Guards! Guards! (Discworld #8), Terry Pratchett

There are dozens of books in the Discworld series, and "Guards! Guards!" is by far my favorite one so far. Terry Pratchett is legitimately one of the funniest and wittiest writers I have ever read, and when he focuses on the bumbling guards of the Night Watch, he's at his best. When a dragon, who is supposed to be extinct, is summoned to terrorize Ankh-Morpork and crowns itself king (because it's a noble dragon, obviously), the City Watch, the guards no one expects to save anything, set forth to set things right before the dragon burns everything down and begins eating virgins? Yes, noble virgins.

Reading this book felt very much like reading a Monty Python skit, and that's why I loved it. Plus, the guards themselves are these rich characters with distinct personalities. And who doesn't love a hero named Carrot? (Yes, Carrot) And a swamp dragon with his own colorful personality named Errol? It was a hilariously fast read, I even had my husband listen to the audio book version with me (the reader for that is fantastic as well) and I still ended up laughing even when I knew what jokes were coming.

But one of the things I love about Sir Terry Pratchett (and something he puts in all his books) is under a thin layer of funny footnotes-peppered pun-heavy parody lies a sobering understanding of the shallow pettiness of humans; fueled by jealousy, spite, and closemindedness. He is able to look at our world and poke fun of it in a way that doesn't feel preachy and has me not hating myself at the end of it. This is just one of the devices Pratchett uses that makes him such a brilliant author, and one that will be sorely missed.

I honestly don't want to get too in depth with this review because I wouldn't be able to do it justice, that and I'd really like you all to read it. So just trust my 5 out of 5 stars and give "Guards! Guards!" a read. And don't worry if you haven't read any other of the Discworld series before this, with how Pratchett writes the series, you don't really need to go in order.