Thud!

Terry Pratchett's books are best sampled sparingly, I find. One book every now and again is fine, and helps keep the idea alive that he is a great author, and his books are really funny. In the last year I've read "Going Postal", which I thought was really funny, then "Monstrous Regiment", which wasn't as funny but still very good, and now "Thud!". I think it's time to give Discworld novels a rest again. A couple of years should do it.

That's not to say that Thud isn't a good book. All the usual Pratchett qualities are there: a decent plot; page-turning prose; familiar characters; and a threat to Ankh-Morpork that only grizzly Commander Vimes can put down in a no-nonsense, old-fashioned, common sense way. It's funny, exciting and intriguing. But there's the nagging feeling that this is a bit too familiar. You know how this is going to turn out.

I'd recommend this to anyone - as long as they've had a nice long break between Pratchetts.