, with more victims, run-ins with the shadowy antagonist, and the Watch characters attempting to understand the nature of the weapon that has been turned against the city.  The author throws in some interesting wrinkles to the case, which shadow who the true villain is, while other events throw emotional shade across several of the characters.  The various connected character arcs start to come together perfectly as the book continues, and you go into the final stretch with a range of emotions around you.  While ostensibly a comedy, Pratchett chooses to hit the tragedy element of the plot really hard in the lead up to the finale, with some big moments that will leave you speechless.  The big end reveal and confrontation is exceptional, and I loved how well all the storylines and cleverly setup plot points came together.  Everything leads up to a very desperate struggle that helps to define some of the main characters in some very powerful ways.  Pratchett chooses to leave the book on a hopeful note that sets the expanded course for the future City Watch books, while also providing some interesting insights into one of the main characters and his role in the city.  An overall epic narrative that twists, turns and keeps you guessing, while constantly entertaining and emotionally charged.

As with his other books, Pratchett perfectly sets out Men at Arms with impeccable writing, and I loved how this complex novel came about.  Featuring his usual impressive blend of fantasy and humour elements at its base, Men at Arms is both intriguing and quite funny in equal measures, and I love the subtle comedy that runs through it.  Many of these scenarios involve classic fantasy scenarios being seen through the eyes of self-aware characters, allowing the situation to be taken up to an 11, with sarcastic commentary from the witnesses.  This humour is well enhanced by several of its best characters, including a fantastic new buddy cop routine, with members of two separate and historically antagonistic species forced to work together and eventually becoming friends.  Some of the other hilarious moments in the book include unlikely members of the city’s population being conscripted into the Watch, unfunny clowns, unconventional investigation methods, and other subtle humour.  You also have to love the brilliant footnotes that seek to enhance the story and showcase just how ridiculous the Discworld is by providing additional details about the universe and the people within it.  All this results in a brilliant and highly entertaining fantasy read, and that’s before you even get to the great crime fiction elements of the story.

As with Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms stands out from the rest of the Discworld series due to the way that Pratchett provides a complex and compelling crime fiction narrative.  Focused on an explosive heist that eventually results in a series of brutal murders, Men at Arms tries to envision how firearms would disrupt the Discworld.  This allows for quite a captivating crime fiction narrative, which I feel was a much better mystery than Guards! Guards!.  Advancing more into police procedural territory than its predecessor, the mystery of Men at Arms proves to be top rate, with the protagonists going after an already known villain for much of the book.  Much of the early story involves the protagonists trying to unfurl the antagonist’s plan and discover how he committed the crime, which allows for some great scenes as the Watch inexpertly investigate.  Pratchett cleverly twists the fact that think you know who the antagonist is towards the end of the book, and I love how well he switched this key story element, especially as the implied true villain of the story is far more sinister than just evil humans.  I really enjoyed how well Pratchett sets up this mystery in Men at Arms, and even after so many re-reads there are still additional subtle clues and foreshadowing that I’m only just picking up on.  The police procedural elements of the story are also extremely well handled, with a lot of humour focused around three very unlikely recruits joining the already scruffy outsiders who make up the Watch.  All these elements come together extremely perfectly and allow for readers of various genres to come into Men at Arms and have an incredible time.

Due to Pratchett’s excellent writing style, Men at Arms does work quite well as a standalone novel, and new readers can generally enjoy this book without any prior knowledge of the Discworld series, especially once they get caught up in the cool story and amazing humour.  However, I do feel that to get the best experience with Men at Arms, readers really do need to have checked out Guards! Guards! first.  The continuing storylines, history of the city and character arcs all come into play extremely well in Men at Arms, and you get a much more complete experience viewing all City Watch novels in order.  There is also a continuation of some character arcs from the standalone novel, Moving Pictures, especially as a few major characters from there get a recurring role in this new sub-series.  As such, I would say that Men at Arms is a novel more aimed towards Pratchett’s established fans, with those who loved Guards! Guards! guaranteed to enjoy its impressive sequel and the compelling direction Pratchett starts to take the City Watch books in.  It helps that the author continued to explore the crumbling and crime-ridden city that is Ankh-Morpork in this Men at Arms, providing even more details about its governance, mindset and people.  This includes really expanding on the species tension between the dwarfs and trolls and showcasing it as a major plot point while also paralleling real-life racial tensions.  This focus on dwarf and troll conflict becomes a major plot point of the Discworld going forward (especially in the later City Watch books), and its setup here was spectacular.  Combine that with the changes that happen to the Watch at the end of the book, and Men at Arms is an important entry in the wider Discworld context, especially as so many key City Watch storylines start here.

While there are so many amazing writing elements to Men at Arms, few things top the exceptional character work that ensured that this novel was far more than just a funny fantasy novel with crime fiction elements.  Instead, the complex and heartfelt dives into its extensive main cast ensured that Men at Arms was one of the more powerful and emotionally charged entries in the Discworld (a very impressive feat).  The combination of returning protagonists from previous books, as well as a few outstanding new characters, allows for a range of different plot perspectives and personal storylines, and Pratchett effortlessly works to make you invested in all these character arcs before hitting you with intense tragedy and powerful moments.

At the centre of the plot lies main character Captain Samuel Vimes, the cynical veteran leader of the Night Watch, who has finally found happiness and romance in his life.  Now on course to retire and become a man of leisure, Vimes must deal with the horror of becoming the thing he hates most: a rich civilian.  Dealing with it by diving into one last investigation, Vimes finds himself facing everything he hates about his job, including bureaucracy and the whims of powerful people, resulting in some brilliantly chaotic scenes.  While it does seem that Vimes’s role in this story is slightly diminished compared to in other City Watch books, especially in the centre, he is still a major part of the book, and Pratchett writes some excellent storylines around him being the dogged and worn-down investigator pushing against authority and trying to solve one more crime.  The focus on his identity as a copper, the sacrifices he makes for his fellow officers, as well as the horror at having to give up the job are major parts of his character arc, and there are some truly heartbreaking moments when he realises he must give it all up.  This is well balanced with his heartwarming romance with his unlikely partner, Lady Sybil Ramkin, whose well-meaning support and determination help to make Vimes a better person.  However, it is the major sequence when Vimes finally encounters the antagonist which really provides the best look at the character.  Forced to decide between being a good cop or a figure of vengeance (a battle that rears its ugly head for Vimes many times during the series), Vimes truly hits his mental and moral limit as he faces down his adversary, and it is one of the most powerful scenes in the entire Discworld series.

While Vimes is the main character of the City Watch series, the focus of Men at Arms is a little more skewed more towards Corporal Carrot Ironfoundersson, as Pratchett expands on his excellent introduction in Guards! Guards!.  Now firmly a part of Ankh-Morpork society, Carrot has evolved from naïve newcomer to a seasoned police officer who knows literally everyone in the city.  Fully utilising his natural charisma, Carrot proves to be a major force for law and order in the city.  I loved how much Pratchett enhanced Carrot in this sequel, as his personality evolves due to his role and responsibility, and despite still appearing quite naïve and obedient, Carrot showcases some impressive intelligence driving much of the investigation.  I especially appreciated the various scenes where Carrot managed to outfox many of the city’s more dangerous figures who fall for the dumb copper routine.  Despite his new confidence and ability to bring out loyalty in others, Pratchett makes sure to show that Carrot isn’t infallible, and you see some vulnerability at times. Carrot also serves as the moral centre of the book, bringing out the best in the other members of the Watch.  His interactions with Vimes in the final confrontation were very heartfelt, especially as he keeps the man he admires most from doing the wrong thing, while the way he handles the antagonists goes to show that he is truly a good man, who you better pray you never face.  I also think that his talk with Vetinari at the end of the book was one of the best scenes in Men at Arms, especially as he truly surprises the Patrician, while also dancing around the tricky subject of Carrot’s potential position as heir to the throne.  His decision to refuse power and ensure that Vimes will be there instead really helps you keep faith in the good of people, and this was frankly Carrot’s best book.

I also have to highlight the fantastic and fun duo that was the newly instated watchmen, Cuddy and Detritus, the later of whom previously appeared in Moving Pictures.  An unusual dwarf and the thickest of trolls, the two make for a particularly unlikely and chaotic duo, which Pratchett uses to full effect as the book continues.  Thanks to the enmity that exists between their respective species, Cuddy and Detritus spend much of the early part of Men at Arms bickering with each other, including in one scene in the middle of a riot.  However, after being forced to work together, the two form a grudging bond, especially when Cuddy stops seeing Detritus as a dumb troll.  I loved how well Pratchett took the classic odd-couple police partner trope and twisted it around the compelling species-rivalry theme of the book, and the fun dynamic that forms between the new friends is a major highlight of the book.  The various sequences that follow the big scene that defines these two partners are some of the most powerful in the entire Discworld.

Following on the heels of Cuddy and Detritus is Angua, the other new recruit to the Night Watch.  Angua is an interesting figure in the story, mainly because she’s one of the few people able to see how ridiculous the entire Night Watch is.  The subsequent storylines surrounding her potentially doomed romance with Carrot and her desire to keep her status as a werewolf secret from everyone, add some excellent alternate perspectives to the plot, and Pratchett did an outstanding job setting her up as a compelling figure for the rest of the series.  It helped that for this first book she worked as a bit of a double act with the small talking street dog, Gaspode, who also previously appeared in Moving Pictures.  Gaspode proves to be a fantastic wise-cracking counterpoint to Angua, and it was hilarious to watch him mess with the various human characters who refuse to believe he can talk.  Their resulting storylines about investigating the crime as canines, as well as the unlikely dog rebellion brewing within the city, works well with the other character focused arcs, and it was fun to get a little more closure on Gaspode’s story after his previous appearance.

Other great supporting characters in Men at Arms includes the returning members of the City Watch, Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs.  While not as well utilised in this book as the rest of the City Watch series, they still prove to be a fantastic addition to the supporting cast.  Entertaining backers to the various other character-driven storylines, both show interesting depths in this book, whether it’s Colon acting as a put-upon drill sergeant, or Nobby’s use of his quartermaster past to obtain a collection of weapons.  Other members of the city also prove to extremely entertaining, with the tyrannical Lord Vetinari being the highlight.  The way in which Vetinari manipulates Vimes throughout the entire novel, while also understanding the true nature of most of the city’s residents is highly impressive, and I love that he stayed on as a major character after Guards! Guards!.  Throw in a complex arrangement of well-hidden antagonists, including an idea of violence that takes on a familiar form, and the cast of Men at Arms proves quite exceptional.  I really cannot emphasise just how much these carefully written character arcs and complex personal storylines increased the impact and emotional power of this novel, and you will come away loving everything about them.

I doubt anyone will be too surprised that I am about to write several paragraphs about Men at Arms’s epic audiobook formats, which I have long described as the very best way to enjoy Pratchett’s stories.  I honestly love all the Discworld audiobooks and luckily for connoisseurs, there are two outstanding versions of the Men at Arms audiobook that you can check out.

The first of these is the classic edition that was released back in 1996 and which is read by Nigel Planer.  Planer, who is one of my favourite audiobook narrators, lent his voice to most of the early Discworld novels, and is a key reason why I love Discworld books in this audio format.  Planer unsurprisingly does an amazing job with Men at Arms, especially as he perfectly captures Pratchett’s complex humour and intense story arcs with his brilliant narration, with every element of the book coming across in an exceptional and addictive manner.  This includes the brilliant characters, many of whom Planer previously voiced in other Discworld books.  Planner does an amazing job once again diving into these unique characters throughout Men at Arms, and the way he effortlessly portrays each character and shows their full personality and emotional range is just amazing.  He frankly provides the definitive portrayal for all the City Watch characters, and I honestly love the passion he brings to the Men at Arms audiobook. 

While the Nigel Planer audiobook version is always going to be a favourite of mine, I also have come to deeply appreciate the latest Men at Arms audiobook.  Part of a newly released collection of Disworld audiobooks that feature an interesting array of British talents bringing their vocal skills to Pratchett’s classic tales, this new Men at Arms audiobook is very impressive and is just as easy to get lost in at the classic Planer version.  Featuring the amazing cast of Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy, this Men at Arms audiobooks has a runtime just short of 13 hours, which is a few hours longer than Planer version.  However, the excellent array of narrators really makes it worth a listen.

The heart of this new Men at Arms’ audiobook is British radio and television personality Jon Culshaw, who dove into this role in a very impressive manner.  Culshaw really makes the story his own with his take on the novel and the characters, resulting in a very different feel that fans of the original Planer version will really appreciate.  Part of the reason why it was so good was that Culshaw brought back the excellent character voices and tones he previously used in Guards! Guards!, many of which provide great and often gritty new takes on some classic characters.  This includes a much rougher and despair filled Vimes, which fits the darker places Pratchett took the character in Men at Arms, especially when he goes up against the system.  His voice for Carrot captures the same keenness and naiveté that we saw in the previous book, however Culshaw’s vocal work also backed up Carrot’s excellent character development as the protagonist came into his own.  His voices for Lord Vetinari and Nobby Nobbs were also a ton of fun, with the dark and insister tones of Vetinari stealing every scene he is in, while Culshaw’s Nobby voices sounded appropriately similar to David Bradley or Jon Pertwee, which is just hilarious.  Culshaw also did an excellent job with several newly introduced City Watch characters, and I felt he got ever new additional cast members’ voice down perfectly.  My favourite was probably the troll Detritus, as Culshaw worked hard to showcase his massive and rocky troll nature, as well as his serious and slow personality.  This excellent vocal work from Culshaw ensured that the core of this Men at Arms audiobook was extremely impressive, and I really could listen to Culshaw’s take on these epic characters all day long.

As with all books in this new collection of Discworld audiobook’s, Culshaw’s main narration was perfectly backed up by recuring voices of Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz. Both play key parts in this audiobook, with Nighy providing the narration for the footnotes, while Serafinowicz was the voice of Death whenever he appeared. These performances were once again perfect, and I especially loved Nighy’s excellent work with the vital, comedic footnotes.  Nighy really enhances the impact and value of these footnotes with his calm and impressive voices, and I especially loved his take on some of the more entertaining footnotes, including one where he partially sings a bad folk song.  Serafinowicz’s role in Men at Arms is also very fun, as he brings the fan-favourite character of Death to life.  Death has several great appearances in Men at Arms, and hearing Serafinowicz’s excellent voice suddenly appear amongst the general narration really increases the impact of the character.  Both Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz’s inclusions were extremely fun, and I felt that they were combined with Culshaw’s main narration in a very impressive way.  These three brilliant British talents ensured that the new version of Men at Arms was particularly impressive, and while the original audiobook will always remain one of my favourite ways to enjoy Men at Arms, this new version is very much worth a listen and will likely inspire a new generation of Discworld fans.

Well, I think that my above excessive ramblings have probably made the point by now that I deeply enjoyed Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett.  One of the best Discworld and City Watch novels, Men at Arms was a glorious, captivating and moving read that perfectly blended crime fiction, fantasy and satire into one truly addictive and impactful book.  Clever, sharp and loaded with truly exceptional characters, Men at Arms was Pratchett at his very best, and I cannot recommend this book enough, especially on audiobook.  I can think of no higher praise for Men at Arms than to once again state that I will never get bored with this exceptional book, and it inspired me to continue the series and re-listen the next City Watch book, Feet of Clay.

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Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday5 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1989)

Series: Discworld – Book Seven

Length: 9 hours and 8 minutes (Planer version)/9 hours and 53 minutes (Enoch version)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After having an amazing time checking out the new audiobook versions of Guards! Guards!, Small Gods and Moving Pictures, I continue my latest revisit to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.  This time, I examine another one of my favourites with the deeply entertaining seventh novel in the overall series, Pyramids.  An outstanding standalone Discworld novel, Pyramids is a brilliant read that sees a young king go forth and then return to the insanity of his kingdom in a fun satire of ancient Egypt and its perception in Western media.

There are many mysterious realms on the magical Discworld, which travels on the back of four giant elephants standing on the back of a giant turtle.  However, few are more ancient than the tiny river kingdom of Djelibeybi.  Formerly a great empire that ruled over an entire continent, Djelibeybi is a mere shadow of its former self, its wealth drained away by the pyramids constructed to house its dead kings.  Nothing ever changes in Djelibeybi, that is until its young prince decides to get an education.

Prince Pteppicymon (Teppic), future ruler of the kingdom, has been sent away to the Assassins Guild of Ankh-Morpork, both to get the finest education on the Disc, and to learn a way to finally make his kingdom some money.  However, upon graduating, Teppic is forced to return to home when his father suddenly dies in embarrassing circumstances.

Now the god king of Djelibeybi, Teppic hopes to modernise his kingdom and introduce the comforts of the outside world.  However, Teppic has returned to a strange land he no longer understands and finds his desire for modernisation stymied by the controlling high priest Dios, whose intense love of tradition has long restricted Djelibeybi.  However, despite the best attempts of Dios, change is coming to the old kingdom, as a dark figure in the finest black stalks the city, while a massive new pyramid begins to mess with reality.  When disaster strikes, the people of Djelibeybi find themselves beset by both their gods and their dead, and only their king can save them.  But first, Teppic will need to work out how to find his kingdom again.

Pyramids continues to stand the test of time as one of my favourite Terry Pratchett books, as this compelling and wildly entertaining Discworld novel takes you on a wild ride through ancient kingdoms and eternal tradition, and every dangerous thing that comes with them.  An outstanding addition to the series that keeps you laughing the entire way through, Pyramids was peak Pratchett and gets another easy five-star rating from me.

I love the outstanding narrative that Pratchett came up with for Pyramids, which tells a fun adventure tale in an entertaining ancient Egypt facsimile.  While the narrative structure of Pyramids is slightly more basic than some of Pratchett’s other books, I think it is still quite a compelling story that keeps the reader entertained from start to finish.  Broken into several sections, Pyramids starts with an excellent introduction that showcases Teppic attempting to take his final exam at the Assassin’s Guild.  This proves to be a great fun opener, and I loved how Pratchett interspersed the over-the-top test with multiple flashbacks that showcase both Teppic’s childhood in Djelibeybi and his early days at the guild.  This works to set up a lot of key early story elements, while also serving as a memorable start, as the cool scenes of assassin testing are some of my favourites in the entire book.  This first section of Pyramids ends with Teppic finding out his father has died through an unlikely divine messenger, and he returns to Djelibeybi to take the throne.

Pratchett follows up this impressive introduction with a good central part of the story as you return to Djelibeybi proper and Teppic learns the downside to being a king.  Pratchett really works to explore the downsides of the kingdom, as Teppic begins to realise he is just a puppet with the high priest Dios truly in control.  There are some hilarious moments here, especially when it comes to the ridiculous traditions and history of Djelibeybi, and Teppic works well as a great outsider character who finally sees how silly everything is, although he is still bullied into constructing the biggest pyramid ever.  Pratchett also takes the time to introduces a colourful array of supporting characters with some compelling story arcs, including two ambitious embalmers, a disfunction family of pyramid builders, and the handmaiden Ptraci, who Teppic accidentally sentences to death.  His desire to save her leads to many of these issues coming to a head, with Teppic forced to flee from Dios, only to find himself trapped outside of the kingdom when the Great Pyramid goes off and splits Djelibeybi into its own reality.

This brings Pyramids into a compelling interim phase, as Teppic and Ptraci find sanctuary in Ephebe, while the trapped kingdom goes to madness, as all their many beliefs come to life, although not in the way they’d hoped.  I liked the fantastic contrast between the supernatural craziness going on in Djelibeybi and the more human-based chaos Teppic encounters in Ephebe as he tries to get answers out of the philosophers, before finally returning to the kingdom to save the day.  Eventually able to return thanks to a thirsty camel and an easily confused sphinx, Teppic works to destroy the Great Pyramid.  At the same time, several of the ongoing Djelibeybi storylines come together nicely, as the dead of the kingdom, including Teppic’s father, discover the truth about why they were mummified, and this leads to an outstanding and eventually explosive concluding sequence.  Pratchett wraps this up nicely with all the key characters getting the ending they deserve, and he leaves this story on yet another hopeful note that hints at an interesting future for the characters and the kingdom.

As with all the Discworld books, Pratchett does a wonderful job of telling a fun and compelling story in Pyramids that hooks you early with its fantastic elements, entertaining plot, complex satire, and great characters.  An interesting standalone entry in the Discworld series, Pyramids has a more straightforward story that is well split amongst an interesting cast of figures, each of whom find their role in the kingdom altered in some way, and I loved the chaotic plot that emerged.  Pratchett has a lot of fun exploring some great themes in Pyramids, including people attempting to break free of tradition (literally), and finding yourself.  The critique of unnecessary and restricting tradition works well as a central story element, and Pratchett leans into it heavily, showcasing how it can styme progress and lead to a slow death of a culture.  Thanks to that author’s great use of humour, you really begin to appreciate just how damaging or ridiculous some traditions can be, and I always get a chuckle at the hilarious sequences where Teppic’s over-long title is repeatedly read out again and again.

While there is some focus on death and assassination, for the most part Pyramids is a really light-hearted entry in the series, especially as Pratchett leans into the examination of ancient Egypt with its doppelganger in Djelibeybi and resulting satirisation of how ancient Egypt is portrayed in modern culture brings much of the book’s laughs.  Most of this becomes really apparent thanks to Teppic’s newly found modern sensibilities, but Pratchett also throws in some puns and lines that people with some knowledge of ancient Egypt will appreciate, and frankly I find a fun new joke every time I read this amazing book.  Many of Pratchett’s more modern takes on some of more well-known elements of Egyptian culture are very fun, with a lot of jokes about mummies, the economics of pyramid building, and what handmaidens do, proved to be really entertaining.

Much of the rest of the major jokes of Pyramids revolved around the varied reactions to the crazy events that seem to occur everywhere in the Discworld.  I personally laugh myself silly at the spontaneous football commentary that emerges when the various gods of Djelibeybi start to fight over the sun, and the resulting moments of theological debate end in a funny and snappy way.  The sequence with the Sphinx also makes for quite an entertaining inclusion, and Teppic’s assessment and rewriting of the classic riddle into a much more correct metaphor proves to be a lot of fun.  Finally, the opening assassin’s examination sequence is both tense and funny, and there is something about Pratchett imagining undergraduate assassins getting tested in a similar manner to student drivers that really shows off the inherent silliness of this series.  Throw in Pratchett’s usual array of clever puns, well-placed footnotes and witty dialogue, and Pyramids turns into a particularly funny read that still makes me laugh after all these years.

Out of all the amazing Discworld novels, Pyramids might be one of the best entries for a reader to start to explore this amazing series.  The very first standalone Discworld novel, Pyramids can be easily read without any knowledge of any of the previous books, and you really get a good sense of the larger setting and Pratchett’s ability to craft elaborate parodies of certain cultures or genres in a brilliant, self-contained manner.  While some of the elements of Pyramids are reutilised in some of the later books (the philosopher-filled city of Ephebe for one), for the most part none of the characters or storylines here are ever revisited, and you can really dive into Pyramids at any point of your Discworld reading experience.  The opening extended sequence set around Teppic’s exams and flashbacks does provide one of the best examinations of the Assassin’s Guild, a fun institution in the Discworld series, and it was really fun to see them in action here, even if the assassins do get slightly nerfed in some of the future books (especially the City Watch ones).  I do personally think that Pyramids was one of his true early classics, and this book lays at the start of a very big run of some of Pratchett’s best works, especially as he fully finalised his preferred style here.  As such, this is a great read for Discworld readers of all experiences, especially those looking to dip their toe into this amazing universe, and this is a very impressive example of Pratchett’s style and humour.

I do have to also provide a quick shoutout the fantastic array of characters featured within Pyramids, whose compelling storylines and well-thought-out story arcs really compliment the main narrative and help Pratchett explore his intricate central themes.  The main character, Teppic, serves as a great central figure for Pyramids, and his unlikely outsiders perspective allows for much of the plot change and chaotic moments.  Ptraci’s journey from passive handmaiden to unstoppable force of nature was very well handled, and I loved how Pratchett showcased just how much impact a suddenly confident woman can have on the world.  I also always find it quite hilarious that the previous king, Pteppicymon XXVII, only truly finds himself in death, and his later interactions with the embalmers Dil and Gurn lead to some truly heartwarming moments.  The Ptaclusp dynasty of pyramid builders added some fun family chaos to the mix, and their representation of the new generation taking over from the old was quite entertaining, even if the brothers (Ptaclusp IIa and Ptaclusp IIb) had differing views on what the future should be.  Teppic’s classmates from the Assassin’s Guild also added some excellent colour, especially the overconfident Chidder, although I felt that it was a shame that most of those great characters introduced in the opening part of the book where never utilised again.

Out of all the characters featured within the book, my favourite was probably Dios, who can probably be considered the antagonist of Pyramids.  The High Priest of Djelibeybi, Dios is the main administrator of the country, who strictly adheres to tradition and ritual and doesn’t allow Teppic to make any changes or independent decisions.  A strict and rigid person capable of bending anyone to his will, Dios is restricting tradition personified, and the lengths he goes to keep Djelibeybi the same is quite fascinating, while his struggles to keep Teppic in line lead to some amusing moments.  I honestly feel that Dios was one of Pratchett’s more compelling antagonists, as while he does some bad things he’s not actually a bad person; instead he’s someone stuck in the trap of always doing things a specific way and is incapable of thinking any other way.  You honestly feel a little sympathetic for him at times, especially when the full scope of his service is revealed, and while he continues to make the wrong decisions for the future of Djelibeybi, you can kind of understand why he is the way he is.  The final fate of Dios was really well written, if a little horrifying if you actually stop to think about it, although it fulfills his wish of everything staying the same.  A truly complex figure who plays off the rest of the outrageous and outgoing characters extremely well, Dios really tied this book together and I loved how well Pratchett featured him in Pyramids.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who has read my other rambling Discworld reviews, I have a lot to say about Pyramids on audiobook.  Audiobooks are my favourite way to enjoy any book, with the Discworld audiobooks being an exceptionally good example of how this format can make an already awesome novel even better.  Like the rest of the series, Pyramids has two really good unabridged audiobook versions, both of which come really recommended by me as brilliant ways to check out a classic book from Pratchett.

The first of these audiobook formats is the old-school version narrated by the legendary Nigel Planer.  I have mentioned Planer a few times over the years due to his exceptional work voicing over half the unabridged Discworld audiobooks and he remains one of my favourite audiobook narrators as a result.  His ability to come up with new character voices for every single audiobook was just incredible, and I love all his cool vocal choices, especially in Pyramids.  His take on the various characters was quite inspired, and you really get all the characters’ unique personalities, including Teppic’s modern spirit, Dios’s controlling reliance on tradition, the exasperation of the dead former king, and the overpowering personality of Ptraci.  Planer also perfectly showcases all the best jokes in Pyramids, including the fantastic over-the-top sequences where Dios repeats Teppic’s title, or the hilarious scene where the priest provides commentary for the divine fight for the sun.  I have so much love for all of Planer’s original Discworld work, and Pyramids is a particular favourite of mine as he takes that verbal gags that Pratchett sets up and makes them his own.

While the Planer version of Pyramids was the one that I grew up with, I have also had the pleasure of listening to the newer Pyramids audiobook that provides a fresh take on the story.  Part of the same Discworld audiobook series I have recently enjoyed for Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures and Small Gods, this new version of Pyramids was also extremely good with some great voice work and a compelling pace.  Featuring a runtime just shy of 10 hours, this new audiobook is slightly longer than the Planer version and features the amazing voice work of Alfred Enoch, Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz, with Enoch acting as the main narrator.

Enoch, who is probably best known for his role in the Harry Potter films, did an outstanding job as the main narrator for Pyramids, and I really appreciate his take on the compelling story.  His more youthful voice gave this version of Pyramids some additional energy, and you really move through the main story extremely quickly as a result.  I also really enjoyed how some of the protagonists turned out in this version of Pyramids, and while Enoch lacks the full range of fun character voices that Planer had, he still provides some impressive and fitting tones that expertly captures the various characters.  I felt that his voice for Teppic was especially well done, with his hopeful personality really shining through, while his voice for Dios had the commanding and controlling edge that it needed.  I felt that Dios was probably Enoch’s best voice, especially when it comes to the repetitive gag of having to intone Teppic’s full title.  I also actually quite like the voice he used for Ptraci, which was markedly different to the voice that Planer utilised in his version.  Enoch’s Ptraci voice was a little more curious and confident at times, and I got a much different personality vibe in this version which was quite interesting.  Enoch also ensured that his version of Pyramids stood out by pronouncing some of the character names in a different manner to Planer, mainly because he kept the P silent when it appears at some of the names (for example, Ptraci becomes Traci).  While this was a noticeable difference from the Planer version, I really liked it, as it actually captured Pratchett’s intended pronunciation based on how P is used in ancient Egyptian.  This ended up being an exceptional performance from Enoch, and one that I had a lot of fun with.

On top of Enoch’s main narration, this version of Pyramids also featured the voices of Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz, who have the same roles in every audiobook of this new run.  Both play key parts in this audiobook, with Nighy voicing the various footnotes, while Serafinowicz was the voice of Death whenever he appeared.  Both provided an exceptional performance here, with Nighy in particular giving some excellent gravitas to the essential and humour-laden footnotes.  Serafinowicz’s role in Pyramids was a little more limited, mainly because Death only appeared a couple of scenes, but he really captured this awesome anthropomorphic personification perfectly when he did appear, providing a booming and impactful Death voice that was a lot of fun to hear.  Both Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz’s inclusions were worked into Enoch’s overarching narration extremely well, and I felt that the three complemented each other nicely throughout the audiobook.  This ended up being an overall impressive take on Pyramids, and the new narrators really knew what they were doing here.  As such, this version also comes recommended, and while the Nigel Planer version is still living in my head rent free, this new take on Pyramids was very fun and I enjoyed hearing some new voices take it on.

Overall, Pyramids proved to be quite an awesome book, and I really think it was one of Terry Pratchett’s better early Discworld novels.  Featuring an outstanding story with some fantastic humour, Pyramids is an absolute joy to read, and I loved seeing the author’s distinctive parody of ancient Egypt.  Clever and loaded with complex comedic gold, Pyramids still cracks me up every time I read it, and I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone interested in checking out the exceptional Discworld books, especially in either of its epic audiobook formats.

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Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett – Supplementary Audiobook Review

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Fantasy, Five-Star Books4 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1991)

Series: Discworld – Book 10

Length: 9 hours and 54 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Thanks to a recent road trip, I have once again reviewed the exceptional Terry Pratchett novel, Moving Pictures, which is one of my favourite books in late Pratchett’s exceptional Discworld series.  The 10th Discworld book, Moving Pictures was a Pratchett classic that provided a satirical look at the golden age of the film industry when it mysteriously emerges on the chaotic and magic-laden Discworld.

Plot Synopsis:

The alchemists of the Discworld have discovered the magic of the silver screen. But what is the dark secret of Holy Wood hill?

It’s up to Victor Tugelbend (”Can’t sing. Can’t dance. Can handle a sword a little”) and Theda Withel (”I come from a little town you’ve probably never heard of”) to find out…

MOVING PICTURES, THE TENTH DISCWORLD NOVEL IS A GLORIOUSLY FUNNY SAGA SET AGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF A WORLD GONE MAD!

Now, I feel this is a good time to point out that I have already reviewed Moving Pictures on this blog a few years ago.  I provided a pretty detailed examination of Moving Pictures in the review HERE, and lauded it’s many good points, including its compelling plot, its fantastic comedic take on the golden age of film, as well as the impressive way that Pratchett introduced or expanded upon an array of key supporting Discworld characters, many of whom went on to have key roles in other novels in the series.  All these previous points still stand, and I still deeply enjoy Moving Pictures after this new re-read, indeed I picked up on another joke or two that I have missed in previous outings.  As such, I am not going to do a whole new review about this book here, although I do want to quickly spend some time talking the new audiobook version of Moving Pictures.

Fans of this blog will know that I am a massive audiobook lover, and I love checking out compelling series in this format.  The Discworld books are one of my favourite audiobook series, and there have been some awesome versions released over the years.  When I last reviewed Moving Pictures, I talked up the original audiobook narrated by Nigel Planer, who provided his voice to over half the Discworld audiobooks.  The Nigel Planer version of Moving Pictures is the one that I grew up with, and I deeply enjoyed his exceptional take on book, especially as he provided a huge array of incredible voices to the production.  In many ways the Planer version of Moving Pictures is still the best audiobook adaptation out there, but with the recent release of all the Discworld audiobooks with a fresh team of high-profile narrators, I thought I’d give the new version of Moving Pictures a try, especially when engaged on a road trip.

The new Moving Pictures audiobook is part of a recent re-recording of all the Discworld novels, each of which features a famous British performer voicing the main plot, while acclaimed actors Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy have key roles in every single production.  While these have been out for a little while, I have only listened to a couple, including Guards! Guards!, and I have so far been really impressed with how they have turned out.  This new recording of Moving Pictures was a fantastic addition to the series, and I really enjoyed the fresh take on the audiobook production.  Featuring a run time of just under 10 hours, which is slightly shorter than the Nigel Planer version, this proved to be an easy audiobook to power through in a couple of lengthy car-contained sessions.

This latest Moving Pictures audiobook production is primarily narrated by major British actor Jason Isaacs, who does an outstanding job bringing this audiobook to life.  Providing a compelling and different take on the basic narration and some of the characters, Isaacs breaths new life into the production, and I really enjoyed how he presented the book’s entertaining narrative.  Issacs’s basic voice works very well in conjunction with the other narrators working on this production, and I appreciated how smoothly and effectively he moved the plot along.  Isaacs also provides a range of excellent voices to the various characters featured within the audiobook, and I liked some of his interesting takes on Pratchett’s outrageous characters, especially as it casts them in a somewhat different light to how Planer featured them.

The main protagonist, Victor, got a pretty satisfying voice that captured both his intelligence and his role as the straight man of the story perfectly, and I felt that it was a very solid choice by Isaacs.  I also quite liked his takes on some of the more outrageous figures in the book, including the various wizards, who get fantastic crazy old men voices, Detritus the troll, whose voice has a layer of more complexity to it, and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, who Isaacs gifts a great greasy film producer voice.  I personally thought that his voice for Gaspode the dog was one of his better choices, especially as he perfectly captured the talking dog’s sarcastic personality and occasionally self-pitying manner.  The corresponding voice of Laddie, a dog of normal intelligence, was fantastic in comparison, and it was one that Isaacs had fun matching the dog’s breading and intentions.  Many of the other voices were also extremely well done, and while I think that Planer might have had a better grasp on a few of the characters, such as Ginger, Isaacs proved to be quite exceptional in his own right and masterfully steered this new production along.

As with all the entries in this new run of Discworld audiobooks, Isaacs’s primary narration was backed up by Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy in their respective roles.  Serafinowicz provides the voice of Death whenever he appears in this audiobook, which works out extremely well even with Death’s relatively limited role in Moving Pictures.  Serafinowicz has an awesome Death voice, and I loved when it appears throughout the audiobook as it blends with Issacs’ voices very well.  Nighy continues to voice all the footnotes in the book, which is a perfect role for Nighy, as his calm, consistent tones bring some fantastic class to the story and proves to be an excellent way to highlight Pratchett’s amusing and clever annotations.  While Nighy doesn’t have too much to do in Moving Pictures as there aren’t too many footnotes, some of his takes were pretty fun, especially when he had to translate an exaggerated troll song.  These three distinctive actors did a great job vibing together in this new Moving Pictures audiobook, and they brought some great life and a unique take on this classic Discworld book.

Overall, I felt that this new version of Moving Pictures was a very worthy adaptation, and the team of Jason Isaacs, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy worked extremely well together.  While Nigel Planer’s original narration is always going to be the gold standard for me when it comes to Moving Pictures (both due to his talent and my own nostalgia), this new version was also extremely good, and will be a great way for a new generation of Discworld audiobook fans to experience this amazing entry.  As such, I would recommend this version to anyone interested in checking out Moving Pictures, and after the outstanding time I had last week, I can guarantee it is an excellent accompaniment for any descent length road trip you might need to take.

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Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery, Throwback Thursday14 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1989)

Series: Discworld – Book 8 / City Watch – Book One

Length: 13 hours and 29 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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I recently revisited one of my favourite books in Terry Pratchett’s iconic Discworld series, Guards! Guards!, and I just had to review it to showcase how much fun this series can be.

I have never made any secret of the fact that I love all things Terry Pratchett as the Discworld books were one of the formative series of my youth.  A massively popular series set on a flat world carried through space on the back of a giant turtle and four elephants, the Discworld books present a range of unique fantasy adventures, backed with exceptional comedy and satire.  This series is so much fun, and I honestly love every single Discworld book, having read them all multiple times, usually while laughing myself silly.  Indeed, I am such a big fan of this series that I named my blog after a location in the universe.  Despite my overwhelming love for this series, I haven’t reviewed many Discworld books (the exception being Moving Pictures and The Last Continent).  That changes with my review of the outrageously funny Guards! Guards! which I recently enjoyed while on a road trip.

Guards! Guards! is a particularly entertaining addition to the Discworld series that I have a lot of love for.  Serving as the first book in the City Watch sub-series, Guards! Guards! sees Pratchett blend his typical fantasy and comedy elements with a complex murder mystery.  This book follows the ragtag city watch of this world’s main recurring city, Ankh-Morpork, as they try to solve a series of deaths caused by a monstrous murder weapon.  Due to its brilliant and hilarious story, as well as the fact that it perfectly sets up the rest of the awesome City Watch books, I generally consider Guards! Guards! to be one of my absolute favourite Discworld novels, and I have featured it in various Top Ten Tuesday lists over the years.

On the fantastical and impossible Discworld no place is more dangerous, corrupt or morally unhealthy as the legendary and stinking city of Ankh-Morpork.  The Disc’s largest city, Ankh-Morpork has many terrors haunting its urban depths, where life is cheap and death lurks around every corner.  However, not even the hardest criminals, deadliest wizards or most manipulative politicians are prepared for an ancient and malevolent creature that is about to be unleashed upon the city.

A shadowy secret brotherhood has engineered an elaborate plan to seize power in Ankh-Morpork through use of an unlikely weapon, a dragon.  Summoning a fully formed fire-breathing dragon to cause terror, the brotherhood hopes to use the resulting carnage to bring in their own puppet to control the city.  However, the dragon has its own ideas about what sort of terror it wants to bring down on humanity.

With the rest of the city powerless against the dragon, it falls to the ramshackle Ankh-Morpork Night Watch and its depressed captain, Sam Vimes, to try and stop it.  The only problem is the Watch are the biggest joke in the city, incapable of standing up to normal crime, never mind carnage caused by magical dragon.  But with an unnaturally keen new recruit guilting them into action, and a terrifying dragon fanatic with a crush on Vimes keeping them in line, the Watch is going to try and save the day, even if no-one wants them to.

Guards! Guards! still reigns supreme as one of my top Discworld novels from the always impressive Terry Pratchett.  Featuring a unique plot, loaded with an outstanding mix of mystery, humour and fun fantasy elements, Guards! Guards! brilliantly sets up one of Pratchett’s best sub-series while presenting its own epic and powerful story.  An exceptional read from start to finish, this book gets a very easy five-star rating from me, and I love it so damn much.

The plot of Guards! Guards! is so damn clever and is peak Pratchett in its inventiveness and impressive characters.  Presenting an entertaining and humourous noir murder investigation in a fantasy series, Guards! Guards! has a lot of moving parts to it, including some impressive character-driven story arcs, all of which come together beautifully for a particularly intense and insane story.  Starting off very strong with some great introductions to various key characters, including the young and keen Carrot Ironfoundersson, who journeys to the massive and corrupt city of Ankh-Morpork to join the Night Watch, providing fresh blood, irrepressible honesty and uncontrolled enthusiasm to the small squad of rejects and failures currently staffing it.  Carrot’s arrival corresponds with the start of a bold conspiracy, as a secretive mystic brotherhood plots to dethrone the Patrician and take over the city.  The initial scenes of this book are extremely good, and I love how Pratchett expertly sets up the entire narrative with some hilarious moments, including the opening sequence with the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, whose petty ideology shows you just what sort of criminal minds we are truly dealing with.

Things go in a chaotic direction as the Night Watch, led by the drunk and depressed Captain Vimes, witness a direct murder by dragon and begin their own investigation into the matter.  Pratchett expertly pivots the story around from its comedic fantasy start into a complex police procedural/noir murder investigation, as the protagonists try to find out why the dragon is terrifying the city and who benefits from the apparent crime.  At the same time, several great character arcs emerge, including a truly nice, if unconventional romance, new friendships, and a fun analysis of dragon mythology.  There is a great twist about halfway through the book as the down-and-out Night Watch witness an interesting change to the classic dragon fantasy tale that sees a unique king take over the city.

The final third of the book is some of Pratchett’s strongest writing, as Vimes identifies the true culprit and must work to undo the damage they caused.  There are some great moments in this last part of the book as Pratchett presents his own unique and hilarious take on classic fantasy tropes, including the famed million-to-one shot, the heroic rescue, and the successful defeat of a dragon.  I felt that the identity of the main villain of the story was very clever, and Pratchett sets it up well with subtle clues, although if you know Pratchett’s thoughts on certain government positions it’s not too surprising.  Still, the final confrontation between the protagonists and this villain is great, and being literal has never been so deadly.  Pratchett leaves Guards! Guards! on a hopeful note, and it’s impossible not to come away with a smile on your face.

Pratchett was really on-point when it came to writing Guards! Guards! and I loved how perfectly it came together.  As with all books in the Discworld series, Guards! Guards! features an exceptional mixture of fantasy and humour elements, as the unusual and cynical Discworld produces some unusual situations, layered in with a great plot and some fantastically complex characters.  A lot of the humour is derived from classic fantasy scenarios that are taken up to 11 and shown in outrageous manners, accompanied by sarcastic comments from the characters as they witness them.  For example, this book serves as an ode to the guards and watchmen from classic fantasy fiction, and there are some funny scenes when these self-aware guards realise how expendable they are in a fantasy story.  However, Guards! Guards! also features a brilliant third element as Pratchett also features a compelling crime fiction read, accompanied with an addictive murder mystery.

The blend of fantasy and crime fiction elements works incredibly well, and it is highly entertaining to watch a serious investigation consider magic, suddenly appearing dragons, and the unique background setting of Ankh-Morpork.  I also loved how many clever and subtle jokes Pratchett was able to weave in because of these crime fiction inclusions, and he ends up lovingly roasting so many classic tropes from police procedurals and noir detective novels.  Despite having read this book many times, I still laugh like crazy at all the humourous moments in Guards! Guards!, especially as you always discover a new joke or pun you previously missed.  I honestly don’t have time to list all the funny scenes in Guards! Guards!, but favourites include the various meetings of the petty and mostly incompetent Elucidated Brethren, Carrot’s naïve overreactions upon discovering crime in the city, and various musings on how to achieve a perfect, million-to-one chance.  Pratchett once again expertly backs up his humour in Guards! Guards! with a series of entertaining footnotes spread throughout the book, that prove to be nearly as much fun as the main story.  These brilliant footnotes contain additional jokes, sarcastic comments, or interesting expansions of the Discworld universe, and they always bounce off the main story perfectly, providing extra laughs and food for thought where necessary.  I really cannot emphasise just how well this blend of genres worked with Pratchett’s unique and endearing humour, and it proves impossible not to have an exceptional time while reading this book.

As with most Discworld books, Guards! Guards! works exceedingly well as a standalone novel, and I feel that anyone wanting a laugh could easily jump in and follow the story without any issues.  Due to its early position in the shared Discworld universe, you don’t have to know anything about the other entries in the overarching series to jump right in, as Pratchett goes a tad light on some of the more outrageous Discworld elements.  As such, I consider Guards! Guards! to be one of the very best entry novels to new Discworld readers.  It also proves to be a brilliant first book in one of Pratchett’s best sub-series, and so many key details of the subsequent City Watch books are introduced here.  This includes some excellent early looks at the chaotic city of Ankh-Morpork and key recurring characters in the larger universal plot.  Ankh-Morpork is a great background setting for Guards! Guards! and it was the first book completely set within the bounds of the city.  I loved seeing this crazy city in even more detail, and all the fun elements set up here help to make it an epic setting.  As such, this is a great book for any Discworld reader, new or old, and it’s one of my favourites for very good reason.

As with pretty much all of Pratchett’s works, the key things that made Guards! Guards! so impressive were the amazing and unique characters that were featured throughout the plot.  Pratchett had a real knack for producing complex, multi-layered figures who can be both comedic and tragic at the same time, and who you couldn’t help but love.  Guards! Guards! was a particularly good example of this, as Pratchett featured a range of brilliant and entertaining characters who would go on to be become major recurring figures in the Discworld canon.  Indeed, Guards! Guards! is one of the most significant books for new characters, and it is frankly amazing how many exceptional major and iconic figures were introduced here.  Each of these characters were so well written, and you have to love both their specific arcs in this book, as well as how they were expanded on in later works.

The most prominent character in Guards! Guards! is Captain Samuel Vimes.  A cynical and damaged man whose habit of calling out social inequities has seen him assigned to the joke position as head of the Night Watch, which he deals with by drinking vast amounts of alcohol.  A parody of every hard-drinking cop and private eye in classic noir fiction, Vimes starts the book with no prospects and too many dead friends.  Given new purpose when the dragon appears in the city, Vimes turns his innate rebellion to a purpose and tries policing and detecting.  Pratchett does an exceptional job setting up Vimes here in Guards! Guards!, and it is no wonder he goes on to be one of his top protagonists.  Vimes’s depressed investigative method proves quite successful, and it was entertaining to watch Vimes attempt to solve the case while sarcastically calling out his fellow citizens’ base stupidity and selfishness.  Pratchett also sets up an impressive redemption arc around Vimes, which comes about through a combination of trusted colleagues, romance, and a renewed determination to uphold the law.  While he ends the book still irritated with the world, the road forward to Vimes doing bigger and better things is well established, and you really get drawn into his arc as a result.

Another impressive character is naïve and innocent City Watch recruit, Carrot Ironfoundersson.  Due to his complex home situation and a late life revelation that he’s human rather than a dwarf (being six and a half feet tall wasn’t a clue to him), Carrot is sent to Anhk-Morpork with a desire to become a watchman, which he incorrectly believes is a noble calling.  Thanks to his literal personality and highly moral upbringing, Carrot proves to be an anathema to the lawless folks of Anhk-Morpork, as he comes to town bringing justice, enforcing obscure laws, and actually arresting thieves: “change your ways”.  A brilliant parody of ultra-righteous fantasy kings, Carrot serves as an outstanding comic relief for much of the book, especially when it comes to his wholesome interactions with the exceedingly criminal inhabitants of the city.  However, beneath his comedic cover, Carrot is written as a complex figure of change, and his ability to inspire the other characters, either through guilt or determination, leads to some big moments.  Pratchett did an amazing job with Carrot in Guards! Guards!, and it was fascinating to see how he evolves from his initial innocent personality, to a more clever, but still determined, character.

Aside from Vimes and Carrot, the other two watch characters are Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal Nobby Nobbs, both of whom are excellent and solid comedic characters.  The stereotypical fat sergeant and dodgy corporal, Pratchett has fun setting them up as unassailable fixtures of the Night Watch as they do the jobs nature intended for them, and I love how they play off each other.  While Colon has some hilarious scenes, including his attempt at archery and his various ill-timed run-ins with the dragon, you can tell that Pratchett had a lot more fun writing Nobby.  While not all his over-the-top characteristics from the series are shown in Guards! Guards!, Nobby is still a particularly entertaining figure.  Between his coarse language, petty criminal mindset, and uncharacteristic foppish behaviours, every scene with Nobby is highly amusing, and I love how Pratchett expanded off clever stereotypes about lifetime corporals to create this wayward figure.

Outside the members of the City Watch, there are a fantastic array of figures who help to make Guards! Guards! a particularly enthralling story.  This includes one of the few female characters in the book, Sybil Rankin, a dragon-loving heiress who ends up being Vimes’s unlikely love interest.  Deliberately written as the direct opposite of a noir femme-fatale in both personality and appearance, Sybil is a force of nature, using her accumulated nobility to pull the Night Watch, especially Vimes, into her orbit.  It proves impossible not to like Sybil as you watch her confidently go after Vimes or try to put the dragon to heel, and she ends up being one of the most complicated female characters that Pratchett wrote (which is saying a lot when you think of some of his other great female characters).

The other major character that I want to separately highlight is the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Havelock Vetinari.  While he has appeared in previous Discworld novels (notably Sourcery), this is the first book that showcases him as a full character.  Generally depicted as a Machiavellian mastermind and one of the few people capable of controlling the chaotic city, Vetinari has some great early scenes.  However, it’s not until the second half of the book when you realise just how fantastic a character he is.  Deposed by the false king, Vetinari initially appears to be completely powerless in the dungeons, until Vimes is thrown in with him and begins to realise that he is still in control, especially as he’s managed to cultivate a new intelligence network (procured by providing wartime strategy to magical rats), while also getting locked in a dungeon specifically designed to keep him safe.  His subsequent scenes tormenting the book’s real antagonist and talking about the nature of humanity with Vimes really cement him as an impressive figure, and the seeds for his many later inclusions as the Disc’s ultimate political mastermind are well sown here.

While I know I’ve been going on a bit about characters (blame Pratchett for being such a good writer), I just need to highlight a few more figures who have a great role in Guards! Guards!.  This includes the Librarian, one of Pratchett’s most iconic characters, who proves to be just as much fun outside of a wizard focused book, and it was entertaining seeing him interact with a separate group of friends.  You get a great introduction to the character of Cut-My-Own-Throat Dibbler, whose mercantile tendencies are on full display here.  The unusual swamp dragon Errol proves to be an unlikely pet, and his arc about finding love and his true form was particularly heartwarming.  Finally, I must mention the book’s great antagonist, who fully embraces the mad tendencies that his position demands.  While I won’t go into too much detail about who he is, I will say I loved seeing his various internal rants about the world, and the scenes with his incompetent henchmen were so damn funny.  All these characters, plus even more hilarious figures, are instrumental to so much of Guards! Guards! brilliant charm and humour, and after being introduced to them here, it’s impossible not to follow them on their full journey.

I have had the pleasure of reading Guards! Guards! in a couple of different formats over the years, but to my mind the best way to enjoy this book, and indeed any Discworld novel, is on audiobook.  The Discworld audiobooks are something very special, and I find that the unique stories, excellent humour and elaborate characters really come across when read out by a passionate narrator.  With the recent re-release of various Discworld audiobooks, there are now two different unabridged versions of Guards! Guards! fans can enjoy, and I want to highlight them both here.

The first Guards! Guards! audiobook is the original version with the talented Nigel Planer, who narrated 22 of the original 23 Discworld audiobooks.  Guards! Guards! is one of his best performances, and it set the scene nicely for many of his subsequent Discworld audiobooks, especially as he settled on a lot of key character voices and tones here.  While it has been a little while since I’ve listened to Planer’s version of Guards! Guards!, I have enjoyed it so many times it is permanently engrained in my head (I used to grab the tape cassette version out of my local library all the time).  Planer, who does all the voices himself, really captures the essence of Pratchett’s storytelling and excels at expressing the author’s unique humour through his vocal work.  I also felt that his portrayal of many of the key characters was second to none, and he really brought to life all the City Watch protagonists, as well as some other long-running figures, in some impressive ways.  He would revisit many of these voices in multiple subsequent performances, and it is a testament to his skill that the initial tones he came up with here, worked so well in the later books.  I frankly have so much love for Planer’s original take on Guards! Guards!, which definitely still stands the test of time, and his excellent and heartfelt voice work defines many of the City Watch characters for me.

While Nigel Planers original version is perfect, current Discworld fans may be more familiar with the latest audiobook production of Guards! Guards!, which was part of a recent re-recording of all the Discworld books.  These new audiobooks each feature a different famous British performer voicing the main plot, while acclaimed actors Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy have key roles in every single production.  While these have been out for a little while, I only just listened to my first one .  Coming in at a runtime of 13 and a half hours, which is a tad longer than the roughly 10-hour long Planer version, this Guards! Guards! audiobook was extremely fun, and it served as excellent entertainment on a recent road trip.

The new version of the Guards! Guards! audiobook is primarily voiced by British radio and television personality Jon Culshaw.  Culshaw is amazing in the role, and I was deeply impressed with his take on the Guards! Guards! characters.  Each unique character comes across extremely well in Culshaw’s capable hands, and I enjoyed his take on their unique characteristics and eccentric personalities.  He perfectly showcased protagonist Samuel Vimes’s drunken despair and depression, while various other key members of the watch, such as the extremely keen Carrot and the more cautious Colon, are shown extremely well.  I also felt that Culshaw did an incredible job with several complicated figures from the story, such as the infamous watchman Nobby Nobbs, who Culshaw gifts a gruff and weaselly voice that sounded a lot like David Bradley or Jon Pertwee.  His Lord Vetinari is also amazing, and the deep and threatening tones really capture the character’s dangerous nature.  Finally, I felt that his take on the main female character, Sybil Ramkin, was just perfect, and you really got the full blast of her big personality and excessive aristocratic characteristics.  Many of the other side characters were also perfectly portrayed to my mind, and I must highlight the excellent way in which he disguised the voice of the main antagonist during some key secret society scenes.

Culshaw’s primary narration is well backed up by Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy in their respective roles.  Serafinowicz provides the voice of Death whenever he appears in this audiobook, which works out extremely well even with Death’s relatively minor role in Guards! Guards!.  Serafinowicz has an exceptional Death voice, and hearing it suddenly appear throughout Guards! Guards! is so damn epic, especially during one scene where Death is hiding amongst the soon-to-be deceased.  Nighy, on the other hand, narrates the various footnotes.  Nighy was a perfect choice for this, and his calm, consistent tones, echoing Peter Jones’s similar role in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio and TV editions really highlighted the subtle comedy of these footnotes.  I felt that all three of these distinctive actors really vibed together in the Guards! Guards! audiobooks, and the switch between them was seamless, allowing for a particularly awesome listen.  Throw in an interesting short afterword about fantasy elements by acclaimed author Ben Aaronovitch, and this proved to be a remarkable and compelling audiobook I could not get enough of.  While Nigel Planer’s original narration of Guards! Guards! is always going to live in my head rent free, I felt that this new version more than lived up to the hype surrounding it, and I really appreciated the unique and powerful performances these new narrators brought to the table.  Frankly both of the audiobook versions comes highly recommended by me, and it is impossible to be dissatisfied by them at all.

Whew, well in case you could guess from this massive review (it got away from me), I love Guards! Guards! and I have some very strong feelings for it.  One of Terry Pratchett’s best Discworld novels, Guards! Guards! is the perfect blend of fantasy, crime fiction and humour that you could ever want, and I always get wrapped up in its elaborate story.  A wildly entertaining and comedic novel from start to finish, Pratchett added so much heart to this book, and you get drawn into the impressive characters and compelling, crime fiction plot.  A brilliant start to the City Watch subseries, Guards! Guards! is so damn good, and I know I will be reading it many more times in my life.  I can think of no better way to emphasise just how amazing Guards! Guards! is than to mention that I used it to introduce the Discworld to my wife, who is now powering through the series on her own.  So do yourself a favour and check this book out now!

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The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books5 Comments

The Shadow Casket Cover

Publisher: Gollancz (Audiobook – 16 February 2023)

Series: The Darkwater Legacy – Book Two

Length: 32 hours and 37 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Chris Wooding continues The Darkwater Legacy in a big way with his second awesome and massive entry in this great fantasy series, The Shadow Casket.

I was recently in the mood for more epic fantasy reads, so I finally got around to checking out The Shadow Casket by Chris Wooding, which has been on my to-read list for most of the year.  The Shadow Casket is the sequel to Wooding’s exceptional 2018 novel, The Ember Blade, which I had a ton of fun reading back when it originally came out.  The Ember Blade followed a band of revolutionaries, including two young teens caught up in the carnage, as they fought to free their country from an evil empire that had conquered it a generation before.  Featuring a classic fantasy adventure plot with some awesome real-life overtones and loaded with a ton of great characters, a powerful story, and a fantastic new world, The Ember Blade was such a great read, and it got an easy five-star read from me.  I have been eagerly awaiting a sequel for some time now, and Wooding finally delivered his second Darkwater Legacy book this year with The Shadow Casket, which took the reader on another dark and captivating journey.

It has been three years since the destructive events at Hammerholt, when the ragtag band of revolutionaries, known as the Dawnwardens, managed to steal back the sacred Ember Blade and kill the Krodan Emperor’s son, seemingly lighting the fires of revolution.  However, despite the Dawnwardens’ hope that recovering the Ember Blade would encourage their people to rise in revolt, the powerful Krodan empire still reigns over Ossia, bringing new levels of terror in their occupation.  With revolution still as far away as ever, the Dawnwardens, and the Ember Blade’s champion, young Aren of Shoal Point, are forced to take a risk that could turn the tide of war.

Taking the Ember Blade out of hiding, the Dawnwardens travel to the Reaches in the far north of Osia, where the wild and rebellious clans of the Fell Folk fight amongst themselves.  Hoping to recruit the fractious clans to their cause, the Dawnwardens soon find themselves once again under attack from the Krodans and their deadliest weapons, the malevolent dreadknights.  Forced to flee with new allies and returning friends, the Dawnwardens embark on mission to find out what the Krodans are truly doing in Osia and just how far they are willing to go to maintain order.

Finding their first successes since the events of Hammerholt, the Dawnwardens form a new plan to finally strike back at the Krodans and start the revolution they have long hoped for.  However, no matter how hard they fight, the Dawnwardens constantly find themselves outmatched by the dreadknights and their foul magic.  To survive this insidious threat, the Dawnwardens hope to call upon the ancient magic of a lost artefact, the Shadow Casket, which has the potential to either save them or doom the world.  But with deadly foes facing them at every corner, and traitors within their own ranks, can the heroes succeed, or will their revolution finally be cut down?

Wooding continues his epic series in a big way with The Shadow Casket, producing an exceptional and captivating novel that was quite a treat to read.  Expertly following the existing storylines from the first book while also providing an awesome new adventure, The Shadow Casket was a gripping and powerful novel that I had an absolute blast reading.

I really loved the amazing story that Wooding came up with for The Shadow Casket, which is massive in every sense of the word.  Told from many different perspectives, The Shadow Casket has a very powerful character-driven plot that really gets you involved in the lives of all the protagonists while advancing the compelling main plot.  The transition to three years after the events of The Ember Blade was a very interesting overarching choice for this new book, but it was one that works very well, and I loved the realistic detail that the protagonist’s previous adventures didn’t magically save the day as they had hoped.  Wooding starts events off at a somewhat slow pace, which was definitely necessary as he had to re-establish all the key story elements, while also introducing the new setting of Northern Ossia and the Fell Folk.  This does mean that the initial chapters of the book might drag a little for some readers, especially those who did not read The Ember Blade first, although I appreciated the refresher on all the protagonists after all this time.  This early part of the book also sets up many plot points for the rest of The Shadow Casket, and Wooding did an outstanding job laying down a lot of groundwork here.

Things do speed up quickly after the reintroductions are done, as all hell breaks loose around the protagonists in some amazing scenes.  This early part of the book also brings back Cade and Klyssen, who were seemingly killed off at the end of The Ember Blade.  This honestly isn’t that much of a spoiler as both come back very early in the plot, and frankly it wasn’t too surprising considering the deliberate ambiguity of their “deaths” in the previous book.  Their return sets up some great character-driven plots which are very well explored in the first half of the book and have some major impacts on the overall story.  The protagonists soon find themselves involved in several distinctive character-focused quests, including the liberation of a prison camp, the machinations of a traitor, and an intriguing dive into a magical organisation that was only lightly featured in the first book.  These various storylines blend into one cohesive plot, and I liked the early focus on world building and character growth in the aftermath of the first book.  Wooding works in an interesting blend of intrigue, action, adventure, and even some horror elements, which really enhanced the classic adventure quest vibe he was trying to replicate.  I did have issues with an ungainly love triangle that got a lot of attention in the first half of The Shadow Casket, which sapped my enjoyment in places.  However, the other complex storylines that were occurring simultaneously did make up for this, and it thankfully does not last the entire length of the book.

The second half of The Shadow Casket is where things really picked up, and it features all the awesome story moments that the author had been expertly building up.  This includes a deadly adventure quest to a lethal island, which amped up the intensity of the plot, especially as secrets are revealed and tragedy awaits several characters.  These storylines and more, all lead up to epic final quarter of the novel, where the protagonists have their long-awaited mass confrontation with the enemy.  Wooding really set up everything leading up to this final quarter perfectly, and I was very excited going into it, especially as it featured a massive siege.  While there is a focus on the action in this final part of the book, Wooding also amps up the intrigue, as various parties make their moves to betray or mislead either side of the conflict.  The author plays this plot line about betrayal and intrigue perfectly, and there were times when you honestly didn’t know who was betraying who, which was so much fun to see.  This last quarter honestly has a bit of something for everyone, and I loved the inherent tragedy, the gritty battles, and the awesome resolution to so many different plotlines and character arcs.  I also really enjoyed the multitude of clever twists and reveals that Wooding layered in this part of the book, especially as I did not see several of them coming despite the great setup surrounding them.  The final play of the protagonists was particularly brilliant, and the unique siege tactics were quite inventive.  While I did think a few things were wrapped up a little too easily or positively at the end, this was honestly a very strong conclusion for this second entry, and it sets up many great storylines for the rest of the series.  I really came away from The Shadow Casket feeling very satisfied, and I cannot wait to see how my heart will get broken in the next book.

I felt that Wooding did a rather wonderful job of presenting his elaborate narrative to the reader, and his fantastic style definitely drew me into the story.  While there are a lot of positives to the author’s writing, the main thing that I was mostly grateful for was how easy he set everything up so that I could dive back into this series.  As I mentioned above, it has been over four years since I read The Ember Blade, itself a hefty read, so I was initially worried that I wouldn’t remember all the key details and get a little lost.  However, Wooding expertly led readers, both new and old, into his new book and those well-thought-out and slower paced introductory chapters really filled in all the gaps for me.  As such, there wasn’t a single moment that I was lost about what was going on, which considering how elaborate The Shadow Casket gets, is pretty damn impressive.

While The Shadow Casket is a great continuation of The Ember Blade, it also has a bit of a different tone to it.  The focus on failure, regret and fighting losing battles was quite interesting and reflected the continued failed rebellion nicely.  The book itself also comes across as more of an adventure novel, with the protagonists constantly moving and taking on new quests and journeys, rather than the more heist focused revenge plot of the first book.  This ensured that The Shadow Casket stood out a lot more than I was expecting, and it really didn’t feel like a sequel or a tired middle book.  Wooding has a great sense for pacing, and the fantastic mixture of action, character growth and betrayal and intrigue helped to turn this into quite an impressive read.  I have so much love for the multiple elaborate espionage storylines that emerged, and Wooding ensured that the reader never knew what was coming.  The excellent use of multiple character perspectives really helped with this, and it was compelling and often very moving to see the various internal struggles, history and biases that drove the characters to do what they do.  The clever alternate views of the same events also helped to create a much more expansive and captivating plot, and I think that Wooding did a great job of splitting the story up, ensuring that all the key characters got their time to shine.  There was the occasional rough chapter transition that added a touch of confusion at times, but this was usually pretty harmless, and I found the overall narrative to be very powerful and bound together excellently.  Throw in a ton of brilliant and brutal action sequences, including the extended battle at the end, and The Shadow Casket has so much going for it that you will find it very hard to put down.

One of the things I liked most about The Ember Blade was the elaborate and complex world that the book was set in.  In particular, the focal nation of Ossia was such an interesting main setting, especially as it was occupied by its stronger neighbour, who had ruled it for years.  This portrayal of Ossia had a lot of similarities to occupied France during World War II, especially as the invading Krodans were an obvious stand-in for Nazis/fascism.  This occupied fantasy nation had a certain realism to it that deeply enhanced the story, especially as the characters interacted with collaborators, rebels and locals who believed the Krodans were helping them, all while witnessing examples of Krodan cruelty.  These issues were further compounded by the fact that Ossia was already a rather fractious nation, and their lack of cooperation and unity helped the Krodan conquest years before.  Wooding continued to expand on this examination of occupied Ossia in The Shadow Casket, especially as revolution and uprisings were such an important part of the plot.  I loved the intriguing plot point about how, despite the protagonist’s actions in the first book, most of Ossia was still too cowed or wracked with infighting to join in the rebellion, making the sacrifices in the first book seem pointless.  This ensured that occupied Ossia continued to be a dangerous and compelling setting for much of the story, and Wooding doubled down on the Krodan comparisons to Nazis, especially as the Krodan’s engaged in massive retaliation strikes against the Ossian populace while also rounding up a minority group into concentration camps.  These intriguing details add a lot to the plot, and it was interesting to see how they continued from the first book.

Wooding also worked in quite a lot of world building as he sought to explore new areas within the larger fantasy realm.  This includes several intriguing and deadly new locations, such as a swamp full of dark spirits and the lethal island of Yaga, where ogres and magical slavers reign supreme.  These areas, which serve as cool settings for several key parts of the book, are great to explore, adding in some very distinctive risks, and it served as a compelling expansion of an already great world.  However, the most significant new setting is probably the northern area of Ossia known as the Reaches.  A hilly area populated by warring tribes, this part of Ossia was culturally segregated from the more urbanised southern setting before the Krogans arrived, and now is even more oppressed.  A large chunk of the novel revolves around the complex tribal politics and history of this region as the protagonists attempt to bring them together as allies while also striking back at the forces oppressing them.  Several of the best sequences, including the final battle, are set around here, and I loved the craggy and isolated feel that Wooding gave this setting.  The author also does a wonderful job expanding on some of the fantasy aspects of his series.  While there were quite a number of great and freaky magical and fantasy elements in the first book, The Shadow Casket really dives into this further, showing several different batches of magic.  This includes a fascinating examination of the Ossian druids, whose magical conclave in the first half of the novel serves as a major plot setting.  There is also a fantastic and dark examination of the magic being used by the Krogans to create their more elaborate weapons.  This look at Krogan mysticism is pretty fascinating and serves as a great contrast to their usual anti-magic dogma.  It also leads to some of the darker scenes in the book, including the exploration of a corrupted prison camp, which honestly bordered more on horror than anything else.  There are some fantastic and complex hints at the dangers to come, and I cannot wait to see how dark and compelling Wooding makes his setting in the future.

However, the most impressive and memorable part of The Shadow Casket has to be the outstanding and elaborate character work that Wooding expertly inserted into the story.  The Shadow Casket has an exceptional and memorable cast, which includes a great combination of characters from The Ember Blade, as well as several intriguing new figures.  All the characters are damaged and complex, especially after the events of The Ember Blade, and thanks to the author’s excellent use of alternating perspectives, you get to see into their minds and find out what drives them and what their intentions are.  I deeply appreciated how well the character stories altered and drove the main narrative and Wooding’s excellent character work really gets you invested in everyone’s personal journey.

As with The Ember Blade, the main character of The Shadow Casket is Aren of Shoal Point.  A teenager drafted into the rebellion by circumstances, Aren is trying to live up to his own legend after masterminding the Ember Blade heist and being declared champion.  Now a figurehead leader chafing under the responsibilities and expectations of everyone around him, Aren starts the book with a lot of his usual certainty and confidence gone, especially as the disappointments of the last three years are hanging over him.  Most of his arc involves him trying to decide whether he deserves all the fame and trust people are putting into him, as well as wondering what his destiny is.  I really liked this compelling character arc that Wooding came up with for Aren, especially as it is totally understandable that he would feel these doubts with his complex history.  While Aren probably was a more passive protagonist than some readers were hoping for, I felt his early mindset of following others fit nicely into the uncertainty he felt, and Wooding did a great job of portraying this and his eventual regained confidence.  Aren also proves to be a linchpin character for The Shadow Casket, mainly because so many other character arcs are defined by the relationships that Aren has formed over the years.  While a couple of these relationships do have some flaws in them, the rest are exceedingly emotionally rich and Aren’s connections help the other characters to grow and develop alongside him.  Aren continued to be an outstanding and complex protagonist for this second Darkwater Legacy novel and I look forward to seeing how he develops in the future.

One of the other major characters I need to highlight is Cade, Aren’s childhood friend who was forced into the adventures in the last book before heroically sacrificing himself at the end of The Ember Blade.  Cade returns quite early in The Shadow Casket, having spent three years away from his friends.  However, he is now carrying some dark secrets and a new hidden history that defines most of his actions throughout The Shadow Casket.  Cade had one of the best and most powerful character arcs in the entire novel, which I will not elaborate on too much here to avoid spoilers.  However, it was extremely well written and added some much-needed emotional depth to Cade’s character.  Wooding does an outstanding job of expanding on Cade’s character arc and story from the first book and the examination of the complex relationship between Aren and Cade resulted in some of the most moving moments in the book.

There are several great antagonistic characters in The Shadow Casket, including sinister Krodan officials and several hidden traitors, but my favourite villainous figure has to be the great character Klyssen.  A member of the Krodan secret police, Klyssen was the primary villain of The Ember Blade, and Wooding takes the opportunity to develop him further in some fantastic ways in the sequel.  Not only does he provide an alternative viewpoint to the Krodans but Wooding manages to make Klyssen into a surprisingly sympathetic character in The Shadow Casket.  Thanks to the events of The Ember Blade, Klyssen starts this new book scarred, disgraced, demoted and divorced, and is now at something of a moral and emotional crossroads.  Now driven by personal reasons, Klyssen has a bit of a redemption arc in The Shadow Casket, and it is honestly a sign of just how good Wooding is at writing characters that you actually feel sorry for this previously despicable villain.  Klyssen ends up being one of the more complex and damaged figures in the entirety of this second book, and I loved his more nuanced mindset and desperate motivations, which make his chapters particularly compelling and emotionally charged.  You really begin to feel for Klyssen, even if you don’t want to, and I really appreciated the complex additional development Wooding worked into him for this sequel.

Of course, I cannot talk about characters in The Shadow Casket without mentioning Grub, who honestly might be one of the most entertaining and hilarious figures I have ever had the pleasure to read.  Gruff, crude and inappropriate in every way imaginable, Grub is a slippery and self-obsessed figure who never fails to get a laugh thanks to his jokes, selfish mindset, fun observations on the people around him, and pure disinterest in what is actually happening.  Thanks to this humour, Grub has some of the best chapters in the entire book, and you always know you are in for a good time.  However, Wooding also creates a particularly complex and intriguing story arc around Grub that really resonates with the reader.  Coming from a culture that venerates heroic actions and tales, Grub was exiled from his people after claiming another person’s deeds.  As such, a lot of Grub’s sVVavsdtoryline involves him trying to redeem himself by become a hero, which really does not come naturally to him due to his selfish nature and upbringing.  This honesty proves to be one of the more complex story arcs in the entire book and you really get invested in his attempts to do the right thing.  A lot of this story revolves around his unlikely friendship with Aren, who serves as Grub’s moral compass, and their compelling relationship is one of the most heartwarming parts of the entire book.  I cannot emphasise just how much fun Grub is as a character, and it honestly is impossible not to fall in love with him, especially with the fantastic depth Wooding adds to his story.  While I would read an entire book about Grub, I think that Wooding did a good job not overusing him in The Shadow Casket, and blending in the other characters extremely well.

Other significant characters include Vika, a powerful druid whose connection with the spirits and the gods offers the only hope against the Krodan dreadknights.  Wooding weaves a fantastic narrative around Vika that dives into her unique and desperate personality while also using her as a focus for the more mystical elements of the book.  I quite enjoyed seeing Vika develop into more of a powerful magical user, although the emotional cost associated with it turns her into a bit of an unpredictable figure.  Wooding really laces Vika’s narrative with some powerful tragedy and distinctive moments, and while I felt that the ending of her arc could have been handled a little better, she was still an outstanding and enjoyable protagonist to follow.

I also need to highlight Mira, the team’s strategist and leader of the Dawnwardens, who comes up with elaborate plans and schemes in the name of liberation.  While Mira does not have as many chapters assigned to her as I would have liked, Wooding does a lot with her in a short amount of time, and I liked how dark the character got as the book progressed.  The dour knight Harod also proves to be an excellent protagonist, mainly because so much of his arc is based around his grief after losing the woman he loved in the last book.  Wooding does a good job expanding a bit on the typically emotionally devoid Harod in this book, especially when a fantastic new secondary character is introduced, and his martial focussed chapters have some heavy personal weight to them.  Throw in the team’s hunter, Fen, whose arc mostly survives an unenjoyable love triangle, and several great new characters, including a troubled revolutionary and a mysterious fighter with his own agenda and this proved to be an exceptionally rich novel in terms of outstanding characters.  This fantastic mixture of compelling cast members really helped to turn The Shadow Casket into an extremely powerful read and I cannot wait to see how these characters develop in the rest of the series.

Like with many epic fantasy novels, I chose to check out The Shadow Casket on audiobook, which I found to be an awesome experience.  Elaborate fantasy novels always come across better in the audiobook format for me, especially when there is a ton of detail and world building, and this was once again the case with The Shadow Casket.  Wooding’s deeply impressive setting was so much cooler when it was read out to me, and I definitely absorbed a lot more detail in this format.  It also helped that they brought back narrator Simon Bubb for this second audiobook in the series.  Bubb does such a good job highlighting all the cool action, fantastic detail, and unique features of this series in The Shadow Casket, and I really liked how effortlessly he moved events along.  Bubb also has a very good handle on the massive cast featured with this book, coming up with original and fitting voices and accents for all the characters, and bringing out all their inherent emotion and struggles.  Highlights for me include the amazing characters of Klyssen, Aren and Grub, all of who really shine through in this format in the most entertaining ways, and I cannot emphasise enough how well Bubb captures all these elaborate figures.  Coming in at over 32.5 hours, The Shadow Casket is a hefty audiobook to get through, and it is one of the longest audiobooks I have ever listened to (coming in at number five on the current list).  I did struggle a bit to get through The Shadow Casket quickly due to its length, and there were a few times where I got a bit fatigued and had to take a break for a while.  However, the compelling story kept dragging me back in, and I maintain that The Shadow Casket is very much worth checking out on audiobook, especially as this format gives you the very best experience.  The great voices, fun depiction of detail, and enhanced story absorption more than make up for the length, and The Shadow Casket audiobook comes very highly recommended as a result.

Overall, this is a very impressive book, and if I did not get it across with the massive review above, I really enjoyed The Shadow Casket.  Chris Wooding is really writing something special with his Darkwater Legacy series and The Shadow Casket proved to be an exceptional second entry.  While I did have a couple of issues with length and some character elements, the sheer power and complexity of the story ensures that The Shadow Casket gets a full five-star rating from me and I had such an incredible time getting through this amazing book.  This is easily one of the best fantasy series currently going and I cannot wait to see how it continues, even if I have to wait a while for the third book to appear.  Highly recommended, all fans of epic fantasy need to get into this series.

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