The umpty-millionth book in Terry Pratchett's series of Discworld fantasies is another in the City Watch cycle. Normally among my faves.
So, I expected a lot from this story of the the Dwarves and Trolls of Ankh-Morpork tooling up to refight the Battle of Koom Valley, while the heroes of the City Watch try to keep the peace. And the writing is of Pratchett's usual quality.
But.
It's too safe. Like the life of Watch Commander Vimes, the Discworld series shows signs of becoming too rich and fat and comfortable. There's no real tension here. The usual characters, plus a couple of new ones, go through the motions but there's no hint that anything dramatic will happen to any of them. The themes of tolerance and equality may be worthy, but they get such a hammering in Discworld books that they're getting tedious.
Thud! is by no means a bad book, but it shows a series in danger of being played out.
