just finished Thud! and although l agree that this book is not one of the "funiest" pterry books, it is possibly one of the "darkest". l just recieved the discworld calendar and one of the months has a lovely picture of Diamond and B'hrian Bloodaxe playing the boardgame.

Apparently you can buy the boardgame from somewhere.......

Ottakars used to have the game. There's a new version out with simpler rules which is meant to be easier to play. It does use the same board and pieces as the old one.

edit http://www.thudgame.com/ for more info

After reading people's comments, I wasn't expecting to like the book as much as I did. Now that I've finally finished it, I can say that it was quite enjoyable, but definitely not one of my favorites. I'm not sure why-there were some delightful new characters (Grag Bashfullsson, Brick, A.E. Pessimal-and what does his name mean? I'm sure it's a play on something but I can't figure out what.) I agree that Sally was merely annoying (Maladicta would be more fun in the watch and had way more personality.)

Part of the problem was that I was too worried about the outcome to enjoy the book. For me, it was a lot like Night Watch in that I wasn't convinced it was going to have a happy ending. There have been similar books dealing with conflicts between opposing countries or civilizations (Jingo, for example, or Monstrous Regiment) but those seemed more interested in the characters, and the war was background. In Thud, the Koom Valley conflict loomed over everything, and the characters seemed more incidental.

I don't think there was much development of the regular crew (except Vimes and his son, and frankly, those bits just annoyed me, even though I realize the story time was a set-up for the end). And maybe it's the fictional equivalent of racism (specieism?) at work, but I just wasn't as attached to the dwarf characters as I am to Vimes and Vetinari.

The game Thud was neat, though, and I liked the various uses of it. I think I might enjoy it better on re-reading (now that I know the ending), but it's not going to be one of the ones that put a smile on my face just thinking about them. Most of his books (most recently Going Postal) I get to the end and wish there was another 500 pages. Thud, I just wanted it to be over. Sad but true.

Edited to add paragraphs (sorry folks, I didn't realize I had that much to say).

Sunshine? Enter key, the usage of. It would be far easier to read your post if it was devided to paragraphs.

Watch Rush Hour Phlon

I'm afraid I have to agree! Sunshine, could you edit your post to break up the block of text? It's very hard to read as it is. Thanks in advance!

True.

Edited. I'll try to use the preview key in the future-I don't think I realized it was that long. Sorry.

Thanks Sunshine

My thanks.

"Pessimal" is the opposite of "optimal". It has also been suggested that it is a portmanteau of "pessimist" and "decimal."*

*Suggested by Edmund Schluessel to attribute it correctly.

That's interesting, I had a thought that his name was chosen on purpose to fit his job, a bit like a Charles Dickens character, but only in the back of my mind as I was reading.

Thanks for the edit, Sunshine!

I really liked Grag. We've seen a few mild-mannered religious types before from Pterry, but he never seems to fully explore the impact that a liberal religious leader can have in a community. I hope we'll get to see more of this character.

I disagree. I thought Colon and Nobby were back on track in this book. They'd become a bit 2D in recent Watch novels, but I got a real sense of them as more than one-joke characters, and without ignoring their past roles either. I was very happy with that. I thought the development of Angua was interesting too, even though Sally was such a washout of a missed opportunity. She seemed a lot more human to me in this book - ironic given how much more trouble she was having with being a werewolf - and a lot less Susan-lie. I've actually started to warm to Angua a little, for the first time ever.

Also, I loved the bits with Sam Jr. I felt they lent a new layer and greater credibility to Vimes. They also made him a bit more human, and therefore less of the Supervimes he seemed to be becoming in recent books.

Also, another character I really loved - Mr Shine. Him diamond.

I loved the bits with Mr Shine. And Vimes Jr.

I Hope Mr.Shine is used agian.

I did wonder though, in the Troll vs Dwarf at thud, surely the trolls would be a bit crap? Or I'am i just speicist? :oops:


Also on a side note, I've recently re-read Soul Music and Cliff is the smartest troll around (bar Mr Shine).

Are you referring to the game itself, or to the cranial capacities of trolls as opposed to dwarves?

I loved Mr. Shine. I feel, though, that he has been horribly underused in the book. If he does take up the kingship of the trolls, beyond signing a treaty, then I doubt we'll see much of him anymore. Sad, really.