Thud! A Novel of Discworld - Hardcover

Terry Pratchett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060815221 ISBN 13: 9780060815226

Publisher: Harper, 2005

Synopsis

It's a game of Trolls and Dwarfs where the player
must take both sides to win ...

It's the noise a troll club makes when crushing
in a dwarf skull, or when a dwarfish axe cleaves
a trollish cranium ...

It's the unsettling sound of history about
to repeat itself ... THUD!

It's the most extraordinary, outrageous,
provocative, insightful, and keenly cutting flight
of fancy yet from Discworld's incomparable
supreme creator ... Terry Pratchett

Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch admits he may not be the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer—he might not even be a spoon. But he's dogged and honest and he'll be damned if he lets anyone disturb his city's always-tentative peace—and that includes a rabble-rousing dwarf from the sticks (or deep beneath them) who's been stirring up big trouble on the eve of the anniversary of one of Discworld's most infamous historical events.

Centuries earlier, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, a horde of trolls met a division of dwarfs in bloody combat. Though nobody's quite sure why they fought or who actually won, hundreds of years on each species still bears the cultural scars, and one views the other with simmering animosity and distrust. Lately, an influential dwarf, Grag Hamcrusher, has been fomenting unrest among Ankh-Morpork's more diminutive citizens with incendiary speeches. And it doesn't help matters when the pint-size provocateur is discovered beaten to death ... with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

Vimes knows the well-being of his smoldering city depends on his ability to solve the Hamcrusher homicide without delay. (Vimes's secondmost-pressing responsibility, in fact, next to being home every evening at six sharp to read Where's My Cow? to Young Sam.) Whatever it takes to unstick this very sticky situation, Vimes will do it—even tolerate having a vampire in the Watch. But there's more than one corpse waiting for him in the eerie, summoning darkness of the vast, labyrinthine mine network the dwarfs have been excavating in secret beneath Ankh-Morpork's streets. A deadly puzzle is pulling Sam Vimes deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear—and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

About this title

About the Author:

Sir Terry Pratchett, OBE, was the author of more than 70 books, including the internationally bestselling Discworld series of novels. His books have been adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. In January 2009, Pratchett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to literature. Sir Terry, who lived in England, died in March 2015 at the age of 66.

From AudioFile:

"Where there is trouble, you will always find a troll." How true. How observant. How Pratchett. In his 34th Discworld novel, Terry Pratchett is at the top of his game, taking on honest cops, vampires, loyalty, fatherhood, and, of course, historic battlefield reenactments to create yet another irreverent, adventure-filled yarn. Gleefully finding both the parody and distinctive voice in each character, Stephen Briggs has a rip-roaring time creating a cornucopia of goofy British Isle accents. Briggs adds the right vocal tension and gravity at the right times as Commander Sam Vimes and the City Watch (a police force that dons "one size doesn't fit anybody" helmets) attempt to bring the murderer of four subterranean dwarfs to justice before another interspecies game of Thud! becomes all too real. Wonderful fun. B.P. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060815221
• ISBN 13: 9780060815226
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384