Book Review: Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett

Title: Feet of Clay
Author: Terry Pratchett
Publisher: Corgi
Release Date: 01 May 1997

Synopsis: It's murder in Discworld! -- which ordinarily is no big deal. But what bothers Watch Commander Sir Sam Vimes is that the unusual deaths of three elderly Ankh-Morporkians do not bear the clean, efficient marks of the Assassins' Guild. An apparent lack of any motive is also quite troubling. All Vimes has are some tracks of white clay and more of those bothersome "clue" things that only serve to muck up an investigation. The anger of a fearful populace is already being dangerously channelled toward the city's small community of golems -- the mindless, absurdly industrious creatures of baked clay who can occasionally be found toiling in the city's factories. And certain highly placed personages are using the unrest as an excuse to resurrect a monarchy -- which would be bad enough even if the "king" they were grooming wasn't as empty-headed as your typical animated pottery.

Review: Genre publishing gets a lot of flack and doesn't tend to cross the genres too much. It happens don't get me wrong, but i still find that books sit within their labels and genres. 

You know who doesn't care about those labels. Terry Pratchett. Legend.

I think Terry just wanted to write what he wanted to, and so he did and didn't care who said what about it. What you as a result get is a blooming good crime novel, written as only Terry could. 

Crime novels as we know have a pattern, a formula that here gets flipped on its head. The guilty are trusted over the clues, because clues lead to questions, and you don't want questions if you've already got the culprit because he admitted it and you can all go off down your pub of choice. 

The Discworld books, now that I'm 19 in, have a similar feeling/vibe to them, that don't necessarily follows a pattern, but that you know what you're getting. Within this, and bearing in mind this book was first published in 1996 what continually strikes me is how relevant and timely this book feels, looking at issues of gender and identity, the role we play in society and the politics that gets wound up and invades our lives. HOW DOES HE DO IT! It was really nice to see the female empowerment of characters, and how they built the,selves up to be the person that they wanted to be. Carrot however I had massive issue with. I think that was the point. It is at  times brushed off as Carrot being oblivious Carrot, but when he's created into the idolised image that we see him in its hard to then see this side of him. I think this is something we will see develop over the books now its been addressed and it will be interesting to see what happens. 

I don;t even need to go into the world building. This world is soooo BUILT. So completely formed and developed that I want to be able to walk the streets. I recently went to the Board game cafe and because I knew it was there I made my friend play the Guards Guards board game and boy was it complicated! Much like the books it was multi multi layered and took us a while to get into but once in I felt a part of the Discworld and now I want to play it again and again and be a part of this world. Once I heard V. E  Schwab describe her writing as looking through a window. She gave you the minimum and allowed it to grow in your own mind and I feel that Terry does this as well, he'll give you maybe a little more than V but something that grows and grows and that you build strongly in your mind. 

These are the books that I dip into when I ant a break, when I want a book I can just slide into and enjoy...Annoyingly the next read is the Hogfather and i'm not sure how I feel about Christmas in February! But I loved the TV adaptation so I am game and looking forward to my next adventure!