Men At Arms

In this intensely funny novel, which is part of the science fiction series Discworld, the Night Watch of the capital city Ankh-Morpork experiences political correctness as it must hire a troll, a dwarf, a werewolf and an adopted dwarf who may be the rightful heir to the kingdom. The panoply of Discworld is there: assassins, clowns, soldiers, fools, beggars, talking dogs, sorcerers and the orangutan librarian. British actor Nigel Planer portrays them all believably and effortlessly. His portrayal of the troll Detritus is especially hilarious when the IQ of that lumpish individual begins rising as, caught in a freezer, his internal temperature falls. Outstanding. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

March 4, 1996
In his latest effort, Pratchett skewers the hard-boiled detective novel as effectively as he's satired fantasy fiction all these years. Set on Discworld, there are a few more gargoyles and exploding dragons than Sam Spade ever had to deal with. But there's a trail of corpses and a hero named Carrot determined to track down the killer. His partners-the token dwarf, troll and werewolf on the police force-must overcome discrimination as well as the occasional rampaging orangutan. Although Men at Arms isn't as consistently funny as his earlier novels, the dialogue is hilarious, and Pratchett's take on affirmative action is a whole lot of fun. There's not a lot of rational narrative cause-and-effect here, but it doesn't really matter. As usual, Pratchett provides enough bad-tempered clowns, bloodthirsty trolls and dogs with low self-esteem to keep readers entertained.