There are changes afoot in the Ankh-Morpork Night
Watch. Captain Vimes is getting married and retiring and the troop has been
swollen by new recruits. However due to the implementation of an ethnic
diversity / equal opportunities policy they are a bit of a mixed bunch - Cuddy
is a dwarf, Detritus is a troll and, most outlandish of all, Angua is a woman
(albeit with an unconventional problem once a month).
Death is not uncommon in Ankh-Morpork; the
Assassins’ Guild sees to that. But a rash of unexplained demises offends
Corporal Carrot’s moral compass and he is determined to get to the bottom of
things.
Carrot’s innocence and decency has novelty
value in the city, eliciting cooperation from unlikely sources, and despite his
lowly rank he emerges as the natural leader in Captain Vimes’ preoccupied,
pre-nuptial, absence. He turns out to be a capable detective too, working out
the complexities of the whodunit where most of the citizens have ‘dun’
something untoward.
But it is not all plain sailing. Clowns,
civil unrest, a weapon of mass destruction, and a small but talkative dog all
intervene, giving Pratchett plenty of opportunity for his trademark satirical
comments (Discworld being only slightly distorted version of our own) before
climactic events give the new Watch a chance to prove its worth.
This second book in the Night Watch trilogy
pleasingly develops the characters from book one, and has a stronger plot while
retaining the same level of wit and humour. Which all bodes well for volume
three.
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