Review by Nick Jones
Author: Terry Pratchett
Sometimes you want one of those fancy restaurants where they serve you a dollop of something with a smear of something else on the side. Something that pushes boundaries, explores things, takes bold and provocative risks
And sometimes you just want a burger.
Terry Pratchett’s Discworld is a burger. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a burger. Almost as much as I love lasagne, and that’s saying something. But sometimes I don’t want to be challenged by a book, I want to enjoy it. I want to sink into it like a warm bath and just luxuriate for a while.
And by heck does THUD! deliver just that.
It’s brilliant. In a way that something that knows exactly what it is, has no pretensions about it, and just wants to be the best it can be. It’s a police procedural. It’s a murder mystery. It’s a political thriller. It’s all these things, and it’s also somehow not only a brilliant rendition of them, but it’s hilarious to boot. THUD! isn’t going to change your mind about the Discworld books if you’re not a fan, but if you’re willing to surrender yourself to silly punchlines, a carousel of lovably familiar and remarkably unique characters, a fantastical setting in all senses of the phrase and some surprisingly prescient observations then you’ll love it. It’s immaculately plotted, brilliantly readable, and a masterclass in not only world-building but building on world-building.
Now, if only the thirty-fourth book in every series was so good.
