Guards! Guards! OR Holy Flaming Lizards, Batman!

Welcome to the first post in the new Fascinating Reads category! Since I do write (and am actively working on getting paid for it), I therefore read a lot. Thus in my quest for blog variety, I have decided to mention some of the books that fascinate me, whether new, old, or somewhere in between.

For my first post in the category, I'd like to highlight a great book by my favorite author, and a splendid introduction to my favorite series:

Guards! Guards!  by (Sir) Terry Pratchett.

The dragon who would be king...
...And the worthless men trying to stop it.

Genre - Fantasy (But funny & poignant fantasy...)

Synopsis:

(From Good Reads)
"Here there be dragons . . . and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all . . .)

"Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, an ancient and long-forgotten volume--The Summoning of Dragons--is missing from the Library's shelves. To the rescue come Captain Vimes, Constable Carrot, and the rest of the Night Watch who, along with other brave citizens, risk everything, including a good roasting, to dethrone the flying monarch and restore order to Ankh-Morpork (before it's burned to a crisp). A rare tale, well done as only Terry Pratchett can."

Key Point of Fascination - Beginnings

This is the 8th book of the Discworld series, and Sir Terry has clearly hit his stride.(Side note: Judging by the latest Discworld novel released last year, he's still in his stride twenty years later. The man is a writer's equivalent of a multi-gold medal marathon runner.)

The Discworld series itself has several different character groups. There's a group of witches, the wizards, the metaphysical personifications such as Death...

...And the Night Watch.

This is the Night Watch's beginning. There have been seven more books since this one with that cast of characters. They're all spectacular books in my opinion. (And if you didn't come here for my opinion, you may be in the wrong place.)

But what's most intriguing is that the basic character traits for all seven books are still there in this one. I've read the last book, then gone back to Guards! Guards!, and I don't see "characters who would be fleshed out later." I see "people who have a long road ahead of them."

It's an incredibly impressive piece of writing.

Fascinating Excerpt - The Introduction of Carrot

One of my favorite characters of Discworld is Carrot. He's a wonderfully complex character that starts out as a very simple character who somehow, and this is the tricky part, stays simple even as he gets more complex.

I could write an essay on this guy.

But I won't. Instead I'll give you his introduction in this book:

"The young man is called Carrot. This is not because of his hair, which his father always clipped short for reasons of Hygiene. It is because of his shape."

and later...

"It wasn't only the fresh mountain air that had given Carrot his huge physique. Being brought up in a gold mine run by dwarfs and working a twelve-hour day hauling wagons to the surface must have helped.

"He walked with a stoop. What will do that is being brought up in a gold mine run by dwarfs who thought that five feet was a good height for a ceiling."

Recommended for those Fascinated by...

A great deal of imagination, quite a bit of fantasy, a large helping of humour (note spelling: He is a British author), and a good-sized chunk of heart.