{"id":4803,"date":"2018-12-12T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4803"},"modified":"2018-12-09T17:36:51","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T01:36:51","slug":"mark-reads-thud-part-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/12\/mark-reads-thud-part-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Thud’: Part 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the eleventh part of Thud!<\/i>, Vimes prepares the Watch for the battle. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For discussion of police brutality<\/b><\/p>\n

I wanna sort of update something I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d brought up before regarding Mr. A.E. Pessimal. It was easy for me to initially see his role as fulfilling a very American trope, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I was hesitant to analyze him through that lens. Reading through this now, I can still see that maybe there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something here, but I also thing there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a criticism of bureaucracy at work here. As Vimes says at the end of this split, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like Pessimal is a bad person. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing a job that would otherwise be annoying at worst. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just that he showed up at the worst possible time, and this<\/i> is the result of it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And on some level, I get it. Vimes just<\/i> got the news that Lance Constable Hitherto died from his wounds; this massive fight between the dwarfs and the trolls is imminent; Vimes is understaffed and losing Watch members by the day. The last thing he needs to think about is minutiae and procedure. At the same time, that stuff is<\/i> important, and as I spoke about before, ignoring it is one way police brutality and misconduct is allowed to flourish. Granted, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see that happening here, and while Vimes is flippant and ridiculous with A.E. Pessimal, I understood the point he was trying to make about timing and necessity. Pessimal gets an inside look at what Vimes and the Watch must do to prepare for the possible riot that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s taking place in the city. Most of it was funny to me, a continual parade of absurdity, but also: PEOPLE LIKE THIS ARE REAL. I knew so many of them back where I grew up! These were men who were prepared for any<\/i> kind of apocalypse or dystopian world, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. (They were often extremely right-wing and racist; I once met someone who was convinced the Race War would break out before the year 2000.) Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, that bit about the pencil that can write underwater? NOT A JOKE! And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that it exists, but the fact that some people genuinely buy stuff like that and fully believe that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need it. (Well, with rising sea levels, maybe the joke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on me.) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all for being prepared\u00e2\u20ac\u201dI had an earthquake kit while I lived in LA that included water and canned food in case The Big One ever hit\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also fascinated by people who over-prepare for these scenarios. Sometimes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny, but then sometimes here in the states we get these terrifying militias full of people who have weapons that have no practical value.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway! With a large group of ragtag Watch members all around him, Vimes was giving me MAJOR Night Watch <\/i>vibes, so I was pleased when the text itself referenced the events of that book. The context is so drastically different here, despite that I do<\/i> feel nervous about what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to happen. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a palpable dread in these scenes that pushes through all the humor. The gahanka<\/i> doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help, mind you, and neither does the growing fires set by the dwarfs and the trolls. The unknown future taunts these characters, and it taunts the reader, too. Is this going to be as bad as it seems? Will something happen at the last second that stops it all? I genuinely don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know! As I said at the end of the video, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like this is occurring at the end of the book. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not even halfway through Thud!<\/i> So what does this have to do with the book\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s general arc? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/MN8bWLedrso<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now out in the world!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"