Guards! Guards! Review
By Terry Pratchett
Reviewed By Oren Raynes
The Writing
I liked the writing style of Terry Pratchett. It reminded me Douglas Adams writing with the weird humor. I also felt like Pratchett was able to convey a lot into a scene. What I did not like was the characters. I don't know if that is a Pratchett thing or if it was just this particular story, but I didn't enjoy the characters. They felt shallow and boring. I think the best characters were the non main characters, particularly the brotherhood that summon the dragon. They seemed to have gotten the most care and consideration.
The Story
The story itself was alright. A group of slightly disgruntled citizens form a cult like brotherhood and summon a dragon to terrorize the town. Then have a person come and "slay" the dragon to make that person the "rightful king". But the dragon comes back on her own and claims the town as her own. The dragon then gets to setting up a monthly tax of sacrificing people to the dragon for food.
The guards are a group of misfits that don't really do anything to uphold the law. But they wind up in the middle of this story. Even though they are the main focal point of the book, they feel like they are just there to tie all the various story pieces together. They connect the brotherhood, the Patrician, Lady Ramkin (and therefore Errol), and the librarian.
The savior of the story turns out to be Errol, an undersized swamp dragon. He was able to make the Dragon leave the town by becoming her mate.
The Takeaway
I borrowed this one from the library and I will not be purchasing this book for my collection. It was an alright read but I know I will never read it again. I would recommend reading it but only if you have nothing better to read. I will definitely try more of Pratchett's writing, I feel like I do like his writing style.
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