Mini Review – Feet of Clay

From Goodreads:

HERE’S A WEREWOLF WITH PRE-LUNAR TENSION IN ANKH-MORPORK. AND A DWARF WITH ATTITUDE AND A GOLEM WHO’S BEGUN TO THINK FOR ITSELF.

But for Commander Vimes, Head of Ankh-Morpork City Watch, that’s only the start . . .

There’s treason in the air. A crime has happened.

He’s not only got to find out whodunit, but howdunit too. He’s not even sure what they dun. But soon as he knows what the questions are, he’s going to want some answers.

While not my favourite out of the Watch books so far, this book was still excellent. Pratchett has a great way to presenting social and philosophical issues, all of which are still as relevant today as they were when the books were written, in a humorous, entertaining way. Very much like the motto for the Ignoble Prize, First he makes you laugh, then he makes you think.

This book felt a lot more established. We know most of the characters fairly well, their personalities and foibles on full display. So those characters really get to stick there teeth into a classic who-done-it kind of plot which was really fun. We also got a lot better glimpse into various areas of the city, throughout their investigations. Visiting life at all levels of the class spectrum and how they survive in the city. We get everything from the political machinations of the ruling bodies, the manoeuvrings of the various merchants, wheeler dealers and the those just looking to survive. All is described so vividly but still with Prachett’s immaculate word play, and the occasional bad pun!

Our new characters are equally as interesting. Cherry Littlebottom the dwarf trying to assert her chosen gender presentation through her fashion choices, while also overcoming her own internal prejudices is a particularly relevant character even today some 25 years later. She is also a fantasy forensic-scientist which is just such a kick ass idea.

The Gollum’s are also a new entity for us in the Discworld but also have such interesting philosophical discussions behind them. When is something alive? Where do you draw the line on what is accepted by society? But again tackled with the inventive worldbuilding, such as dwarf battle bread and close-combat crumpets, humour and elegantly crafted story telling. I love a good murder mystery and it really was good fun to see how well Pratchett pulled off this genre too, laying out all the breadcrumbs for us to follow and firgure out who was behind it all at the same time as Vimes and his team.