“Start with Douglas Adams’s comic science fiction (A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and J.R.R. Tolkien’s alternative worlds, mix in James Ellroy’s gritty realism and Jonathan Swift’s unflinching satire and, if you’re lucky, you’ll get something like Terry Pratchett’s Thud!” —Wall Street Journal
City Watch Commander Sam Vimes must solve the murder of a prominent dwarf or watch as Discworld is plunged into a bloody civil war in Terry Pratchett’s delightful Discworld satire, a brilliant tale of prejudice, ancient feuds, and tender fatherhood
Long, long ago, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, trolls and dwarfs met in bloody combat. Centuries later, each side still views the other with simmering animosity that has been heightened of late because of one Grag Hamcrusher. The influential dwarf has been fomenting unrest among a section of Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry—a volatile situation made far worse when the petite provocateur is discovered bashed to death . . . with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.
If he doesn’t solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. But more than one corpse is waiting for Vimes in the eerie, summoning darkness of a labyrinthine mine network being secretly excavated beneath Ankh-Morpork’s streets. With war-drums beating ever louder, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin, and brave any darkness to find the solution. And the darkness is following him, pulling him deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear—and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.
Until six o’clock every day, when without fail, the Commander goes home to read Where’s My Cow?, with accompanying farmyard noises, to his little boy. Because there are some things you must do.
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the 7th book in the City Watch collection and the 34th Discworld book.
The City Watch collection in order:
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"From the mysterious killing of a dwarf leading to tensions on the dwarf and troll communities, to Sam Vimes needing to meticulously having to read "Where's My Cow?" to his infant son every evening at precisely 6 o' clock. ...Oh and Corporal Nobby Nobbs is still trying to learn the ways of romance with the opposite sex. All in all another great Watch story, I thoroughly enjoyed it!"
— Michael (5 out of 5 stars)
“Ingenious, brilliant, and hilarious.”
— Washington Post“Pratchett’s fantastic imagination and satirical wit are on full display.”
— Publishers Weekly“Outlandishly witty and as irreverent as it is insightful, Pratchett’s Thud! is a knockout.”
— Barnes & Noble, editorial review“As always, Pratchett’s latest Discworld yarn is funny, fast-paced, the kind of satire that explores serious issues while making readers love it.”
— Booklist“More amiable mockery from one of our leading lights…Pratchett takes on a target in every novel, something in the modern world that really seems to get his goat. This time it’s a few things: ethnic clannishness and strife, religious fundamentalism, The Da Vinci Code and cell phones (presented here as a small, obnoxious imp in a handheld box called a Gooseberry™)…Bitingly relevant and laugh-out-loud funny.”
— Kirkus Reviews" Funny, as always Terry Pratchett does an amazing job of subtle irony. Great character development and totally out there. "
— Michele, 9/21/2016" one of the best City Watch novels. Best if read after the earlier novels, though, so that you get the full sense of Vimes' development. "
— Jean, 2/19/2014" Murder mystery meets the Discworld. Trails off in bits though "
— Penny, 2/19/2014Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was an English novelist known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series. His first novel, The Carpet People, was published in 1971, and after publishing his first Discworld novel, The Color of Magic, in 1983, he wrote two books a year on average. He was the United Kingdom’s bestselling author of the 1990s and has sold more than 55 million books worldwide. In 2001 he won the Carnegie Medal for his children’s novel The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature in 1998 and was knighted in 2009.
Stephen Briggs, who also works in film, has adapted and staged fifteen Discworld plays, collaborated with Terry Pratchett on a number of related works, and performed the audio recordings of Pratchett’s books. Briggs has won five AudioFile Earphones Awards. He lives in England.