Men At Arms: (Discworld Novel 15) (Discworld series)

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A cohort is not an item of clothing or armour but a division of the old Roman Army: the tenth part of a legion, 300 to 600 men.

Good tension in books is based, in my opinion, on making the reader care about the characters. Any book will feel fast paced if the characters are in danger. And, Terry is obviously a very good craftsman, with excellent pacing beyond his character drama.The narration very deliberately avoids referring to the Gonne's wielder by name, disguising the twist that Cruces killed Edward D'Eath and took it.

Discriminate and Switch: Angua the w ...erewolf. A running joke involves characters stating that, no, no, they have no problem with a w... someone like Angua joining the Watch, of course not. It's only towards the end that the specifics of the prejudice involved are explained. Captain Samuel Vimes is forced by Lord Vetinari to take on a group of new recruits for the purposes of ensuring diversity - a dwarf called Cuddy, a werewolf called Angua and a troll called Detritus. Angua becomes involved in a romantic relationship with Corporal Carrot Ironfoundersson, but he does not react well to discovering that she is a werewolf. There has recently been a string of mysterious murders in the city that appear to be connected. Vetinari bans Vimes from investigating the murders in a successful attempt to provoke him into doing so.Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Night Watch admits three new officers, each of whom is a "first": Cuddy (first dwarf), Detritus (first troll), and Angua (first woman and also first werewolf). They were explicitly added to the Watch in the name of diversity, since the city is itself increasingly diverse, but Commander Vimes doesn't approve (although his prejudices add up to disliking everyone equally, and he's also annoyed at having the decision pushed on him rather than being allowed to decide for himself). Corporal Carrot has been promoted and is now in charge of the new recruits guarding Ankh-Morpork from Barbarian Tribes, Miscellaneous Marauders, unlicensed Thieves, and other dangerous Discworld denizens. It’s a big job for an adopted dwarf keeping the likes of young coppers Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detritus (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving) in line. No. He put his foot on my head. And let off a firework. I saw him run away along Holofernes Street."

The showdown between Vimes, Cruces and Carrot is an homage to the end of For a Few Dollars More. Vimes' watch even plays the same tune as El Indio's music box. With nothing but a few italicized bings Pterry managed to accurately reproduce musical sound in text. How well Terry did this is still a little dumbfounding to me. All of his characters seemed pretty single-sided at the beginning. And, they didn’t really get that much deeper as the story progressed. Yet, they became irresistible. What I couldn’t find was a series that had both amusing text AND engaging characters. They all seemed to sacrifice one for the other—which is fine. After all, Douglas Adams didn’t give much of a hoot for compelling characters, and look where he went. Still, I wanted something with both. And, as it turns out, I happen to write books for a living. Hence, the ALCATRAZ books were born.Carrot is big in this, his subtle, Vetinari style cool badassness is urgently needed to handle the situation. I didn´t look enough for the innuendos and connotations surrounding Carrot´s secret and how it plays with the philosophy of good leadership and responsibility, I have to take a more detailed glimpse at it in the big reread. From the Latin "Intro Ducere": Carrot points out that, as a policeman — from polis, city — he’s a man of the city. Later, Vetinari points out "politician" comes from the same root.