Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

Title: Guards! Guards! (A Disc World Novel)
Author: Terry Pratchett
Reviewer: Karen
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Rating: Like
Alerts/Warnings: Lots and lots of swearing
Premise: "Here there be dragons ... and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all ...)" (King County Library System)
Opinions: My husband is a HUGE fan of Terry Pratchett and has been trying to get me to read his books for years. I read one a few months ago that I couldn't bring myself to review due to the severe language and bawdy humor (though the rest of the book was quite remarkable). So my husband took it upon himself to find one that was a little more appropriate for my tastes.

Last week he checked out this book and began reading it to me while I worked on various other projects. I must warn you there is still a lot of swearing in this book. However, the way Terry Pratchett writes is ingenious. There are no official chapters, but several breaks in order to change points of view. However, within each point of view you get a perfectly clear idea of each character's personality, charms, and flaws. The humor is so off the wall crazy that I would think "oh no he didn't!", shake my head, and then we would keep reading. My most favorite character in this book is Captain Vimes. The sections from his point of view just leapt of the page and made him so real. He is a flawed, honest, and a good hearted man. It is intriguing to see how his mind works. My second favorite is the Librarian who is currently an Orangutan and prefers never to return to human form. I mean who else but Terry Pratchett would create an Orangutan Librarian? The man is crazy brilliant. His writing reminds me a lot of the works of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. If you like Douglas Adams I think you will enjoy Terry Pratchett. Just be prepared, there is a lot of swearing (and in at least one of his other books bawdy humor - though I don't recall much of that in this particular book).