They are among Pratchett’s best characters, as well.Īnd, as an ensemble, the City Watch members are A-1. He’s smart enough not to have it in a lot of his books, and Men at Arms is great fun because there are two loopy couples.Īnd there’s Gaspode the talking dog. Pratchett handles goofy-happy-true-love well, with Sam Vimes and Sybil Ramkin, with Carrot and Angua. She’s always delightful when she’s on a Pratchett page, particularly now at the start of her City Watching career, when the Watch is making an affirmative-action push, signing up all sorts of beings, but she’s a special case as everyone wants to note:Īs Carrot finds out on their way to - aw, c’mon, anyone who starts reading this book is going to spot this plot turn coming from the moment these two appear together - falling in love. Unless it’s Corporal Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, the six-foot, six-inch, broad-shouldered, man-mountain dwarf (adopted).Ĭarrot, who cannot tell a lie and has not a good grasp of the use of the comma and is simple (in a very complicated way), is a delight every time he appears on the page, especially when, somewhere nearby, is Lance-Constable Angua von Überwald. Among all of Pratchett’s Discworld characters, I think I like him maybe the best. Now, they’re about to get married (which is obviously a good thing), and Sam is about to retire from the City Watch to lead a life of leisure among rich people who, in their snobbiness, stupidity and prejudice, make his skin crawl (which, also obviously, is not a good thing).Ī lot happens in Men at Arms because Sam Vimes is Sam Vimes, and that’s a very good thing. For one thing, it features the reappearance of Sam Vimes, the grizzled, street-smart, soft-hearted copper, who first appeared in Guards! Guards! in which he saved the life of a rich dragon-protecting heiress and, oh my gosh, fell in love. Men at Arms is special for a great many reasons. Pratchett’s books are always great fun, filled with wit, satire and wise insights into those creatures called human beings, in a broad manner of speaking - which is to say, including dwarfs, trolls, ghouls, and just a whole lot of sentients.
Among Terry Pratchett’s 41 Discworld novels, Men at Arms, published in 1993, is one of the best.
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