This is part of the Pratchett Project.
The blurb:
In the city of Ankh-Morpork, tension is rising between dwarf and troll communities.
A dwarven fanatic has been stoking the flames of an old hatred born of the Battle of Koom Valley -an ancient war between the races that neither side has quite got over. When the dwarf is murdered, with a troll the only witness, Commander Sam Vimes of the City Watch must solve the case before history repeats itself.
With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war drums sounding, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. But darkness is following him...
And at six o'clock every day he must go home to read a bedtime story to his son. There are some things you have to do.
The last Pratchett Project book was Night Watch, which absolutely blew me away; I said if any book was going to top it, it would have to be something really special. And damn if Thud! doesn't get within a gnat's of doing just that. Not that competition is the point, but the sustained quality of Pratchett's writing continues to awe me.
Pratchett's themes always centre around seeing the other person with as much clarity and understanding as you can, and this concept gets a great exploration as Ankh-Morpork's troll and dwarf contingents gear up for a serious re-enactment of the Battle of Koom Valley. The details of the battle have long been lost to history, except for a now-missing painting (shades of The Da Vinci Code here); dwarf and troll blame each other's treachery for the battle. The friendship and cameraderie between the Watch's troll and dwarf officers — exemplified back in Men at Arms by the (eventual) friendship between Cuddy and Detritus — is the exception rather than the rule.
Throughout all the Watch novels, Sam Vimes has grown. Up until now, I've noted that growth mostly in terms of how he views himself, going from simple Watch captain to Commander and being a peer of the city, something that's always sat ill with him (c.f. the conversation with Vetinari about Vimes still managing to hold onto his anti-authoritarian streak even though he now is authority) but that he's tried to do his best with. But he also grows in ways that are more on show with this book. When he signs his first nonhuman recruits, the aforementioned Detritus and Cuddy, he's openly disdainful of diversity in the Watch (or in general). When he's forced to hire other minorities like a golem, zombie or a w— he remains negative, at least initially.
Then Thud! rolls around, with its forced hire of Sally, a vampire who's taken the pledge. Given Vimes regards vampires as even worse than any other undead, he really has to grit his teeth here. But he sees the value, eventually, in all of his people — both their personalities (Detritus's loyalty, for example) or their characteristics (Angua's sense of smell). That continues in Thud! as he eventually comes to accept Sally in the Watch (in part because she is valuable and keeping her on will prevent another spy being foisted on him, but still).
This doesn't make Vimes perfect by any means, and that's also typical of Pratchett. There's one moment where Detritus has to set Vimes straight about how he's treating dwarfs and trolls differently, and another moment where Vimes says he can't be speciesist, because one of his best officers is a troll. That passes without overt comment — but it's like a clanging bell. Sam's getting to be a better ally... but he's not there yet.
He's growing as a family man too. Pratchett doesn't do much romance, but he does do relationships, and the one that Sam and Sybil have built for themselves is incredibly durable. Not because of anything like "they were destined to be together" or anything like that... but because they work at it, and take care of each other. Vimes is also incredibly devoted to his son, and that's one of the things that saves him at the end.
Vimes isn't the only character growing, either. I wanted to flag Detritus and how he's changed. Some of that is with the help of others, like the clockwork helmet that Cuddy made for him in Men at Arms (troll brains work better at lower temperatures), but I'm convinced some of it is because Detritus starts to see himself as more than just a dumb thug of a troll. And he pays it forward; he and Mr Shine are the ones to pick Brick up and set him on a better path too. Detritus is good people.
Eventually, we find the truth of the Koom Valley battle; it was nearly a peaceful resolution between troll and dwarf nation. If not for a freak flood, it's possible that the two races would have lived in peace for centuries.
While all this is going on, we're also being treated to occasional glimpses from the point of view of the Summoning Dark, an entity of sorts that lurks in darkness and looks for people who it can use, or be of use to. The Summoning Dark could be construed as evil — but maybe it's more like righteous anger than anything else. As Mr Nancy said, 'Angry gets shit done', after all. It helps defend Young Sam; in Vimes, it's tempered by the Guarding Dark — a force that Vimes himself has created to keep his own dark nature where it belongs (go back to a young Vetinari's observation about Vimes's conscience overriding his muscles moment by moment). The Summoning Dark is going to be with Vimes for a time, it seems.
As I said at the start, this is a very, very close second to Night Watch for me. It's a rejection of fundamentalism, of dogma. Sam has to grow to accept more and more types of people in his Watch family; we have to do the same thing.
Started: 26 April 2025
Finished: 28 April 2025
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