Thud!

A Discworld Novel

De: Terry Pratchett

Narrado por: Jon Culshaw, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy

“Start with Douglas Adams’s comic science fiction (A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and J.R.R. Tolkien’s alternative worlds, mix in James Ellroy’s gritty realism and Jonathan Swift’s unflinching satire and, if you’re lucky, you’ll get something like Terry Pratchett’s Thud!” —Wall Street Journal

City Watch Commander Sam Vimes must solve the murder of a prominent dwarf or watch as Discworld is plunged into a bloody civil war in Terry Pratchett’s delightful Discworld satire, a brilliant tale of prejudice, ancient feuds, and tender fatherhood. This new recording of THUD! is narrated by actor Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers and the Doctor Who audiobooks). Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace) stars as the voice of Death.

Long, long ago, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, trolls and dwarfs met in bloody combat. Centuries later, each side still views the other with simmering animosity that has been heightened of late because of one Grag Hamcrusher. The influential dwarf has been fomenting unrest among a section of Ankh-Morpork’s citizenry—a volatile situation made far worse when the petite provocateur is discovered bashed to death . . . with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

If he doesn’t solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. But more than one corpse is waiting for Vimes in the eerie, summoning darkness of a labyrinthine mine network being secretly excavated beneath Ankh-Morpork’s streets. With war-drums beating ever louder, Vimes must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin, and brave any darkness to find the solution. And the darkness is following him, pulling him deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear—and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

Until six o’clock every day, when without fail, the Commander goes home to read Where’s My Cow?, with accompanying farmyard noises, to his little boy. Because there are some things you must do.

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Thud! is the 7th book in the City Watch collection and the 34th Discworld book.

The City Watch collection in order:

• Guards! Guards!
• Men at Arms
• Feet of Clay
• Jingo
• The Fifth Elephant
• Night Watch
• Thud!
• Snuff

©2005 Terry Pratchett (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

I can't understand the main character.

Story is great as usual but narrator uses a hard to understand voice for the main character.

Is that my cow? No it goes "meow". That's not my cow. That's a cat.

Is that my cow? No it goes "meow ". That's not my cow. That's a cat.

Great story, mostly competent reading.

The story is great! The main characters were voiced well. Several of the secondary characters could have been voiced much better.

That's not my cow.

I struggled with this story at first because the hatred between the dwarves and trolls just felt too much like watching the news or listening to my racist dad ranting about anyone who isn't white. I stuck with it, and I did enjoy the book overall. Definitely liked the ending and appreciated that both groups had more open minds once the true history of their world had been revealed. Thud!

Better than previous versions

It bothered me for years that a certain character is ordered to leave a key scene and then imparts important context several paragraphs later. What a distracting, uncharacteristic incongruity! But in this reading, the context is provided by a different person, one who is supposed to be present the entire time.
Did the previous reader mix up the names of female characters? Probably! He also mixed up voices among all supporting characters.
This narrator does a wonderful job of distinguishing each speaker, of hinting which lines are thoughts versus spoken dialogue, and of conveying mood without any of the story becoming hard to understand.

Great new take on a classic

Being used to Stephen Briggs’ recordings, I was not sure what to expect. I thought most of the voices were spot on, although I think they missed A.E. Pessimal completely. Still, a great listen.

Good performance, beautiful book

This book is surprisingly moving and has my favorite scene in discworld. The performance is excellent, with unique voices for all the characters. I particularly enjoy his vetinari and bashfull bashfullson. This book I think most explicitly deals with pterry’s theme of how a powerful it is to be a person driven by, but in control of, righteous anger.

Entertaining

This is the first book by Terry Pratchett that I have listened to and it was very enjoyable

Who fooled who?

I really love the Roller coaster ride through the inner mind of Mr Vimes, the character development from book to book is consistent and fun

Perfect!

one of TP's best imo. Excellent read - solidly impressed by the array of accents