Pratchett, Terry - Men at Arms

[oyceter]

Vimes is about to retire from the Guard, only before he can, he and Carrot have to solve a series of mysteries regarding a strange weapon that fires lead projectiles really, really fast. And we find out a wee bit more about that birthmark Carrot has...

I liked this, but I didn't like it quite as much as Guards! Guards. Part of this was because

Comments

[telophase]

After reading this, I'm interested to see what your take on Jingo will be.

[rachelmanija]

Also, just considered as a book, it sucks.

[oyceter]

Gotcha. I'd been planning on reading it just because I wanted to see Pratchett on China, but am wavering a little. I don't want to throw one of his books at a wall!

[rachelmanija]

Hmm. Just as a warning in case you want to keep your blood pressure low, Thud focuses on the dwarf-troll issues without a colonialism analogue, and Feet of Clay is about a different oppressed non-human group (golems).

[kate_nepveu]

_Thud!_ is still rather simplistic, in a very well-meaning optimistic heartening-but-deck-stacked kind of way. I really like the additional developing of dwarf & troll cultures, though.

I'm now thinking about _The Fifth Elephant_ and _Carpe Jugulum_ as an imperialism analogue but am not sure it makes sense, and anyways it's still speciesism.

[oyceter]

*nods* I really want to see more of the troll culture in particular. I looooved what he did with Detritus and the temperature!

[kate_nepveu]

Also, I keep wanting to say something about golems and slavery and not finding the proper words. So I'm tossing it out there in case it makes sense to someone else and crawling back to my Tylenol.

[mollydot]

The benefit of the doubt link is broken.

[oyceter]

Thanks! I think I found the right one this time...

[sajia]

I've been meaning to write a post for the longest time on the "white neutrality" problem with Thud!, i.e. how whites cast themselves as a disinterested party in both international and inter-minority conflict. Looks like you'll do a better job of it.
And oh, "Interesting Times". I could not believe that Pratchett was actually justifying imperialism. Oh sure, Western barbarians didn't bind women's feet, but enlightened Westerners regularly and risking their health put silicon in women's breasts to make them look bigger.

[oyceter]

Oohhh, that would be an awesome post!

Heh, ok, sounds like my blood pressure would be waaay better off skipping Interesting Times. I hate hate hate the foot binding thing.

[marzipan_pig]

It's harder saying, "I'll change my lifestyle and my hobbies and my habits and what I learn and what I read and what I watch to be actively anti-racist and combat white supremacy."

I immediately felt all protective of my quilting (hobbies) and then remembered the quilters of Gee's Bend.

[smillaraaq]

There are also rich quilting traditions among Indians and Hawaiians; you might find the post-Annexation Hawaiian tradition of quilts honoring the flag, coat-of-arms, and mottoes of the overthrown monarchy particularly interesting.

[marzipan_pig]

[smillaraaq]

It's a shame that the "To Honor and Comfort" exhibit page doesn't really have a lot of text to go along with the images; all of the quilts that have "Island of ----" in the name are significant because they depict the traditional lei materials and colors associated with each of the islands -- in this case, for Maui, it's the only introduced species, as lokelani is the pink damask rose.