STP has done it again. One of his delightful little forays into the Discworld, this time a satire of a world at war. He manages to find all the seams for comedy in this rich topical soil and then rip them all out with great ability.

Having listened to the audio book (narrated by the amazingly good Stephen Briggs) I realize I am missing out on some degree of Pratchett's talent for humor: he goes in for the visual pun now and again, and in particular Briggs plows right through footnotes as though they were in-line with the rest of the narrative. He doesn't call them out as footnotes, which I think would enrich the experience of hearing them. But that's a stylistic choice. I read along for a bit in my hard copy (a Doubleday first edition library cast-off) and found that the text varied. Briggs' 'pants' appeared as 'trousers' in my book. There were other, subtle edits as well, and I came to decide that Briggs was reading the American edition.

As always, his characters are at the forefront, and the best of these in this book is Sergeant Jack Jackrum. The physical description of him is hilarious, and it's made the better by the reader, Stephen Briggs, and his depth of accents and characters. Jackrum's loving appreciation of his troops is wonderful, and in particular, how he takes care of them while himself being so tough and made of iron. He makes such a great veteran in voice and action.

The main conceit of the book is that all the main characters are, eventually, discovered to be female, which makes the ending, where many a reveal is made, more delightful. It's hard not to love a book that ends so well. Pratchett has a way of dropping lines throughout his work that he will later tie together in a neat bow in the last several pages, and he's especially good at it here. He also understands the utility of an unexplained element - like the little fires that spring up in places that the soldiers sleep about an hour after they depart. There's a payoff to that, and a good one, if you're patient and are willing to submit to ignorance for a while. ( )

Esta vigésimo octava entrega de la saga de Mundodisco es una de las poquísimas novelas independientes escritas por Terry Pratchett. Sus protagonistas son unos humildes y anónimos soldados que viven enfrascados en una eterna guerra fronteriza. Una muchacha llamada Polly Perks decide alistarse haciéndose pasar por hombre, a fi n de dar con su hermano. En el frente, junto con su regimiento —un vampiro, un troll y un Igor, entre otros—, descubrirá la estupidez inherente a todo confl icto armado.

If there were no other Discworld books I would think this was absolutely amazing. What I'm saying is I'm spoiled. The themes and ideas in this book were fantastic. However, as plots in Pratchett's books go, this one wore on me a bit, especially near the end. A little bit messy and a few too many "AH-HA" moments, all of the exact same type. In general though it is hard to go wrong with Terry Pratchett and I am sad I have almost reached the end of the series. ( )

Discworld 31

Not what I was expecting. Right up there with Small Gods and Hogfather. ( )