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Now that the people have started to accept the diversity in the Watch, it’s time to bring even more diversity and inclusivity to it. The Watch now welcomes its first vampire, but the people don’t give her a warm welcome to say the least. Even Vimes himself isn’t a fan as he’s afraid she’ll bite him. But Vimes doesn’t have the luxury to decline the vampire’s wish to join the Watch.

A dwarf has been murdered. And the painting of The Battle of Koom Valley has been stolen. It’s a famous painting about the most notorious battle between the dwarves and the trolls. And it’s said to hold clues to the location of a treasure hidden in Koom Valley. This opens up old wounds and tensions flare up between the trolls and the dwarves. So it’s up to the Watch to keep the situation under control. Or at least create the illusion that they have things under control, until they actually do.


In previous books, a bridge has been built between the dwarves and the trolls. But while the gap is bridged on the surface, one only needs to look down to see that the gap is still there. It took thousands of years of conflicts between the dwarves and the trolls to build the massive canyon that separates the two species. That gap between the two species won’t quickly go away no matter how hard you try. Because real change takes time. And during that time, there are still a lot of challenges to overcome.


The previous book in the City Watch subseries - Night Watch - felt like an epic climax and it felt like this subseries had reached its peak in terms of quality. Following a story like that is undoubtedly tricky. And that’s perhaps why this book feels like the start of a new chapter in the series. I also love that there is some comedy added back into the City Watch series. The little imp inside Vimes� new Dis-organizer for example is such a treasured addition to this story. And the way the imp always refers to Vimes as “Insert Name Here� is a constant funny reminder that sometimes it does pay off to read the instruction manual.


I really like how the board game Thud is used here. It’s similar to Hnefatafl but with trolls and dwarves. The game basically represents The Battle of Koom Valley. And what makes it so great is that you always need to play two games. You need to play once as the trolls and once as the dwarves. It’s a game that pretty much forces you to see things from a different perspective.


There’s also an interesting subplot where, no matter how bad the whole situation gets, Sam Vimes still tries to get home on time every night so he can read his son a bedtime story. This adds another dimension to the beloved character of Sam Vimes and also gives us something sweet, uplifting and light to look forward to, especially compared to the more gritty and serious events of this story. It might seem barely worth mentioning. But it does very much elevate the reading experience as a whole in my opinion.


One of the best mystery plots in the whole series. The City Watch subseries in the Discworld series also has some of the greatest characters ever written and they are very much on point here. They might all be very different on the surface as the cast consists of humans, trolls, dwarves, vampires, � But they also share something very important. They are all beautifully crafted and interesting people. Loved this from start to finish.