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Once again, the City Watch always provide a wonderful reading adventure.

Thud! is the 34th Discworld book, and the 7th book in the City Watch sub-series, which is widely accepted as the best of the many Discworld sub-series. While this one didn't quite reach the magnitude of greatness that some of the others have been, this is nonetheless a wonderful book that captures much of the magic that made those others such timeless classics.

Story: 4/5

For much of this book, the story is virtually flawless. As is true for virtually all books in this series, Terry Pratchett is using these books as allegories for real world issues. In this one, the age-old feud between Dwarves and Trolls allows Pratchett to touch on ethnic strife and racism, and does so in an extremely enjoyable way. In this story, Sam Vimes finds himself trying to solve a murder which is the spark that ignites ramping up tensions between the Dwarves and Trolls. It is every bit as witty, interesting, and fun as it's predecessor books and is hard to put down.

Unfortunately, as is true for many Discworld books, it tends to drag on a bit in the ending, which turns out to be less enjoyable as the rest of the book.

World Building: 3/5

The world building in this series has hit a big stand-still in terms of development, with Pratchett for a while now seemingly discussing the same small handful of locations as have already been covered. Nothing new is brought to the table here, but what is here is the same rich environment that fans of this series have come to love.

Fantasy Elements: 5/5

The City Watch books have my favorite fantasy elements in all of Discworld, and this book does not disappoint. The Watch by this point is filled with fantasy characters that interact with each other in such a wonderful way, like the aforementioned Trolls and Dwarves - gnomes, vampires, werewolves, and more. There are also some fun magical elements to this book that I do not want to ruin that are a fun inclusion here.

Characters: 5/5

The characters here are absolutely wonderful. I have come to love them to bits, and am getting legitimately sad that my journey with them is soon coming to an end. Sam Vimes may be my favorite protagonist in all of fantasy, and the members of the watch are all individually unique, hilarious, and deeply lovable. The way they all have different relationships with each other reminds me of watching several episodes of "Whose Line is it Anways", where regardless of the partnership of the cast, you are going to get something absolutely hilarious.

Writing Style: 5/5

The writing style has always been my favorite aspect to all Terry Pratchett books for a couple primary reasons. First, they are comedy books and when the comedy hits, it's a ridiculous fun journey. This one achieves that, and had me smiling from ear-to-ear from start to nearly the end. Second, they are deep books that have underlying themes that are deeply interesting, philosophical, and really make you wonder how one man can be such a genius at writing.

Enjoyment: 4/5

I hate to give this book less than a 5, but the last 1/4 of this book really dragged for me and made me wish it was wrapped up more succinctly. Still though, the first 3/4 are peak Pratchett and absolutely worth the read.