A Short Analysis of Thud!
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Written by terrypratchettbooks.org
Friday, 21 October 2005 |
A small critique of Thud!
first published at iHarrow.co.uk
THE dormant racial tension in a great cosmopolitan city is stirred up by fundamentalists, leading to deaths underground; Terry Pratchett has always used his Discworld as a vehicle for topical commentary, but never before has it felt quite so uncomfortable.
He's still funny too, but here the most effective comedy is of a dark strain bred by the absurdities of the situation and of human (and dwarf, and troll) nature; the more obviously jokey jokes, such as portable music imps called iHums, tend to feel a little forced, a little like a relic of an earlier style which he can't quite bring himself to discard.
The novel of ideas can be pretty hard going; Pratchett's success with the form in his later work owes much to his having already established a strong enough cast of characters that they're not drowned out by his themes.
Thud! belongs to Watch commander Sam Vimes, an emphatically good cop, but one aware how much darkness he carries within. He was also the protagonist of Night Watch, until now definitely Pratchett's darkest novel and probably his most accomplished; in light of Thud!, it seems increasingly likely that he's the character for whom Pratchett will be remembered.
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