Thud

Thud is another Discworld book. I know I'm getting close to the end of the series, because this one was actually recommended to me by a coworker a few years ago. At the time we were studying a game that isn't all that dissimilar from the eponymous game in this novel, so he had picked it up without really knowing anything about the series.

The game actually figures very little into the plot of the book. It appears on the fringes of the story, acting sometimes as a metaphor and sometimes as a possible resolution for the main plot. It's played between dwarves and trolls and requires quite a bit of strategy.

The book mostly concerns itself with the not-so-great relations between dwarves and trolls in the main city of Ankh-Morpork. As more members of both species have immigrated to the city, tensions between them have been running higher. And with the murder of a high-ranking dwarf on eve of a bloody battle between them, things are about to boil over. It's up to Sam Vimes, a strong contender for my favorite character in the series, to see that things don't spin out of control.

I really liked the exploration of the race relations, both on the grand scale of dwarves vs trolls, and on a much smaller scale when a vampire joins the City Watch and is partnered up with a werewolf. The use of the game as a means of bridging the gap between younger dwarves and trolls was also clever. As Sam Vimes' constant need to be home by six to read a bedtime story to his son, come hell or high water.

Thud is definitely one of the better books in the entire series. I can see why so many people claim the City Watch books as their favorite arc (though I still prefer the Witches). I'm glad I haven't reached the end of Sam Vimes' adventures quite yet.

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