Don't be too shocked, but I actually agree with most of what Roman said there. Pterry's attachment to Vimes is the nub of the issue. But the trouble with Vimes is the decrease in conflict in the character's life. He's more or less at peace with himself, he's happy with his wife and son, he doesn't get so wound up by Vetinari (or anything much) any more, he's got the Watch in good shape, he's sorted his drinking problem... Without enough conflict, it becomes very difficult to generate a good story, and there's a limit to the amount of NW-style artifices you can use.

I think Pterry's been building up to letting go of Vimes for a long while now, but I think he's working carefully to get the right elements ready to replace him - I think most fans would find it very hard to accept the Vimes-shaped hole without, for example, the presence of Vimes Jr. However, I personally feel there's a long way to go with Carrot before we'd be ready to see him running the Watch. He certainly couldn't support a novel of his own at the moment. With Carrot, Pterry tends to break one of the cardinal rules of good writing - the 'show, don't tell' rule. He tells us about Carrot's magical characteristics far more often than he shows them in action - and when we do see them, they usually feel really clunky to me.

Of course, this is all diverging a long way from a Witches thread, but there we go.

Mrs G
The Garner who cares.