Mostly Murders

People’d live for ages side by side, nodding at one another amicably on their way to work every day, and then some trivial thing would happen and someone would be having a garden fork removed from their ear.

Sam Vimes has survived dragons, assassins, riots and the deepest depths of alcoholism and despair. But now he is faced with something altogether more dangerous and devious: politics. An island has risen from the ocean, right in the middle of the waters between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch, a diplomatic meeting leads to assassinations and riots, and suddenly an all-out war is imminent.

Lord Rust takes over Ankh-Morpork, ruling the city under martial law, which is a far more scary thing for Ankh-Morpork than it is for their enemies in Klatch, as Lord Rust is the kind of nobility who believes that heritage is more important than competence, and that losses are unimportant as long as they only number commoners.

Leonard of Quirm is busy inventing things with a genius that borders insanity, and an innocence that borders disbelief.

Nobby is exploring his sexuality and his feminine side while on an undercover mission, to the great horror of both Ankh-Morporkians and Klatchians alike, as the only thing more frightening than the sight of Nobby in his normal outfit, is the thought of seeing Nobby in skimpy, revealing clothing.

And nationalism is sweeping Ankh-Morpork, riding on the wings of ignorance, self-importance, and hearsay as the population is caught up in the idea of the importance of claiming a barren, boring island, just so no one else can own it. It is funny, poignant and as relevant as ever, as Terry Pratchett lays bare the futility of war and the fundamental hypocracies and fallacies of bigotry, racism and prejudice that thrive everywhere in society when people fall for the seemingly easy solution of blaming everything they don’t like about their own country on foreigners.

Fantasy – Humour – Satire